Driving a car that nobody wants

There are advantages to this.

Next week I'm buying new tires for my car. I did the penny test on my tread and yeah, I need new rubber. I could probably get away with driving on the tires I have for another 6 months or even a year, but better safe than sorry.

The total cost to replace all 4 tires will be about $400, and that's for everything. Tire cost, balancing, mounting, TPMS kits, the works.

In 2022 dollars, $400 for new tires with full installation is cheap. The entire reason I can get a price that low is because I drive a car nobody wants - a subcompact sedan that's over 10 years old.

If I were driving a recent SUV, such as a 2018 Ford Explorer with 18" wheels, the cheapest price I could get for tires + installation would be $800. Yes, double. Why? Because SUVs are hot-hot-hot, that's why. If you price out tires + install for an '18 Mustang with 18" wheels, guess what? Price drops to $650. Why? Because Mustangs are not hot-hot-hot.

Yes, this literally means your maintenance cost would be less driving a Mustang when compared to an Explorer. Also, the Mustang has 4 MPG better fuel economy than the Explorer does when both cars are equipped with the 2.3L 4-cylinder turbo engine, so you save cash there too. The Mustang is absolutely the cheaper car to own long term. Crazy, isn't it?

However, nothing is as cheap to own as a subcompact.

To give you an idea of how unwanted the car I drive is, here's a quick description: It's over 10 years old as I said above, a sedan (the hatchbacks are more desirable), no infotainment screen, and... it's a manual.

People hear "manual" and think "sports car". Not my car. It's just a little sedan with a manual gearbox. Yes, it has A/C, cruise control, power windows, power locks and keyless entry. But it's still a manual, and there's not many people that know how to drive one of those anymore.

Everything really is cheaper with a subcompact

Tires, filters, brakes, bulb replacement and just about anything else you can think of is significantly lower in price when compared to an SUV or a pickup.

Heck, the cost is even less when compared to a compact crossover. The cheapest tire+install for one of those, such as a Chevrolet Trax, is $620.

I seriously don't understand why more people don't drive subcompacts because they're not just for commuting. Most subcompacts today can easily fit 4 adults while still having decent storage in the rear. All of the newer ones can achieve 40 MPG highway easily on regular gas with no hybrid system. These cars are fast enough, are decent peoplemovers and are easier to drive compared to an SUV or truck.

When you know, you know

People who drive small cars can actually maintain them because the cost to do so is less. As such, the probability of getting a decent used car increases if it's small. This doesn't mean you can just buy a small car blind (some are lemons just like with any car), but generally speaking, yeah, single-owner used small cars are usually decent buys.

Some people think others give a crap about the car you drive. They don't. Other drivers don't care. And for any passengers you carry around, all they care about is a comfortable safe journey in a clean car that doesn't stink.

My small car is invisible to others because it just blends in. I never get challenged to a race, nor do I want to be. I can park anywhere. Thieves never give my car a second look or even a first one.

I'll end this with a mildly funny story.

The only other drivers I've ever seen who care about my car are others who drive the same model.

One day I was driving on the highway, driving a speed I shouldn't have been. I see this guy in a car just like mine up ahead, except his was a different color. He's in the far left lane waiting for this slower idiot that's hogging the left to get the hell out of the way. I see an opening on the far right lane (this was a 5-lane part of the highway). I check my mirrors, no cars there, quick look over the shoulder, no cars, safe to go. I change over to the far right lane and blaze by everybody on the left.

That guy saw what I did, then did the "Well, if he can do it, I can do it, I got the same car!" thing as soon as that lane hog got out of his way, stomped the gas and blazed past me at 90 miles per hour or more.

Stupid? Yes. But funny. My stupid increased his stupid, and the result of that was two little subcompact commuter cars dusting everybody else on the highway for a short spell. That's not hilariously funny, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

So I cracked a hubcap

Yes, I know the proper name for these things are wheel covers, but I still call them hubcaps. Amazon agrees with me on this one.

The current car I drive is over 10 years old. I bought it used and it came with a set of cheap hubcaps. Some months back, one of them developed a crack. When I spotted this, I thought okay, this will probably last maybe six more months and then the thing is going to break apart.

Recently, I had to pull off the hubcaps so I could adjust tire pressure, which went okay. But when putting the hubcaps back on, -CRACK-, that's when that one hubcap gave up the ghost. One of the tabs broke right off and there was no saving it.

Hubcap sets are fortunately cheap, but what a needless expense it is. The only reason I don't drive with just steel wheels showing is because they have surface rust. That rust is totally normal and doesn't hurt anything, but it looks bad, so yeah I will pony up the cash to buy a new set of 4.

