I drive a 2011 Honda Fit. It’s an ultra-reliable car, running without a hitch for 14 years now, not even a hiccup. The labels on some of the buttons on the dashboard are wearing off, but that’s the only flaw so far. I feel like this might well be the last car I ever own.
Except…the next generation of Hondas might tempt me to upgrade.
It’s a three hour drive from my house to Minneapolis, and maybe a ballistic trajectory would make the trip quicker.
Also, not exploding is an important safety feature to me.
My wife has you beat. She drives a 2007 Fit with 190,000 miles on the odometer. It’s been a great little car. She’s had only one major piston repair in all that time ($800). I recently drove it around town and was pleasantly surprised by how zippy it was. Good acceleration for such an old car. Mine is a 2012 Honda Civic with 103,000 miles. It, too, has been almost problem free. Though the air conditioning is beginning to struggle at 90F. It may need an a/c recharge.
It only went up a few feet, hovered, and then landed. This was as planned of course, but they still have a way to go for even a suborbital ballistic flight you could use for commuting.
When my Nissan kicked the bucket, I bought a used Chevy Bolt with less than 20,000 miles on it, and drove it off the lot, registration and taxes and all, for less than $19,000. I installed a charger at home for about $1,200, and I couldn’t be happier. They don’t make the Bolt any more and the new Chevy electric is more expensive, but why not go for it?
Chemical rocket technology was invented by the Chinese over 1,000 years ago. And somehow the human race believes this inefficient, ultra-polluting technology will take us to the stars.
Nice video, but others were doing the exact same thing 30 years ago:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X
hopping around is easy, it’s the getting to orbit bit that’s hard and expensive, a physical barrier that no amount of PR is going to eliminate.
As for cars, pffft! My Fiat is 25 years old, still pootling about bravely.
PZ Warning: the new cars have spyware built-in and about blowing up, read this:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/06/19/the-golden-teapot-dome-mark-kelly-warns-this-is-a-very-hard-physics-problem/
The Golden Teapot Dome: Mark Kelly Warns “This Is a Very Hard Physics Problem”
June 19, 2025/3 Comments/in emptywheel /by emptywheel
https://youtu.be/zELW8eZFPps abc vid of huge polluting spaceX explosion #10 of 10 FAILURES
Elon Musk’s SpaceX had an even more spectacular failure than his last spectacular failure last night.
Whoa!! Not only did his latest Starship blow up, but fuel tanks nearby caught fire as well.
I got a used 2021 Chevy Spark (Which I have nicknamed “Sparky.” It’s funny!) back in February. So far I’ve got no complaints.
SpaceX’s offering seems just about perfect for – as an example – The Kornbluth Expedition to
VenusMars (“A Trip You’ll Remember for the Rest of Your Life”) with ticket prices starting in the low 7-figures, luxurious staterooms in the mid 8’s. Special Captain’s Accommodations are available – but are reserved solely for the wealthiest man in the world.I had a 2012 Civic until someone rear-ended me and totaled it. Otherwise I’d still have it I assume. Had a 2001 Civic before that. Fits no longer appear in the US market. I got the HR-V which replaced the Fit. I like it though worry about the reliability of the CVT. Saw some stuff about that transmission type on Youtube which makes me worry a little. A bit roomier than the Fit and not as bulky as the newer CR-Vs. I perceive some size creep.
I’ve been contemplating getting a second car. At first I thought about the Acura ILX which is a bougie Civic. Kinda anemic. The Subaru BRZ is kinda hot. Has pep and maybe corners well. Still a bit slow. Then I discovered the Infiniti G37 which is basically a 370Z wolf in sheep’s clothing. 330+ hp. But the Youtube channels tell me the year range I like might have some issues with gaskets, oil burning, clutch cylinders, rear axle bushings causing bunny hop etc.
The BRZ and G37 are rear wheel drive. ILX is front wheel. Boring though I like their look.
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blockquote>It only went up a few feet, hovered, and then landed. This was as planned of course – Ed Seedhouse@2,/blockquote>
Nah – can’t have been planned: we all know a planned rocket test flight always culminates in a ginormous explosion. Musk has got so good at it that this time his rocket didn’t even need to leave the ground!
Hemi-
Electric cars have no transmission. No hoses, no belts, no spark plugs, no CV joints, no fuel injectors, no radiator, no oil changes, no emissions tests. You know what the maintenance schedule is in my owner’s manual? Rotate the tires.
@11
I think you are wrong about CV joints.
SpaceX had a sterling safety record for several years. But the past two years, for some unknowable reason, they’ve been having a lot more trouble.
Tesla had fantastic growth and an improving product portfolio for several years. But the past two years, for some unknowable reason, they’ve been declining.
