Welcome to the last week of 2024. How was your year? I can’t hear whatever you’re saying out loud to your computer, but either way the year is coming to a close — it’s time to get planning for your 2025 adventures. Last week, we asked for your 2025 automotive resolutions, and today we’re parsing through your responses.
Getting Into Sims
Not so much a resolution, but a curiosity:
I’m considering getting into the sim racing thing. I miss the fun of racing and can’t afford to get back into the habit for more than one-off things. I want to research the possibility by trying out somebody else’s rig and see if it trips my competitive triggers.
I haven’t done much research into this, so please let me hijack part of this Question of the Day with my own questions: How many folks out there have actually done this already, and what did you think of it? And what kind of equipment would you recommend to get the most feel/enjoyment out of the experience?
This is an open call to any sim racers who didn’t chime in on the QOTD. How do you like yours? What would you recommend?
Start Riding Earlier
Start my motorcycle riding “season” earlier (maybe even March) and ride later (at least November if possible—I’ve got all of the Gerbing 12V heated gear for cold weather). Also, definitely increase my riding miles by at least 33% in 2025 (very attainable and not worthy of stating what that total might be).
Finally, restarting the clock on no moving violations. I went 31 years, 4 months*. Now it’s 3 months. It was a good run but now I’m paranoid. It’s not me, either, it’s the motorcycles! They insist on going fast…
*I did get pulled over about half a dozen times (including once for going too slow!) in that time period but “escaped” unscathed each time, including the 30+ minutes at over 110mph in Death Valley, CA (the CHP car was so far back that it wasn’t visible). It was hot, my record was clean, and I think the CHP officer just did not want to arrest me and hang around waiting for a tow truck for my motorcycle. Lucky me!
Consider: What if your riding season never stops?
Submitted by: NotLewisHamilton
Make Things Nice, Keep Things Nice
My reconstructed 2000 Triumph Sprint ST that I converted to naked many years ago hasn’t started in over 2 years, and I need to get it running again. No idea what the problem is, but I’ve rebuilt it several times and may need to do it again.
I also just bought a 2019 E53 coupe. Its by far the nicest car I’ve ever owned, and my goal in 2025 is to keep as mint as it is now. I’m not “only drive when its sunny and wipe it down with a diaper” levels of anal about it, but I’m definitely more picky about where I park and what I park next too. And I’m looking into PPF, which is not something I ever thought I’d do.
I swear I didn’t go and actively seek out all the motorcycle comments this week, y’all just like motorcycles. What I’m hearing is you want more bikes on Jalopnik in 2025.
Submitted by: GrannyShifter (don’t judge my Hofmeister kink)
A Whole List
Automotive:
-Fix some niggles (door actuators, get car detailed, sort headliner) on my 09 Audi S5
-Actively work on selling the S5 (so many flakes on FB) or convince my SO to keep it (insurance and running costs are high).
-Attend Montreal F1.
Motorcycle:
– Ride more than the 500 miles I rode this year.
– Map out a 3-4 day motorcycle road trip or two.
– Consider selling the Diavel for something different. Moto Guzzi Mandello was fantastic to ride but I also like their now discontinued Flying Fortress.
Monsterajr, what’s it like to be productive?
D More Y
Do more maintenance and repairs on my own cars. I live in an apartment, but I have a garage now, so there’s no excuse. It’s gonna save me a lot of money in the long run, and as someone who thoroughly enjoys tinkering, it’s not going to feel like a massive chore. I’ve had the dealer service manual for my car for a few years now, so I’m just gonna head to Harbor Freight and pick up a jack and some jack stands and get started.
I keep getting Harbor Freight YouTube ads, and I feel like they’re wasting their money. I already buy from Harbor Freight, you don’t need to sell me on it.
Do More Of What You Love
Just do more “car things”, as cliché as that sounds.
Go to more car shows and Cars & Coffees. Put a lot more miles on my Focus with my kids in the back. Catch up on some needed maintenance on our vehicles. Go for drives in the countryside with some friends again (haven’t done this since Covid).
It’s nice to reinvest in your hobbies, the things you really enjoy. Not just reinvest with money, but with time and effort.