Things I've learned from driving a car that has hubcaps

I've owned my fair share of cars, but what I'm driving now is only the third car to ever have hubcaps on it. The first one was a crappy '87 Chevy S-10 pickup, and the second the terrible Versa. My current car is a similar size to what the Versa was (meaning small).

The best bit of information I can give you is that if you have a car with hubcaps on it, ALWAYS take them off before having any tire service performed. Put the hubcaps in the trunk or leave them at home, because if you don't, they will be damaged.

Here are two small stories of what can happen if you leave your hubcaps on when you bring in your car for tire service. One involves me directly and the other is something I witnessed.

When I had the Versa, I brought it into a shop for new tires. The tires were installed and everything seemed to be fine. When I drove the car home, there were no problems... until I looked at one of the rear wheels. A nice big fresh scrape was on the hubcap. I didn't hit anything on the way home, so right then and there I knew the mechanic did that. I also knew there was nothing I could do about it. The damage was there, I couldn't prove the garage did it even though I knew they did, and that's when I learned always to remove hubcaps before going to get tire service.

Fast-forward some time later to the car I have now. Every single time I've ever gone in for tire service, those hubcaps come off first. The time comes due for tire rotation, so I make an appointment at the garage. The day of the appointment, the hubcaps come off and I go to get the service done. This particular garage is the type that only does tires and nothing else. In the waiting area are big windows where you can see all the garage bays with employees working on the cars.

I saw something that just floored me.

A Honda sedan is pulled in. Newer one. The type with hubcaps that will cost you a bare minimum of $80 or even $150+ to replace. Maybe even more. The owner obviously took care of his car because it looked really nice. Well, one part wasn't so nice when the mechanic was done with it. The car is lifted, he yanks off the first hubcap and then proceeds to toss it on the ground face DOWN right on the concrete, scratching it all up. He did this in plain sight and didn't even care.

I want to make it very clear: He did not properly place the hubcap down. Oh, no. He just tossed it.

My hubcaps are cheap crap, but if I saw a mechanic do that to my car, let's just say some yelling would be involved.

When I saw that happen, I just sat in silence, thinking "Yep. That right there is why I take the hubcaps off my car before any mechanic touches my tires."

If a hubcap is going to break, it's better if YOU break it

I broke my hubcap. My fault. The one I expected to break did break, I knew it was coming, so it didn't upset me when it finally broke.

The fact I broke the hubcap actually feels much better than having a mechanic break it. You pay the mechanic to fix things and not break them. Having a mechanic damage or outright break a hubcap is really insulting, especially since that type of damage can be avoided so easily.

When you damage or break a hubcap, at least it's "free damage". That may not sound like it makes sense, but believe me, it does.

Later this week I'll be buying new cheap hubcaps for my small car.

This stupid manual pencil sharpener

It's things like this that make you question whether buying more expensive "quality" items are even worth the bother.

As I've said before, I use pencils (Ticonderoga, specifically). Why? They don't splotch, they don't blotch, they never run out of ink, and compared to pens they never have to be "encouraged" to start writing properly by shaking them. Press to paper and go.

I had a battery operated electric pencil sharpener, but I did something stupid with it. I left the batteries in it too long, they leaked, and ruined the sharpener. Yes, I tried cleaning the contacts, but that didn't work, so I tossed it in the trash.

In the house was an older pencil sharpener. I tried it.

Immediately, I noticed it sharpened better and faster than the electric one ever did. The pencil tip was sharper and shaved wood on the sides smoother.

There are no shortage of electric sharpeners. But as I've found out, the cheap-as-chips 2 hole manual sharpeners actually do a better job.

If you're not familiar with the two hole sizes, typically that means one is for pencils and the other for crayons. If you need more pencil sizes, manual wall mount sharpeners still exist. If you're old enough to remember, it's the same kind used in elementary schools of the '70s and '80s. Chances are if you actually need one of these, it would be for jumbo pencils (specifically RevMark jumbo) used by guys for drawing on wood and walls and other construction type work.

I may never buy another electric pencil sharpener again. Why bother when the seriously cheap one works so well, and does a better job?

Minecraft Interactive Watch (this could have been better)

This watch is significant downgrade compared to the PlayZoom.

I recently tried out the PlayZoom smartwatch. That one is loaded with features and other good stuff.

But this, the Minecraft Interactive Watch... not-so good.

Does it even work? Yes. There's a big red sticker under the case that says it has to be charged for at least 30 minutes (better if you charge it for 90) before it will get enough charge to function. Once charged, it works like it's supposed to.

The strap is pliable, soft and comfortable.

The screen has enough brightness to it to be read, and touch response works.

