Would you buy a car that had been previously owned by a smoker?
I wouldn't!
My colleague smokes sixty ciggies a day, and the interior of his car is like the inside of a railway tunnel (ish).
I've told him that any car in this state will be difficult to sell. He assures me that it will clean up OK.
Superficially it might, but behind the dash and panels and deep into the seats will surely remain impregnated with filth!
Any thoughts?
Happiness is a Honda C70 ridden with a flat!
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It's a king size problem. Perhaps we need a new abbreviation in the ads to go with FSH/PAS etc. WSTF - Would Suit Tab Fanatic
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Our local car-rental companys have 'smoking' and 'non-smoking' cars... I don't know if this is a worldwide trend?
As far as smoking goes, I puff away like a good'un, and the car is normally full of fag packets, silver paper, etc, and the ashtray overflowing ...
I find the monthly valet sorts out the ash-everywhere problem, and a generous amount of shake-and-vac mixed with bicarb strewn all over the car the night before cleaning absorbs a lot of the smells.
My biggest problem is the gunk build-up on the windscreen...
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Would you buy a car that had been previously owned by a smoker? I wouldn't!
So your name "raffles" bears no resemblance to cigarettes then ;o)
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I thought everyone changed their cars when the ashtrays were full? ;-)
John R
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Just about the nastiest form of this is a driver who has smoked while keeping the aircon on and the windows closed (try a Karachi taxi). This is second hand amoke at its finest, matured, aged, chilled to perfection and presented pleasantly cooled!
All the rentals I have taken the last good many years all have No Smoking signs inside and I have not encountered anything else. A quick check to see if you have a clean ashtray usually verifies this.
Both our Fords we currently own, like most American cars I know, no longer possess ashtrays (makes more room for those jumbo size cokes you get at McDo's! Substitute one health hazard for another I guess) But all of them continue to provide a cigar lighter!
GO figger...
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As far as smoking goes, I puff away like a good'un, and the car is normally full of fag packets, silver paper, etc, and the ashtray overflowing ...
Ian, the trick for driver/smokers in the UK seems to be to clear out the ashtray regularly on to traffic islands while waiting for the lights to change.
Oz (as was)
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Growler, they use it to heat up the drinks to put in the cup-holders...
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Sitting in a new Volvo the other day I noticed the ciggy lighter in the dash simply said 12v not the usual little lit fag icon - how right-on is that! Similar I suppose to the SAAB dash which when you have it switched to "Night Panel" only lit the speedo round to 80mph - obviously you would never go above 80 at night so why light the dial to a tempting 85 or even further!
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Yes ciggie lighters double as power sources for all sorts, so certainly won't disappear with the ashtrays.
In fact, they are probably getting more plentiful. The Toyota Camry has 3. 1 in the front and 2 in the back.
BTW, does anyone else share my delusion that one day this knowledge will come in useful?
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Growler - it's fairly cheap to replace a scarred old ashtray inner with a new one, especially from a scrap car (if you're lucky).
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Back from the days in which I used to smoke, I found that if you avoid using the ashtray the effects of smoking are greatly diminished. Partly because that way there is no ash in your car and partly because you alway have to have the window open when you smoke.
My partner still smokes and I don't notice any smell when I'm using her car.
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That's because your partners smokes!
Get a non smoker from a non smoking family to try. I bet it stinks.
I picked my son and his mates up the other day. I asked which had been smoking whilst waiting for me. It turns out that the smell was coming from the lad whose father smokes at home. BTW they had just spent 2 hr on a windy golf course and the poor s** still smelt Disgusting !
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>>>>That's because your partners smokes!
She's not allowed to smoke in the house or in my car so her smoking is probably restricted to a fag on the way to and from work (not heavy consumption if you see what I mean). I guess a heavy smoker would still wreck the interior of a car.
>>>>I asked which had been smoking whilst waiting for me. It turns out that the smell was coming from the lad whose father smokes at home
I remember that old one from when I was a school. "Yes mum, the reason that I smell of smoke is that there were bad kids on the bus and they were smoking near me". I also remomber explaining away the yellow marks on my fingers as nicotine stains.
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>>>nicotine stains
Try "iodine" stains. All that baccy must have rotted my brain.
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Yes I hear what was said about cig lighter doubling for power take-offs. But my ashtrayless Ford F-150 has no ashtray, a cig lighter with a cig symbol on it AND next to it a power take-off socket. The handbook says this is for recreational items such as camping fridges and flashlight rechargers...
....a side thought here, how can anyone AFFORD 60 cigs a day in UK unless they work for (delete)? Maybe they make a weekly trip to Calais to stock up.
..and I am no saint, I puffed away for 20 years, but then they always say reformed smokers are the worst. Even then though as a puffer I hated a stinky car and tried never to light up in it. I still get out of a taxi if the driver has been smoking......
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If you take time out and help at the local primary school with the infants reading, you'll also smell the fags on their reading books when they bring them back. They walk to school so their peers won't be smoking on the bus!
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We can all do the maths but this if frightening:
Current approx price for a pack of Benson and Hedges = £4.50
3 packs a day = £13.50 per day
Weekly cost = £94.50
Annual cost = £4914
Good god!!! If I had that much spare cash a year I sure as hell wouldn't be spending it on tabs!
Dan J - very occasional smoker :)
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Pre-tax that's about £5,500. Wow!