Welcome, Fellow NUMTOT
Do less of it.
I live close to my job, and have a bike that just needs some TLC to get in working order. I already don’t put a lot of miles on the 1.5 cars I own (I have a fun car and then share a beater with family that lives close by) but would rather limit them to just road trips if possible.
The thing about cars is that they’re very fun, but they’re also a terrible form of transportation to build your lives, cities, and countries around. Car culture is fun, commuter culture is garbage. Bikes are better, trains are better,
Make A Friend(ee)
Revamp the fleet and road trip. My wife is looking for a small car because she hates driving the Mazda CX-5. I am considering selling it to buy a JDM van if the guy I know can find a good deal on a Mazda Bongo Friendee, or a pop top HiAce. Then we head for the middle of nowhere in comfort
If you swap out a CX-5 for a Bongo Friendee, you will be the coolest commenter on this website. Please do this.
Two Wheels Good
Simply put: ride more, both in terms of frequency and distance. Too much inane nonsense got in the way in 2024 to commute much via motozoom let alone do any decent trips but the year upcoming should be clear of most of the silliness that ran interference.
Many are saying this! More bikes on Jalopnik!
Shift It Yourself
Buying a manual car, (read: any). COVID and college pushed everything out of reach for a lot longer than I thought.
Garlos, I’m going to be so real with you. I assume every Jalopnik reader is between the ages of 40 and 60 until proven otherwise, and to hear you put COVID before college in this comment is kind of blowing my mind.
Submitted by: Garlos Chosn (in honor of Mergio Sarchionne)
Transmission Mission
Finally rebuild my 4LSLIPPY that’s needed it for a year.
Mustang2Matt, thank you for introducing me to new car insider language. I will proceed to use this to alienate everyone I talk to.
Get Thee A Porsche
I need a new daily driver next summer.
My oldest son has his license and a full time job waiting for him at the conclusion of high school in the spring. I’m handed down my 2005 Mercedes E500. It didn’t cost me much when I bought it in 2018, so it doesn’t owe me anything.
I resolve to save my nickels and dimes, for a 2012ish Porsche Panamera 4S. I love a ‘super sedan’ as a daily driver, and the Panamera’s are nearing the bottom of their depreciation. They are an under-appreciated car, and nearing bargain status, for what you get. I don’t put a lot of mileage on a car (less than 10,000 KMs per year), so maintenance costs are not an enormous concern. The Mercedes was a fast car and I loved driving it, but every next car has to be better/faster than the last. The Panamera would fit the bill.
If you’re saving nickels and dimes starting in January, you may not have that Panamera come spring. I’d recommend saving at least quarters.
Downsize The Fleet
1. Stop buying more cars
2. Work on the cars I already have. They are all drivable and in good condition but there are many little things including PMs that can and need to be done.
3. Stop buying more cars.
4. Stop with the tools purchasing madness under “one day I will need it and I won’t have it”. Buy only if you have a job that you WILL do and that required THIS tool ONLY.
5. Visit car meets in the summer and take my 4 years old with me, he will be thrilled.
6. Stop buying more cars as I do all of the above.
7. It is Ok to sell the car and NOT buy any car right away
Okay, but, consider: Buy bikes instead. You don’t have any resolutions against buying more motorcycles.
Get Random Orbital Buffing
I don’t like to make solid resolutions as such, So I would say this coming year I need to polish and care for the look of my cars more than the mechanicals and I need to drive them more.
I keep my cars mechanically as close to perfect as I can, But I tend to neglect making them look really nice. So they are all very reliable and nice to drive but don’t stand up to any kind of aesthetic scrutiny. So need to work on that a bit.
Get yourself a clay bar, a random orbital buffer, all the good stuff. You won’t regret it.
Go Rallying
Im going to my first BMW MOA rally this year. On top of that I will probably do some of the Lobo Loco mini rallies. Ill probably take a car to AMA vintage days because I have a grom clone that I plan to sell at that event.
More bikes! I would say I’m turning Jalopnik into a motorcycle-first website, but that’s not true. I’m not in charge, and that’s probably for the best.
