I've tried, I've really tried, to fit into living in Vancouver.

Today was the last straw. After spending hundreds getting my DRL situation resolved, ripping the tint off my windows, etc, I still can't get my car registered up here.

The reason? My CF hood doesn't have hood shocks and therefore can't pass an Out of Province inspection.

That's it.

While the company I work for is a good one, it's not the only job in my industry. I'm going back to the US where the bureaucracy is at least tolerable, the taxes don't make me walk funny, and the bums don't sleep in my doorway.

don't let the door hit you on the way out

...I'm going back to the US where the bureaucracy is at least tolerable, the taxes don't make me walk funny, and the bums don't sleep in my doorway.
Sorry to hear that.

Vancouver's a bit of a zoo lately with the bum situation. A lot of it stems from the drug trade. There is also the effects of a reduction of Provincial commitment to housing the mentally challenged. Condominium construction in the downtown area also pushed a lot of the street people into the West End in the past decade.

Hopefully, the situation will improve as the local politicians try to clean the place up for the 2010 Olympics.

Get hard-a$$ on the drug trade and the property crime and aggressive pan-handling will recede... at least that's my platform when I run for Mayor. :shifty

What's so desirable abt Van in the first plce. Born and raised over there. Wouldn't move back no how. But if you calm down and still want to live there, Go borrow somebody's hood and try that just to get it passed. I did something like that for a former board member. I'm more surprised you didn't have more trouble with the emissions , with your mods.
...Jay

I hear your pain... i work in waterfront station and get harrassed daily for money or smokes.

I offer food and they refuse.... it wears thin after awhile.

I passed AirCare with ease, then found out I didn't even need to have it tested.

Nothing particularly desirable about Vancouver, other than the fact that if you HAVE to live IN a city, this one gets good magazine ratings. But it's still a city.

I didn't come here for Vancouver, I came here because a first class development studio wanted me to work for them, doing something different than what I'd done in the past...a chance to learn and expand my resume. I really do like the company, and like the work.

But the cost of living up here (in terms of money, time, and quality of life) is pretty damned high compared to where I lived and worked in the U.S.

I get paid less, taxed more, and live in a place 25% of the size I've been used to.

And I've spent a lot of my precious time off trying to get a car that's safe, roadworthy and well-maintained temporarily registered up here (I am NOT trying to import it) so I can drive with insurance coverage, and I'm still not done.

Which is another issue, a year's worth of ICBC liability at the lowest coverage allowed would cost me more than what I paid in total for full coverage the 5+ years I've owned this E36. My 27 year clean driving record doesn't mean much to ICBC, and even after I spent the days trying to get letters from my U.S. carriers for a 30% discount in rates, it'd still be ludicrously overpriced.

Yesterday, I thought about maybe buying a car up here and shipping the E36 back to the U.S., if I did get it titled up here I'd have to reverse the process when I left BC to get it titled again in the U.S., since then it would be a Canadian car.

Then I actually looked at new car prices up here.

The only thing about Vancouver that doesn't really bother me is the weather, I was fully aware of that going into this deal.

Sorry to hear we've lost another one, but I feel your pain but this place is a socialist paradise

At the risk of getting political, There could be a worse situation like a few years ago.
...Jay

Yeah, Vancouver's OOP inspections are a bitch, I feel you. I was heartbroken when I removed my tint. Taxes are insane, we let druggies shoot up in a nice little booth watched by gov't nurses, and even with our job market, there are still bums on the street. They have no damn excuse - people are hiring even those with disabilities now, and paying well. Housing is ludicrous, and the mayor's a dweeb (I saw him wheeling along downtown once and said as much to his face). But even after all that, there's the goods.

Beautiful mountains, almost every sport imaginable, fantastic scenery, generally cheery citizens, and a well-laid-out city plan. I guess you're not, but I'm willing to put up with the crap to enjoy the good.

I passed AirCare with ease, then found out I didn't even need to have it tested.

