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So, I bought a brand new 2009 Maxima while living in KC. It was always parked in garages, always kept it clean, parallel parking wasn't so risky, felt pretty average in the KC area as most people drive pretty nice cars.
Then I move to the Mid Atlanta and I feel so out of place. I have to park the car in extremely tight spaces all the time and the tiny bangs and scratches are starting to pile up. Metrorail park and rides are door ding factories, people seem to have to touch my bumpers when parallel parking and I always come back to a filthy car anyway after buses throw crap at it all day and I hope I keep my mirrors stay in tact. While driving, I notice that most people drive "commuter" cars. Just basic (and boring) cars to get them from point A to point B. When driving through more sketchy parts of town, I seem to get more looks than I ever did in KC. It's a Nissan, not a Ferrari. I rarely wash it anymore and I know the wear and tear from normal traffic is about ten times as bad as back home.
I'm honestly thinking of trading it down to something that doesn't stand out as much or cost as much, even though I find the car fun to drive and always thought the car was pretty "average" before moving to the east coast. I'm not a car snob by any means. I take transit, walk and bike as often as I can to places, but it's still nice to have a nice car for commuting and traveling in, yet I almost feel "ashamed" to have such a car in this area.
Does anybody else feel like this? I think there is a difference between the cities out west and the cities out east when it comes to the cars people drive.
If I was already living anywhere near Philly, DC, Baltimore, NYC, Boston etc, I don't think I would have bought this car. Had I lived in Denver, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, Phoenix etc, I don't think I would have thought twice about it even though my commuting patterns and transit usage would probably be about the same regardless.
So what cities are worst to own a nice car? Which ones are best?
My school is the worst place to have a nice car. -_- lol
But seriously, NYC has to be one of the worst. Maybe it's just been my bad experience, but over time my car took quite a beating there and with no one responsible... cause I guess all those scratches and bumps just appeared there right?
Oh and bonus points to Hartford, small city I know, but has been a terrible place for my car all the same.
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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I'll vote for Chicago, since you have the same parking issues that you'll find in NYC or DC plus the weather extremes are worse, and road salt destroys your car.
I'll vote for Chicago, since you have the same parking issues that you'll find in NYC or DC plus the weather extremes are worse, and road salt destroys your car.
All the cities up north with lots of snow. The cars all look like sh*t in winter no matter how nice it actually is. Besides, potholes are everywhere in most northern cities so driving on them would hurt your nice car too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo
So, I bought a brand new 2009 Maxima while living in KC. It was always parked in garages, always kept it clean, parallel parking wasn't so risky, felt pretty average in the KC area as most people drive pretty nice cars.
Then I move to the Mid Atlanta and I feel so out of place. I have to park the car in extremely tight spaces all the time and the tiny bangs and scratches are starting to pile up. Metrorail park and rides are door ding factories, people seem to have to touch my bumpers when parallel parking and I always come back to a filthy car anyway after buses throw crap at it all day and I hope I keep my mirrors stay in tact. While driving, I notice that most people drive "commuter" cars. Just basic (and boring) cars to get them from point A to point B. When driving through more sketchy parts of town, I seem to get more looks than I ever did in KC. It's a Nissan, not a Ferrari. I rarely wash it anymore and I know the wear and tear from normal traffic is about ten times as bad as back home.
I'm honestly thinking of trading it down to something that doesn't stand out as much or cost as much, even though I find the car fun to drive and always thought the car was pretty "average" before moving to the east coast. I'm not a car snob by any means. I take transit, walk and bike as often as I can to places, but it's still nice to have a nice car for commuting and traveling in, yet I almost feel "ashamed" to have such a car in this area.
Does anybody else feel like this? I think there is a difference between the cities out west and the cities out east when it comes to the cars people drive.
If I was already living anywhere near Philly, DC, Baltimore, NYC, Boston etc, I don't think I would have bought this car. Had I lived in Denver, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, Phoenix etc, I don't think I would have thought twice about it even though my commuting patterns and transit usage would probably be about the same regardless.
So what cities are worst to own a nice car? Which ones are best?
Chicago area is rough, with winter weather, heavy traffic and changeable weather. But plenty of folks here own fancy cars, only driving them during the summer. For modern cars road salt is no longer an issue, but for classic rods it is murder. I guess if you're looking to destroy a nice car a lot of the east coast cities, from Boston to Miami, are a good bet.
DC. Just like Brooklyn, it seems every car has front and/or rear bumper damage.
I completely agree. DC is one of the worst cities to drive in. DC consistently ranks as having the worst drivers in the nation. Some roads in DC are murderous. I've gotten into two separate accidents on New York Ave in Northeast DC. DC also has a bad drunk driving problem that gets swept under the rug. Many people die at the hands of drunk hit-and-run drivers in DC. There was a huge anti-drunk driving campaign in the District a few years ago with pictures of totaled cars on every bus stop and sobriety checkpoints throughout the city to try to curb drunk driving. To this day, there are specific areas labeled as DUI enforcement areas on the Capitol beltway.
DC Drivers Rated the Worst in the Country (http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/traffic/dc-drivers-rated-the-worst-in-the-country-052611 - broken link)
If you have a really nice car in DC like a Lamborghini, like anywhere else, you might get carjacked. It happened to Harlem rapper Cam'Ron at Howard Univeristy Homecoming in 2005 who was shot in his Lamborghini in DC:
California cities lead the nation in car theft. Eight out of the top ten highest car theft cities are located in California, mostly in the cities in the Northern part of the state:
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