Montreal = Most car unfriendly place in the world? Everyone read..

bimmer318

New member
Hey guys. I was meaning to make a thread here before but the Featured article (state of roads in Montreal) made me compile this thread. But here I do not want to talk about only the roads - but I want to talk about the attitudes of the general public towards cars.

Maybe it's the winter blues talking, For a person like myself, a crazy (and maybe anal about the way I care about my car) car fan it just hurts to see the general attitude towards cars here. I can't be happy doing what I love in this city because I get huge setbacks left and right.

(please forgive the general USA and BMW bias in this thread :))

Let me list my concerns:









1. The deplorable condition of roads OK. We all know about this one. We drive on roads fit for Northern Siberia, Russia.. Where the only cars that venture there are ZIL trucks and nothing else. Simply put I almost never want to drive in this city. Ever. I will cruise up St Catherine St. on a nice day but everything else sets off a major chain reaction of rage in me.. lol.

But then I look at this and I am happy again:

Los Angeles:

5254971594_3a7495b1f3_b.jpg
vs:

Houston: (go to 1:30 and cry)



I-170, I-64 interchange in St. Louis, MO

4171190763_825efc164e_b.jpg



I realized that I would rather not drive here but pay 100/month just to store my car in a garage so that I don't get "accidentally" hit by a guy who says "sorry" and drives off with his bumper hanging off. I also try to avoid driving anywhere at night at high speed. Again, I don't want to be faced with a $1000 repair bill if I bend my rim or control arms on one of these:

8446.montreal_2D00_potholes_2D00_john_2D00_kenney.jpg










2. Lack of general care for cars. To me it seems that people here don't care. My roomate works in a brand new car dealership. He is not a Montreal native. He has mechanical background as his dad is a car mechanic as well. Anyway he is appalled by some the customers who come with 5 year old cars - claiming they hear a noise. One look under the car reveals there are no bushings on the car at all, shocks completely gone etc. He tells the lady the truth, but he is appalled. A car like that could lose a wheel or go into a tailspin. Another really sad fact is that cars that are 1 year old or a few months old come to the dealership for work with rust on it! A car that has new plastic smell, no problems to speak of already developing rust! How can people be so clueless not to protect their car? Not to wash off the salt properly?

I can even go further and say people seem very apathetic to me in their attitudes. A lot of grown men seem not-embarrassed to drive a rusted out, poo-colored Toyota Echos. I don't know why, again. If you wash yourself, keep your house clean and tidy. Why shouldn't your car be in good shape as well? Don't even get me started on the people who want to ride bixis & the metro until they die.. Maybe it's a good thing, less of them cluttering the roads :bigup:

I will leave you with pictures of cars that are not special, these cars are of people I know in Toronto. No offense to you Montrealers but when I went to Julep last summer I simply did not see many good quality paintjobs, clean cars or people who generally modded properly.

DSC_0155Sized.jpg


DSC_0056Sized.jpg


DSC_0054Sized.jpg


DSC_0070Sized.jpg


oh look, someone is out of place:

DSC_0087Sized.jpg









3. Laws stacked against car ownership. Parking tickets starting at $53 dollars? Why? In Santa Monica, California, the wealthiest city in North America where an "low class" car is a BMW 335.. Even there their tickets start at about $47. Still, their gas is cheaper, climate, roads, car community are miles ahead. Can someone point out the logic here because I can't see it. What about the $500 it takes to pass a driving test and mandatory driving course? (Don't quote me on this). Still, even in Ontario it doesn't cost that much and a driving course is not a requirement. It may help lower insurance rates however.

Anyway the very low collision insurance we pay in Quebec is hardly worth everything else. Sure I may save a few hundred in insurance a year. But I will have to pay $500 to fix my suspension, $500 to do a PROPER (sand & prime) paintjob on my front and read bumper after all of Quebec's population bump into it while trying to park. $600 for a good set of winter tires..

