Official Austin Chat Thread (Houston, Round Rock: 2015, buying a house, buying)

[Ibginnie]

Over the last few months I have had a few requests for a chat thread. We're going to give this a try.

So, here ya go!

Pretty much anything you wish to talk about can go right here.

National politics and matters pertaining to religion are off limits!

The Terms of Service still apply.

Enjoy!

[Need4Camaro]

TBH I kind of missed this weather. I never thought I would look forward to cold rainy days.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

TBH I kind of missed this weather. I never thought I would look forward to cold rainy days.

actually i prefer FALL days - high 75, low 50. pure heaven.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by riaelise

actually i prefer FALL days - high 75, low 50. pure heaven.

Today was a bit cooler than I like. I had some outdoorsy stuff I was supposed to do but I postponed it till tomorrow.

In other news I'm finally buying a house

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Today was a bit cooler than I like. I had some outdoorsy stuff I was supposed to do but I postponed it till tomorrow.

In other news I'm finally buying a house

It’s much cooler than I like. Where’d you end up buying?

I ended up wrecking out on 45, hit debris on the road, tire blew out and the rain caused us to hydroplane and pinwheel through three lanes. Hit the median twice before spinning into a ditch. Total loss but I’m thankful I’m alive. I’ve never been in accident of this magnitude. Very scary. Hubby was with me. We could have died.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by riaelise

It’s much cooler than I like. Where’d you end up buying?

I ended up wrecking out on 45, hit debris on the road, tire blew out and the rain caused us to hydroplane and pinwheel through three lanes. Hit the median twice before spinning into a ditch. Total loss but I’m thankful I’m alive. I’ve never been in accident of this magnitude. Very scary. Hubby was with me. We could have died.

Yikes! J/W did that happen somewhere between Parmer and 183 heading west (toward 620)? If so, I may have saw it. I remember a cop rushing down the highway to mitigate traffic out the left lane and had a car pulled into a median. Glad you're okay. No one else was involved atleast it sounds?

I've had alot of close calls but fortunately my only accidents (not at fault) were being rearended at stop signs or stop lights. The sound of someone hitting you even at 10 MPH though will surprise you. Sounds like a bomb going off.

Tire blowout asside, the cold and wet weather here is nothing to take lightly when driving. Its not NY or NJ but I've found the roads here to be a bit more slick than they were at the same temps in GA. I'm guessing because GA uses granite and they seem to use asphalt here (I'm guessing because the clay soil). In my SS I've had problems starting off from stop lights in areas where the pavement was damp / wet this week. It slid out from under me twice rolling from a stop light. I was slowly accelerating because I know my car does not like cold wet weather, SUV behind me was tailgaiting (of course) and didn't understand why I wasn't speeding up to 60 MPH... ...until I started going sideways at about 30 MPH. Then they backed off and left like 5 car lengths behind me. I'm still using my summer tires and those don't grip very well when the temps get below 50*. (I really need to buy an extra set of wheels with all-seasons on them)

The house is in Leander, the last exit for 183a before it merges back with U.S. 183. I have the opportunity to choose Cedar Park but I would have taken a hit on square footage so I chose Leander.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Yikes! J/W did that happen somewhere between Parmer and 183 heading west (toward 620)? If so, I may have saw it. I remember a cop rushing down the highway to mitigate traffic out the left lane and had a car pulled into a median. Glad you're okay. No one else was involved atleast it sounds?

I've had alot of close calls but fortunately my only accidents (not at fault) were being rearended at stop signs or stop lights. The sound of someone hitting you even at 10 MPH though will surprise you. Sounds like a bomb going off.

Tire blowout asside, the cold and wet weather here is nothing to take lightly when driving. Its not NY or NJ but I've found the roads here to be a bit more slick than they were at the same temps in GA. I'm guessing because GA uses granite and they seem to use asphalt here (I'm guessing because the clay soil). In my SS I've had problems starting off from stop lights in areas where the pavement was damp / wet this week. It slid out from under me twice rolling from a stop light. I was slowly accelerating because I know my car does not like cold wet weather, SUV behind me was tailgaiting (of course) and didn't understand why I wasn't speeding up to 60 MPH... ...until I started going sideways at about 30 MPH. Then they backed off and left like 5 car lengths behind me. I'm still using my summer tires and those don't grip very well when the temps get below 50*. (I really need to buy an extra set of wheels with all-seasons on them)

The house is in Leander, the last exit for 183a before it merges back with U.S. 183. I have the opportunity to choose Cedar Park but I would have taken a hit on square footage so I chose Leander.

No, it happened in Round Rock on the toll road.

Thankfully no didn't hit any other cars, but my Honda got totalled. I'll say it again, it's Honda for life. Took things like a champ really, but the undercarriage damage was too great. You know how bumper cars are? well that was my car bumping along the median, and amazingly no one has hit and no one hit us.