Twitter was, for all its warts, well loved. But the past two years, for some unknowable reason, it’s become known as a Nazi den.
Just three random facts that I’m sure are totally unconnected.
@cervantes #11: And electronics still contain magic black smoke that sometimes leak out.
Also bearings, CV joints, diffs and brakes wear. But yeah, substantially less maintenance. Batteries seems to last at least as long as promised if treated well.
Reginald Selkirk @12:
RWD cars don’t need CV joints. And that’s a reasonably popular configuration in BEVs since they have balanced mass distribution, so they get slightly better efficiency by having the drive wheels in the back (when you accelerate, there’s more weight on the back wheels). The most common such car is the Tesla Model 3 but there’s other models from other brands that do this too.
It’s a small enough advantage that many BEVs still have front wheel drive, and of course when you upgrade to AWD (which isn’t all that expensive with BEVs) you still have front drive wheels. So those BEVs will have CV joints.
OK, this is a little obvious, but definitely the music of the day : I Want My Honda Back. “The best car ever.” And, if you’re not familiar with Igor and the Red Elvises, it’s high time you were.
@OP — Honda is generally been a little more expensive than its rivals but so much better engineered that if you can afford a bit extra at purchase time, it can turn out to be a bargain in the long run (caveat: at least in Australia, shop around for non-Honda mechanics for ongoing maintenance or you will quickly eat that bargain in absurd servicing fees).
Ed Seedhouse@2– sub-suborbital success
weylguy@4 — Chemical rocketry is still the only feasible way to get out of steep gravity wells. Check out the Wikipedia table of propulsion methods. There are many technologies that can give better delta-V than chemical rockets, but the problem is lift-off. You need high thrust or you’re not even getting off the ground. High thrust can only be achieved by chemical rocketry, controlled nuclear explosions, or externally applied thrust (railguns, tether propulsion) that can launch a payload but not influence it thereafter. Controlled nuclear explosion remains a speculative technology, apart from one accidentally orbited well cap that turns out to be a myth. And who would want to live downwind of the launch facility?
cervantes@11– EVs don’t produce tailpipe emissions but they still emit small particles from brakes and tyre wear that have environmental and public health concerns. These emissions are often higher than equivalent ICE vehicles because EVs are heavier. Emissions from EVs are still way, way better overall than ICE vehicles because they don’t have to spew burnt hydrocarbons to move.
Totally off topic but i know that PZ (and many of you) will probably see this. Just went to the first showing of 28 Years Later. It was a very…VERY……what an amazing movie. Affected me as powerfully as Mad Max Fury Road. The first horror movie I have ever cried at. Moving, beautiful, just … momento mori but filled with… who would have thought of it…hope.Transcendent score, haunting, inspired jaw dropping cinematography, heartbreaking performances. I will be thinking about this one for a long long time. I love movies and this one just shot into my top 20. (Truthfully though could have done w/o the last acton ‘bit’ w/Jimmy before the credits – jarring at the end of a truly amazing movie)
Somebody get Elon a bucket of ketamine, stat!
Honda is also having some success with their dinky little Hondajet with the engines mounted on pylons above the wings. Bit more expensive than the Fit though.
numerobis @15
For the most part, if you’ve got independent rear suspension (Tesla does) on a RWD automobile, you’re still going to have CV joints – or old school Cardan joints, but that adds additional levels of complexity. CV joints are cheap and easy these days
For rwd BEVs, a hub motor or a solid rear axle would eliminate this need.
Source: Was an ASE certified tech and did – among other things – alignments.
See also: https://service.tesla.com/docs/Model3/ServiceManual/2024/en-us/GUID-5DFE1A18-9B41-4B8B-B8FC-FAFBF2AE65BC-online-en-US.jpg
My wife loves her 2018 FIT. I tease her that it’s classified by some as a “station wagon.” :) We have almost 300,000 highway miles on it — traveling.
We still own our 2008 Prius hybrid. With over 100,000miles, it’s still a reliable little car, even after making two trips to and from Texas to California. It still gets over 35 MPG. Over the last few years, it has only required one new battery (not the big one that runs the electric motor) and the occasional oil change.
We bought our beautiful new 2020 Prius plug-in hybrid at the end of 2019. My husband charges it overnight (regular household outlet) and gets 25-30 miles of local driving per charge, which costs us nothing, since the charge comes from our solar panels.
The only times that the gas motor has to kick in are during our quarterly trips to San Francisco for doctor appointments.
We can charge it at our hotel before coming home so that the first 30 miles are EV.
My husband has been careful to make sure that the car is regularly serviced, but that is all she ever requires.
We paid the car off last year, and barring any accidents, it will probably be our last car.