I still think it was a big mistake to bail out the auto makers. Now all cars are just giant phones with some how even worse privacy laws. “Saftey” tech just keeps getting forcefully regulated into them, making them more expensive and making shittier drivers who can’t even look in their blind spots anymore because those stupid blind spot detectors. We are pretty much at the point where we have Vin lock parts and can’t replace a windshield motor without paying 1.8k to bring it back to the manufacturer, and thats BEFORE the labor from their licensed tech who is the only person who can touch the god damn thing I own and I will be paying off for 48 months at 450 dollars a month.
Oh but don’t worry I think its ford themselves that have a patent for self driving cars to be able to repo themselves. So the the poor dealership that fucked me over won’t lose any money when I can no longer afford payment on some of the shittiest trucks they’ve made.
Don’t get a car or truck past 2013. Honestly peak cars IMO all existed around 90s-2006. Some good hits in the 80’s too but you’re prob not going to daily something that old. You all are going to want to learn how to work on your own car. If you don’t have the tools and a shop it sucks a bit more and is sketchy sometimes, try to make a car friend or have people to ping off of. You can rent a lot of the tools too but I would insist on buying if its not like 300 bucks all at once. You want a good air compressor, a 12v battery charger/tester, a standard craftsman set, some ramp blocks/jacks, and the basic hand tools and you can do most things just fine.
So much of learning how to fix a car is kind of just having to fix it. I’ve only had 4 cars ive had to fix and daily drive sense ive started trying. And I came from practically no knowledge. YouTube surprisingly has had every single fix I needed for my exact model, and I would just google my problems and end up on forums from literally 2008 with the exact same problem and it was ususally solved. Most of the time its just replacing sensors, replacing gaskets, changing fluids or cat converter. Sometimes it doesnt fix it, so you just replace the next suspected thing.
You aren’t even going to keep it for blowing out crumbs in your keyboard? I got one of those tornado air whip guns and I bust that thing out everytime I need to work on the car just because I like to play with it. I’ll bust out all the floor mats and blast the with air to avoid doing any real work.
Also I don’t like using tire inflators, you get a cheap 12v one and you burn out the motor trying to inflate all 4 tires at once. Its good to keep in the car for an emergency but it can’t be good for some of the smaller portable ones.
Its just so nice to have compressed air even if you don’t plan on using air impact tools. And just having the compressor opens you up to a whole new world of tools not even car related. Sand blasting, spray painting, roofing, framing. Mine also doesnt have enough cfm to do air wrenches but I still love the thing.