The pinhole camera is one of those "selfie only" things since it's fixed in place. Yes, it will take very low quality photos and record very low quality video.

Yes, it will operate with no need to connect it to a phone or computer. Just charge it and go.

For a kid's watch, sure, this will pass. But you could get so much more from a PlayZoom. Namely, many more wallpapers, more games, more little apps and just a whole bunch more stuff to keep a kid entertained. And heck, the pinhole camera even swivels on the PlayZoom, meaning it can do more than just selfie photos.

To note, I believe this is the same watch you get with any Accutime Kids model. Minecraft is the one I tried out, but you'll also see this same watch themed as Disney's Frozen, Spider-Man, Marvel Avengers, Sonic The Hedgehog, Harry Potter, Pokemon and Star Wars to name a few. These all have the same lackluster set of features.

In comparison, the PlayZoom is just so much better in pretty much every way. However, I have to bear in mind the audience for this timepiece.

The ultimate question is this: Is it good enough for a kid? Yes, good enough - as long as it doesn't get wet. This watch, just like the PlayZoom, has no water resistance whatsoever. If it gets wet, that will damage the electronics permanently.

To see it in action, I made a video about this watch.

Review and tutorial of the PlayZoom kids smartwatch

This thing is surprisingly really loaded with features.

The PlayZoom smartwatch is a kids watch. Although this smartwatch is very inexpensive, I was interested to see how far along smartwatch tech has come on the low end of the price spectrum.

(If you want to skip my short review of this and just get to how to set this thing, see my video below.)

There are two things about this smartwatch I am absolutely certain will annoy many parents.

First, although it comes with the provided USB cable to charge it, it's a USB micro connector and not USB-C. One side is the bigger USB A type and the other USB micro. The thing should have just been USB-C end-to-end.

Second, when you plug this thing in to charge it, nothing happens on the screen until it's about halfway charged. This can lead somebody to believe the watch is totally dead when in fact it isn't. To get a full charge out of it, you have to leave it plugged in to USB for a solid 2 hours, and then you're good.

PlayZoom vs. PlayZoom2

You'll see some of these labeled as PlayZoom and others PlayZoom2. Is there a difference between the two? Yes. Big differences? No. There are some minor menu changes and not much else. However, as I note in the video below, I actually liked the PlayZoom better than the PlayZoom2, as the menus seemed faster and the screen easier to read.

Something I didn't mention in the video that I noticed afterward is that the PlayZoom2 has a quick-release style strap whereas they PlayZoom doesn't. Does that matter? Probably not, because I don't even know where you could get a replacement strap for one of these.

Surprisingly feature-packed

In addition to the PlayZoom and PlayZoom2, I also checked out the Minecraft Interactive Watch that I'll be posting another article on soon. The Minecraft watch is really basic and somewhat disappointing, whereas the PlayZoom/PlayZoom2 is absolutely stuffed with so much more.

In the PlayZoom you get lots of wallpapers, the ability to switch between digital and analog time, more games, more activities, more everything. The tiny pinhole camera even swivels, allowing to take more types of photos and videos.

Potato quality camera, but that's okay

The camera, as expected, is terrible. Photo resolution is 128x128 pixels. I'm not kidding. The frame rate you get from video is really low. I would guess 6fps if not lower.

But as I said, that's okay because at least it has a camera that can actually be used, and yes the photos and videos can be transferred from watch to computer using the provided cable.

Does NOT need an app just to use it

I was fearful that you needed some dumb app just to get the watch working, but was happy to learn that no app is required. The PlayZoom can operate completely out-of-the-box without ever connecting to anything other than its provided cord just to charge the battery. No account to set up, no wireless nonsense, none of that. Take it out of the box, set the time and date if you want, and that's all there is to it.

Some parts are still computery

The camera portion in particular is something I'm certain a kid would never truly figure out how to use because it's not exactly kid-friendly designed. But that doesn't really matter, because what matters more are the little games and activities which are kid-friendly designed.

For the price, you get a lot

I was expecting the PlayZoom to be total crap. It's not. The touchscreen actually works and is responsive, the menu is definitely good enough for little child hands and fingers, and it just works.

What's the biggest drawback? Absolutely not waterproof in the slightest. If the PlayZoom gets wet, I seriously doubt it would survive. If you have a kid who wants a watch really bad that, and you know the watch will get wet, just get a plain Casio F-91W wristwatch. It's not a smartwatch, but it never needs charging (the battery lasts about 7 years), tells the time and most importantly can survive a bath easily.

I made a video showing everything you need to know about setting up a PlayZoom smartwatch. It's long, but as I said, it does have a lot of genuinely good features to it.