I owned a Citroen with a 1.0TSI engine that was supposedly more efficient than the 1.4TSI in my VW. In reality the VW was and still is far more fuel efficient, even though it’s a significantly more powerful engine. Could be that the Citroen was shaped like a brick though. LOL.

I get why manufacturers did it.Wet belt perishes outside warranty or after the lease contract ends. Customer ends up footing the bill and increased cost over a dry belt. Lower emission under test conditions for regulatory compliance.

This being said, I just replaced the belt on my vw at less than 150k km/ 93k miles and coming up on 10 years. VW recommends it. Some markets they recommend replacing it much sooner. That’s arguably a shorter interval than some wet belts. But it is much cheaper to replace than a wet belt, much much cheaper than a new engine, so a no brainer. (400E/$)

I’ll be glad to move to an electric car. Hopefully be able to avoid some of that nonsense.

Wet belt?

completely unavailable to obtain in the US

vinted/ebay

3G is being phased out everywhere

2G fallback.

specific apps that relate to taxi services and talking with my group

Yeah. That’s a no.

I find it annoying that everything’s an app now, when it could also still be a website.

In the Netherlands and Belgium employers sometimes offer what is called a “baaldag”. Basically, if you’re having an especially shit day, you can take the day off. No doctors note required.

That’s why I said you could have someone drive you.

And mandatory sick notes are stupid.

Plenty of places you don’t need a sick note for a day off.

This is probably not what you want, but I sometimes use a 2017 Nokia 3310, the one with 3G.

There are not really apps on that(IRC only twitter and facebook, and I don’t know if those still work), but you can install/upgrade to the latest version of opera mini, which does offer access to (some) more apps.

To be clear this is on my to do list. In the past I just used it as a dumbphone.

I’ve never lived in the US.

Going to the doctor for the common cold is insane. Why waste doctors’ time on something that’ll pass on its own with a bit of rest and paracetamol? Utterly selfish.

Driving to a hospital if you’re not badly injured is also perfectly normal. Once again, why would you call an ambulance that could be helping someone in dire need, if you don’t need to?

Unless the injury is life threatening, drive yourself or have someone drive you. Not insane at all.