It occurred to me today that I am pretty paranoid about my car. I was driving to work behind a Toyota 4runner and I started to hear a weird squeaking noise coming from my front end. I started getting worried,but I was near my exit,so I figured I'd sort it out when I parked at work. I switched lanes and passed the 4runner, only to hear the sound even louder coming from HIS front end, not mine. I had to laugh.
Then coming home I started to smell anti-freeze, knee jerk I start going through my check messages, nothing again it stopped when I passed a crappy pickup truck.
Then, nearing my house, I smelled the unmistakeable smell of burning oil. There was no car really close and this had me worried, until I reached the next light and an older Mitsubishi poured blue smoke from in front of me when the light turned green.
I am not usually this paranoid, but it seems whenever you get your car back from the shop (mine was in for almost a month after an accident) your senses are heightened to what might be next.
Is it just me?

 

Yeah, the same thing happened to me the other week at a stoplight. I said WTF, then realized it was the car next to me.

 

I freak out constantly when I think something might be wrong w my car...

 

I think it's a pretty normal reaction, no matter WHAT car you drive. We're programmed for survival, and anything we detect that might mean getting stranded somewhere puts us on the defensive.

 

Unsurprisingly I am as well. The rare occasion that I let someone else drive my car, when I return to it, the car always feel a bit different somehow.

 

LOL, I feel exactly the same, it feels somehow violated when someone else drives it.

 

Burning oil smell always gets me so does the antifreeze smell!

 

I even feel nervous when my wife drives my car!

 

I used to be that way - but for good cause: was driving unreliable modified POS cars in college, and they would break a lot. Plus internet forums had come along and I was reading all the horror stories people post. I carried that paranoia for years. Always turning down the radio to see if it was my engine knocking, or rolling down the windows to see if it was my car smelling like clutch, or thinking about what would happen if my new brake pads failed, or my tire popped on the highway, etc. 99.99% of the time I worried, nothing was wrong and nothing broke.

Lesson learned? Worry is pointless and will cause you more stress than any actual problems you encounter - just be prepared (emergency maneuver knowledge, increasing your driving skills, an AAA membership, extra tools in trunk, someone to call in emergency, etc.) and don't obsess. it will happen whether you worry or not, and the anxiety will be far more detrimental to your quality of life or driving experience than any actual problems you happen to have.

Also, don't let reading forums ruin your driving experience - people come here when they have problems or to complain about something, not to post "Hey, I had my 378th trouble-free day in a row!" Keep that in mind.

 

+1 agreed