Nothing particularly desirable about Vancouver, other than the fact that if you HAVE to live IN a city, this one gets good magazine ratings. But it's still a city.

I didn't come here for Vancouver, I came here because a first class development studio wanted me to work for them, doing something different than what I'd done in the past...a chance to learn and expand my resume. I really do like the company, and like the work.

But the cost of living up here (in terms of money, time, and quality of life) is pretty damned high compared to where I lived and worked in the U.S.

I get paid less, taxed more, and live in a place 25% of the size I've been used to.

And I've spent a lot of my precious time off trying to get a car that's safe, roadworthy and well-maintained temporarily registered up here (I am NOT trying to import it) so I can drive with insurance coverage, and I'm still not done.

Which is another issue, a year's worth of ICBC liability at the lowest coverage allowed would cost me more than what I paid in total for full coverage the 5+ years I've owned this E36. My 27 year clean driving record doesn't mean much to ICBC, and even after I spent the days trying to get letters from my U.S. carriers for a 30% discount in rates, it'd still be ludicrously overpriced.

Yesterday, I thought about maybe buying a car up here and shipping the E36 back to the U.S., if I did get it titled up here I'd have to reverse the process when I left BC to get it titled again in the U.S., since then it would be a Canadian car.

Then I actually looked at new car prices up here.

The only thing about Vancouver that doesn't really bother me is the weather, I was fully aware of that going into this deal.


I'm surprised you don't mind the weather...i've been waiting a long time for it to clear up so i can get a nice detail and drop the top one last time....but it looks like it'll be like this for the next 6 MONTHS...lol

don't let the door hit you on the way out

Dont let the door hit you in vagina on the way out :) ....better

Move to Calgary, we need people here for our ginormous amount of jobs available! And no smog/emission testing.

All my friends have been able to pass OOP's, and if not, well a $20 dollar bill to the mechanic will do it.

:)

In the famous words of Bruce Allen- If ya don't like it here get the eff out and go home. Whiner, emo loser. Maybe you'll be in time to be sent to Iraq.

Actually buddy, I did my time in Beirut...in 1983. Don't push that button.

Well anyways Cyyyya

There's no need for the harsh words guys, Vancouver is not for everyone. It's not a perfect city, and if you're used to something much larger, and much cheaper, a more refined place like the pacific northwest definately will not be for you. Anyways, good luck in the future.

Come to Calgary. Someone already mentioned it....

Vancouver does suck man. no night life at all. 1 street of clubs "Richards" and a bunch of pizza palours. I been there many times.. DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL nice place to visit AND THAT IS IT.. I had to stay there for 3 months and MAN WAS I HATING everyday of it.. I found Montreal and Calgary to be much better cities than Vancouver.. GOOD LUCK TO YA..

but Calgary get's my thumbs UP!!

Vancouver does suck man. no night life at all. 1 street of clubs "Richards" and a bunch of pizza palours. I been there many times.. DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL nice place to visit AND THAT IS IT.. I had to stay there for 3 months and MAN WAS I HATING everyday of it.. I found Montreal and Calgary to much better cities than Vancouver.. GOOD LUCK TO YA..

but Calgary get's my thumbs UP!!

Calgary is poop sandwich. The only reason why I'm here is to make money... and I'm willing to deal with the superficiality of the city to do it.

Never been to Van in years...but I don't blame the guy for wanting to leave based on what he's experienced. Seems like a nice place to visit...live, that's another story. Just my opinion...take it or leave it.

Vancouver does suck man. no night life at all. 1 street of clubs "Richards" and a bunch of pizza palours. I been there many times.. DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL nice place to visit AND THAT IS IT.. I had to stay there for 3 months and MAN WAS I HATING everyday of it.. I found Montreal and Calgary to be much better cities than Vancouver.. GOOD LUCK TO YA..

but Calgary get's my thumbs UP!!

you obviously didnt visit clubvibez.com before going out...