132449096_b567fb5b64_o.jpg










4. Climate. I like to work on the car. Although it would be nice if I could get Synthetic oil and OEM parts at what Americans pay.. I'm not going to complain. We have free healthcare right?? *blah*

Regardless, It would be nice to be able to work on the car outside. But when the weather hits -15 and you have to change your thermostat it is not a very pleasant experience. To prevent your fingers from falling off, getting a garage and working away all winter sounds good. Which is exactly what I plan on doing. After a long day of that I can go home and play some racing video games to keep my car spirit alive. It's fun and all but I still have an empty feeling inside. I want to be in a car-happy place. :(










Thank you for listening and Merry Christmas
 
Last edited:
This is exactly how I feel lol

Oh how I can't wait to be out of school and GTFO of here !!!!!
 
Can someone point out the logic here because I can't see it. What about the $500 it takes to pass a driving test and mandatory driving course? (Don't quote me on this). Still, even in Ontario it doesn't cost that much and a driving course is not a requirement. It may help lower insurance rates however.

And that is why there are so much retards on the ontario roads, even more than on our roads.

We need to have a more extensive road course here juste like in europe even if it costs more. We have to teach how to drive a car in slippery conditions and nobody should get their driving license in a box of cracker jacks. It works in germany, why it wouldn't work here?

I have to agree with everything else you wrote.
 
Look bimmer we all have the same beef against the gov't for making car enthusiasts lives unnessissarily miserable. On the other hand what are we going to do about it? The problem is 1 angry individual can't do a damn thing by himself. 10 people can maybe start a small brawl, 100 can start a riot. It takes atleast 1000 angry, fearless and downright Ignorant people to do something. Nobody has the balls to take on the government because as a community (of car lovers) we don't have enough solidarity.
 
It pisses me off when people look at a car and relate that to somebody's "status". What's wrong with driving a poo colored Echo? It's just a car, and as long it gets you from point a to b, then it's fine!

As for the 1 year old car having rust, I think that's more a testament to the garbage quality that the CARS themselves are made with now-a-days, not the fact that people can't take care of their cars. (Now I am not saying that people do take care of their cars, just that its not a valid argument.)
 
Well IMO someone moving out of Quebec to drive on a flat road is uber retarded. You have nothing else better to do in your life? I mean I have better things to do than moving out because I drove on a pothole. You must all be faggots!!!
 
Just curious as to why you live here. You seem to really hate it.
I know the roads are crap here, weather sucks an all etc, but don't really say anything. Don't really mind + comes with the territory of living here.
 
I don't complain about QC anymore. I used to though. I used to complain a lot about people, roads, politics, health insurance, over 1000$/year to plate a motorcycle for 5 months... many many many other things but I stopped complaining now. I spent a total of 8 months in Europe this year and I decided to move there. So yep.
 
I don't complain about QC anymore. I used to though. I used to complain a lot about people, roads, politics, health insurance, over 1000$/year to plate a motorcycle for 5 months... many many many other things but I stopped complaining now. I spent a total of 8 months in Europe this year and I decided to move there. So yep.

can't blame you, i just got home and everytime i leave i feel like my car is going to have either a flat or a broken shock.. sucks
 
It pisses me off when people look at a car and relate that to somebody's "status". What's wrong with driving a poo colored Echo? It's just a car, and as long it gets you from point a to b, then it's fine!

I am seriously appalled at how much status is overlooked in Canada. Canada is the land of the middle class and of mediocrity. The (communist) governments here push for everyone to strive to be as mediocre as possible and it reflects in everything, including: "Alcool: la moderation a bien meilleur gout", "Vitesse: conduire a moyenne vitesse".

Yeah, it's probably not very good to drink too much but it's freakin amazing to get wasted and to drive fast (not at the same time!). All of mankind's great accomplishments came from risk takers, not from scared little pu55ies. And if you think you can be bold in life but moderate in the way you drive, I believe you are wrong. In my experience, Canadians are the most bland people I have ever seen and I consider it to be entirely the fault of the governments.

Everywhere in nature you see that animals are showing off and strutting their qualities but obviously millions of years of evolution don't apply to us. We must try to be as bland and boring as possible. Always take the known route, the safest, don't try anything different.

Before I get shouted at, yes, I am moving back to Europe. Now flame away :)
 
i just find it funny that theres A LOT of above average cars in Montreal.. despite the road condition, im not talking about lowered modified whatever im talking about stock, above average cars
 
Back
Top