Here we get these flash rain pockets. On the way to the toll road, there was light rain, but once I got on it was a near zero visibility downpour.

with great sadness I bid farewell to my 2015 accord. the one "bright spot" (because I had no problems having an older car), yesterday picked out a nice red 2019 accord with 5000 miles vs. the 47000 one that got totaled. It was a demo, so got the benefits of used without being old. literally the car is a seven months old.

congrats with your purchase. seems like you want to stick to the west side?

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by riaelise

No, it happened in Round Rock on the toll road.

Thankfully no didn't hit any other cars, but my Honda got totalled. I'll say it again, it's Honda for life. Took things like a champ really, but the undercarriage damage was too great. You know how bumper cars are? well that was my car bumping along the median, and amazingly no one has hit and no one hit us.

Here we get these flash rain pockets. On the way to the toll road, there was light rain, but once I got on it was a near zero visibility downpour.

with great sadness I bid farewell to my 2015 accord. the one "bright spot" (because I had no problems having an older car), yesterday picked out a nice red 2019 accord with 5000 miles vs. the 47000 one that got totaled. It was a demo, so got the benefits of used without being old. literally the car is a seven months old.

congrats with your purchase. seems like you want to stick to the west side?

Alittle trick for you in the future (although it probably would not have helped much in this case given the blow out, just purely for knowledge purposes though.) If you ever feel your car starting to slide or lose grip, press the shifter into N (Nuetral). This disengages engine power from the drive wheels (even with your foot off the gas, there is still power going to the wheels) which allows you to more easily steer and correct the skid as you dont have to fight against the power of your own vehicle.

Todays cars are basically made to crumble apart to absorb the force of impact so the driver absorbs the least amount of that as possible...so an accident can tear them apart pretty easily (especially a freeway accident) but objectively spare the occupants inside up to a certain amount of force depending on point of impact. A highway collision is one I hope never to experience as I couldn't begin to imagine how horrifying it would be to suddenly lose control and have a car take you somewhere you have no control over at high speeds with little you can do to slow it down.

Honda's are very solid cars especially in the reliability department. I've had alot of unreliable cars but I'm also a mechanic. My current car was actually one of the first that I bought new and I only did it because I got it nearly $10k off MSRP because it was sitting at the dealer for over a year.

Coming home from Houston one night I was on I-10 about 40ish miles east of the exit for TX-71. You could see the storm up there (perfectly clear above and surrounding me) and the lightning was bright enough to be visible at that distant. Getting closer I just knew it was right over 71, and soon enough as I crossed the Colorado River on I-10 is starting raining, then pouring, then it was completely a wall of rai, blinding lightning, and heavy winds. My car blots out alot of outside noise so I couldn't hear how heavy the wind was but the clouds looked like they were just broiling. I was practically waiting on a funnel to jump out infront of me. I've always asked myself what I would do if I ran into a Tornado....and my best guess is pray lol because I'm really not sure theres alot you can do.

Not sure why but for some reason Leander area kind of hit me harder than Round Rock did. Both are awesome suburbs and Round Rock has a great city center but there was something about Leander area that just felt home. Plus is was slightly more affordable. Georgetown was also a consideration as well but I dont really like I-35 that much. Seems to be more iffy than 183a ... till you get to 45 that is. Fortunately I dont have to go any further than Domain area so I dont have to go all the way Downtown and I also have the ability to work remote (lazily) so I'm spared from the worst of Austin's traffic.

[DMChicago]

Congrats on your home purchase, N4C!

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

[...]

Todays cars are basically made to crumble apart to absorb the force of impact so the driver absorbs the least amount of that as possible...so an accident can tear them apart pretty easily (especially a freeway accident) but objectively spare the occupants inside up to a certain amount of force depending on point of impact. A highway collision is one I hope never to experience as I couldn't begin to imagine how horrifying it would be to suddenly lose control and have a car take you somewhere you have no control over at high speeds with little you can do to slow it down.

[...]

The safety in modern cars is nothing short of amazing to me. I had a wreck up on 183 near Anderson Mill Rd back before the toll road was complete (~2001?) - a car ran a red light and I plowed into his left front quarter panel at ~55 mph.

In any case, my Honda Civic was totaled. You could see the crumple zones 'accordioned' in the hood and the roof of the car, and the engine had dropped down. The driver's side door still worked perfectly and the driving compartment was completely intact. Some whiplash, a bruise from the seat belt, and a minor cut on my hand where it had come off the steering wheel and punched through the dash where my only injuries. The other guy was in about the same condition. The fact that I did not hit him dead center of his driver's door may have saved his life/severe injury and instead resulted in his car pin-wheeling, which dispersed a lot of the energy.

It isn't just Hondas, though, it is pretty much all modern cars. Most of us old folks remember pre-seatbelt days, but the younger folks have grown up with them. We all pretty much know Ralph Nader, too, but for those that don't:

https://www.pe.com/2015/12/04/50-yea...he-auto-world/