Vancouver does suck man. no night life at all. 1 street of clubs "Richards" and a bunch of pizza palours. I been there many times.. DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL nice place to visit AND THAT IS IT.. I had to stay there for 3 months and MAN WAS I HATING everyday of it.. I found Montreal and Calgary to be much better cities than Vancouver.. GOOD LUCK TO YA..

but Calgary get's my thumbs UP!!


No night life at all? hahah aside from toronto i dont think any place in canada has better night life

Yeah, well, I'm 43 years old, I couldn't care less what the club scene is like in Vancouver (or anywhere else for that matter), got that out of my system 20 years ago.

Actually, that pretty much applies to most of what makes Vancouver a "great city"...I'm just too old to appreciate much of it, or I've already done it elsewhere.

And living near Davie St., I think I'm probably too heterosexual as well. :)

BTW, croak, do you have any new pics of the bavarian falcon? I haven't seen new pics of it in ages...

Nothing's changed in ages (other than me ripping the tint off the front windows). It's right where I want it mod and power-wise.

When I get back to the U.S. I'll see about getting an E46 M3 for my next project.

Oh, and there are a few things I do like about Canada/BC/Vancouver. Honey Crullers at Tims are addicting, I have Novus fiber optic broadband with a 30mb/s pipe, which does not suck (especially in my line of work), and quite a few of the Petro stations carry 94 octane, which my car appreciates.

I've heard that the OOP inspection results really depends on the mechanic that is doing it - they can come up with some stupid/expensive change which they blame on government regulations, but in the end its just the mechanic thats trying to suck you dry. BTW, I don't think it's that much easier importing cars from Canada to the US - I remember a guy in another forum a few months back trying to get a completely stock M5 from TO to CA, and it definitely cost him quite a bit of cash. He needed a letter from BMW Canada stating that the car met all federal/state DOT requirements.

The real estate values have been on the rise consistently for the past 20 years here and still going up. The city is always growing from people wanting to live here, and the prices reflect that. That and the olympics are something this city has going for it.

Oh well. Dont get shot while living in america and watch your dollar fall below ours :)

Heh, well at least I can shoot back in most places in the U.S., and it's really not good long-term for an export heavy country like Canada to have higher valued currency than the biggest buyer of their exports.

The real estate values have been on the rise consistently for the past 20 years here and still going up. The city is always growing from people wanting to live here, and the prices reflect that. That and the olympics are something this city has going for it.

HEY...THEDUDE... I like your rims,what kind are they,and how much did you pay.Do you have better pics of them?I'm running stock 18s right now(just bought the car in july).I'll be replacing both rims and rubber next spring.Thanks...Icabob

I went to Vancouver this past labour day, and I did like stanley park and the hills etc. its a place I can only vist. We toke a wrong turn on I think it was called Hastings or something and I have never seen so many bums in my life. It was at least 2 kms of road with bums on both sides. I come from Toronto and have never seen so many, and ya the nightlife sucked pretty much. But again Toronto has a crazy nightlife.
I'm just wondering what will the city do when the olympics come to down?? They cant allow all the tourists to see those bums on Hastings?

It was fun while I was there, probably wont be going back unless its family related.

HEY...THEDUDE... I like your rims,what kind are they,and how much did you pay.Do you have better pics of them?I'm running stock 18s right now(just bought the car in july).I'll be replacing both rims and rubber next spring.Thanks...Icabob

Thanks. I bought the car off a friend, he paid $9k for the wheels and tires. The stock 18's are good for snow tires.
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=176587&page=5

I went to Vancouver this past labour day, and I did like stanley park and the hills etc. its a place I can only vist. We toke a wrong turn on I think it was called Hastings or something and I have never seen so many bums in my life. It was at least 2 kms of road with bums on both sides. I come from Toronto and have never seen so many, and ya the nightlife sucked pretty much. But again Toronto has a crazy nightlife.
I'm just wondering what will the city do when the olympics come to down?? They cant allow all the tourists to see those bums on Hastings?

It was fun while I was there, probably wont be going back unless its family related.