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and about £6.5k if a higher rate tax payer
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Well I used to smoke 40 a day until about 10 years ago,and the day I worked out the pre-tax equivalent cost was the day I gave up.
Now ... what do we all in the back room spend a lot of money, of which a massive percentage is tax, that other people percieve as damaging to their environment......
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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On this basis if and were a smoker and I quit helping to push up the share price of whoever makes those things nowadays I could save enough money and buy a reasonable car for the Ball & Chain, improve my own health prospects though perhaps not those of others (more pollution from another car on the road), but, even THEN, Gordon's still got his hand in my wallet for the petrol
tax. Maybe if I blew it all on a trip to Vegas.....
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To all you smokers out there please carry on puffing because you contribute so much money to the governments coffers.
If too many of you were to give it up they would have to retrieve the money from another source and no prizes for guessing who they would hit.
Keep to those low tar filtered brands, and also refrain from inhaling the "fumes" because we don't want you clogging up the already overstretched NHS.
Mal.
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If I had all the money I wasted on Booze, fags and wild women...
I'd probably spend it on booze, fags and wild women!
Our Finance Minister has the budget planned for 2 weeks time.
We assume he will start with sin taxes...
Damn, how will I cope when my smokes go up to R11;00 a pack?
[80p]
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If I had all the money I wasted on Booze, fags and wild women... I'd probably spend it on booze, fags and wild women! Our Finance Minister has the budget planned for 2 weeks time. We assume he will start with sin taxes... Damn, how will I cope when my smokes go up to R11;00 a pack? [80p]
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You can do what you like in Cape Town dosn't bother me:-)
Mal..
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Sorry mal.
The point I was trying to make was that fags are so dirt-cheap here that the majority of people puff away (It helps our farmers, who grow the stuff!)
If they were 4.50 a pack, I'd seriously think about quitting... :)
As fra as motoring goes, I'd say 40% of the cars in rush-hour traffic have a smoker driving them!
Horrendous figures!
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No need to apologise Ian, I understood fully the point you were making, mine was just a jocular reply as there was one of these :-) at the end.
Regards Mal.
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Smokers are no better or worse than anyone else in a car I am sure. Live and let live (but stay away from me with that s/h smoke). I wouldn't want to buy one of their cars but maybe the next guy wouldn't be put off, who knows?
Ian I feel for you. Our beautiful and petite Presidentess has just told us we must expect to pay upwards of 20 pesos a liter for our fuel. Dammit, that takes it over 26p! Any more of this and Growlette will have to cut down on our visits to the beauty parlor.
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Didn't BMW start offering ashtrays as an option a year or two back?
Mark
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My Ka had the option of a "non-smokers pack" I think. I didn't get a ciggy lighter, just a bit of plastic to go in the cigarette lighter hole which said "12V". It still had an ashtray, useful for sweetie wrappers etc.
Does anyone else think that smokers are worse drivers than non-smokers? Shurely trying to drive while holding on to your cancer stick and not burning yourself etc is a hazard to other road users?
mike
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It can get quite exciting when one drops a fag in one's lap, or chucks a butt out of the window only to see it being blown back in again.
Still nowhere near as distracting as trying to adjust a modern multifuncion stereo while on the move though.
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>>Still nowhere near as distracting as trying to adjust a modern multifuncion stereo while on the move though.
Agree with you there but I got over that problem by installing a remote controlled set and learning the keypad so I do not take my eyes off the road.
Mal.
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Does anyone else think that smokers are worse drivers than >>non-smokers?
>>Shurely trying to drive while holding on to your cancer stickand not burning yourself etc is a hazard to other road users?
Maybe
but are drivers with children worse drivers? Surely this is a worse distraction than doing something that has become second nature?
are nose pickers worse drivers? Similarly they have to operate with one hand, focus on their "product" and then move hand to mouth!
You could also argue that a smoker who has just had a cigarette is actually a better driver, because nicotine gives the user greater concentration skills.
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So, you've got one hand tied up, it's holding something that burns at God knows what temperature and (if the song is to be believed), smoke gets in your eyes and now we're reminded that it's a drug. Yes of course it's safer to drive like this, in fact with your improved abilities you should be able to drive a bit quicker into that bend or perhaps a little closer to the car in front.
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NWS
You sound rather agitated. Perhaps you should start smoking, it helps you relax!
;-)
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But then I'd catch sight of my dwindling bank balance and the whole effect would be ruined. Really pleased that you find safe driving amusing. ;-)
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But then I'd catch sight of my dwindling bank balance and the whole effect would be ruined. Really pleased that you find safe driving amusing. ;-)
I didn't realise that I did find it amusing, I was however pointing out that there are other common practices that are equally (if not more so) dangerous. You haven't chosen to take these up. You did come back at me rather strong, so I reacted with humour, sorry if I offended you, perhaps I should take your attitude and come back with a fiery reply? (no pun intended - or does that displease you also?)
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in fact with your improved abilities you shouldbe able to drive a bit quicker into that bend or perhaps a little closer to the car in front.
You're on to something here NWS.
I'm bored of Eddie Jordan and the F1 rest moaning about the loss of tobacco sponsorship revenue.
If all the drivers chain-smoked different brands through the Grand Prix, not only would they go faster but they could regain lost revenue by telling us which were the go faster brands afterwards.
'I exited Eau Rouge at about 180 and sparked the Marlboro. Then I got the speed and courage to overtake. For sure.'
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