German train delays ≠ European delays. Grmany’s puctuality rate is 70% while Spain, which you could stereotype as being “mediterraneanly” lax is over 91%.

Germany and UKs networks are a sad joke. Most of Europe has very good puncutality

I remeber the “why” phase. “Son, bla bla”my kid: “why?” Because bla bla. Why? Because bla bla! Why?, rinse and repeat.

I have owned two FIATs and a Lancia (FIAT Group) Delta. The Lancia was the funnest car I’ve ever owned. It chomped my Golf GTI any day. Road handling was a dream, equipment was amazing, things like stock Recaro seats, etc. That said, I will never own a FIAT again. FIAT is Stellantis: FIAT, Peugeot, Chrysler, Citroen… Amazing impulse buys. Sweet cars new, but they age horrendously.

They are designed to fail in the short term. Amazing innovations, power oriented engines, but just too flimsy.

The Multipla is a great concept executed the FIAT way.

I believe Honda had a 6 seater subcompact. The CHR or CRV? I can’t remember. I’d pick the Honda any day.

The MKII had much better styling, BTW

I’ve rebuilt two FIAT engines. An engineer’s wet dream. A 1,20L that output nearly a 100 HP? yes, but a shitload of compromises. the fucking head was the top engine support!!! Fuck FIAT.

I must admit that the 900 was simpler than a scooter’s engine. You could probably work on it with a Leatherman and some duct tape, but I have owned motorcycles with 3X the power output. I’ve driven some Cinquecentos. Opening the hood/bonnet has given me PTSD.

The original is Spanish, and the Es are pronounced the same

They look cool, but give me a Toledo sabre any day

Smell yes (as pretty much any enclosed public place, office, etc. of that era). Smoke? not much.

Source, old enough to have smoked in planes.

What in hell is comforting about that picture?

Actually, most planes from that era circulated air front to rear and smoking was always the rear section, and the entire cabin’s air was renovated every 1-3 minutes, so unless you were seated in the row immediately before smoking, you didn’t get smoke.

It’s comparing hardware, not OS

You mean the ones where they essentially wiped out and replaced the locals, like the US, Canada or Australia? Or the ones where the locals are majority, like India, Bangladeh, Pakistan…

No

Repairs of pro tools are so expensive, especially for old, obsolete tools, with Ni-cad batteries, that it’s usually economically absurd.

Bullshit! I don’t agree. Many pros use Hilti, the best brand, full stop, but crazy expensive, followed by Fein and Festool (the basic Festool circular saw is like 600€) Pros who want to pay less use any of the other “color teams”, yellow, blue, red, dark blue… And yes DeWalt is 100% pro, and some pros use Bosch blue. My buddies shop uses Bosch blue for corded, but has gone Milwaukee for battery, as cordless Bosch has been hit-and-miss. I had a 80% DeWalt shop and can vouch for them. I particularly love their sliding miter saws and small, thin waist angle grinders (the unsung multitasking wonder tool). BTW. Angle grinders MUST be corded, except for a very small set of use cases. Battery angle grinders suck pig’s balls.

Also Makita>Bosch blue.

Sadly Ryoby has gone full cheap DIY, like SKIL (owned by Bosch now?) I have an old maybe 18ish Ryobi (Blue) circular saw. Built like a tank, with a cast aluminum foot, that is as precise as day one. Oh well…

I agree, but in the mean time you can buy adapters that allow us to use mix-and-match batteries with other brands. Just search aliexpress for strings like "Makita or (insert brand here) battery adapter.

I’m ordering a LIDL parkside battery to DeWalt XRP adapter. There are compatible batteries for around 20€, but I have a few LIDL Parkside tools now, and only a couple of Dewalts.

In Europe, LIDL’s Parkside lineup is fantastic. The battery lineup is a system, with two battery types, a 12V and a 20V. Their battery and charger lineup is great, cheap and reliable. A 2Ah is 20€, and an 8Ah for 50€. The 8Ah has bluetooth (I thought it was a gimmick, but is surprisingly useful!). Oh, BTW, the 8Ah is about the size of a regular 4Ah!

The range is astounding, having tools that no major brand has. I have a convertible saw that can be a sawzall or a jigsaw, that has no right to work so well as it does in both modes, an air pump set, with a high pressure for tires and stuff, and a high volume pump that inflates OR deflates my 3.5m dinghy in under 3min, or a tiny rotary drill, smaller than a full size battery hammer drill that is a little beast.

I used to own a sign shop so I kind of know a bit about these tools. Sign shops work with almost all materials, from metal to wood to plastics, to concrete and masonry, so the range of power tools we had was bewildering. My shop was team yellow with the odd Hitachi, now Hikoki. When I closed the shop I kept some of them. DeWalt is very, very good, but for DIY purposes, LIDL’s Parkside is my go to now.

I would place much, but not all, the lineup at prosumer level, with features like all-metal one-hand-locking chucks, metal gearcases, brushless versions, and more.

EDIT: I just watched a video where they show how a rotary drill works. They cut open that little drill I mentioned above to show how they work. All inners, including gearing is metal. Maybe not the best alloy, but very decent in my experience.

Subways are great when hiking or boating

highlandish things

Well, Germans are pretty anal about standards (thankfully) and they do them right, so why not copy them?

I use Affinity photo. Great program, and has a very affordable pay once model, no subscription crap.

Actually does