Yeah, hastings and main area. Theres a 5-10 block distance of junkies. Its better to have them all in one place instead of roaming the city!
The nightlife can be great, you just dont know where to go.

several guides have been written though. search's must be done

sorry to have you leave with such a bad impression, B.C. has ridiculous laws with there registry and whatnot, you would have had better luck in almost any other province, but it is still pretty nice over there, those mountain roads were pretty much paved for BMW's

anybody in vancouver interested in a set of 19" CSL replicas?

I saw your car downtown (Vancouver) today. At around 7:30-7:40 pm travelling westbound on Howe @ Georgia.

Are you still here?? I thought you vowed to leave Vancouver months ago? :confused

Vancouver gets all the bums because they would freeze to death if they tried living anywhere else (-22C here).
All cities are an insane place to live IMO. I'm glad I managed to escape.
Canada is not for everyone(thank god).

Haha...Croak, you still here? Good to have you around...

Guys, don't take it personally that he doesn't like certain aspects of our city. He's just used to another culture and lifestyle. I for one would never want to live in the southern states. So there, works both ways! :devillook

I have been travelling a bit over the last little while and am constantly amazed by what people put up with in other parts of the world. For example. everyone in France drives small diesels...and the disparity of incomes in South Africa are just ludricous. The traffic in London is crazy and yes, most people drive diesels as well!

Ukraine has crazy taxes on cars, especially used ones and they are currently proposing adding a 25% surcharge on all new cars! People's average salary is still around $200-250 US and subsistance living is the norm.

I for one am thankful to be living here. I am sure Croak knows more then most having served overseas, and face it, NA is certainly better then alot of places. Just take it with a grain of salt. I'd get crabby too if I worked long hours in a new city...well I work the hours...:stickoutt

And hey Croak, pretty soon you won't even be able to "huddle" outside on the sidewalk for a Butt...with the 6 Meter restriction coming in...people will have to go out onto the frigging street! Meh...Other parts of the world, people still smoke in your face! ;)

I would love to live in the sun of Cali but not sure if I can handle all the pollution.

Above everything else here, I am most fed up with how much people waffle and flounder on any decision they have to make. It's like no one has a backbone here.

I've dealt with a lot of Americans (buying and selling) and when they say they're going to do something, they do it and that's the end of it. That's something I respect greatly.

Above everything else here, I am most fed up with how much people waffle and flounder on any decision they have to make. It's like no one has a backbone here.

I've dealt with a lot of Americans (buying and selling) and when they say they're going to do something, they do it and that's the end of it. That's something I respect greatly.

I don't know about that. I lived in California for most of my life and have dealt with plenty of flaky people.

To be fair, I haven't been in Canada for that long, so maybe Canadians are even more flaky, so that's why you get that impression.

I just did a roadtrip all the way down to San Diego, and overall, I liked Nor Cal the best. Monterey was gorgeous; I'd live there!

Move to Calgary, we need people here for our ginormous amount of jobs available! And no smog/emission testing.

All my friends have been able to pass OOP's, and if not, well a $20 dollar bill to the mechanic will do it.

:)and tell them about the cheap gas, and no PST (or has that changed in the meantime?)

I looooove Vancouver, but it's definitely not for everyone.

One of the worst things about Vancouver is how poorly foreign cultures have integrated into ours. But I doubt this is the place to discuss it...could get pretty heated.

One of the worst things about Vancouver is how poorly foreign cultures have integrated into ours. But I doubt this is the place to discuss it...could get pretty heated.

how poorly foreign cultures have integrated into ours? wtf?! uh.... isn't the freedom to co-exist the basis of muticulturalism? if everybody was supposed to fall in and meld into one, wouldnt we be something like... say... the usa where everybody is supposed to check their differences at the door?

cloak... you make a good point about the $CDN > $USD is bad considering usa is the biggest purchasers of can goods, but at least i can now buy parts cheaper!

i studied economics too. thats why i drive an e.

how poorly foreign cultures have integrated into ours? wtf?! uh.... isn't the freedom to co-exist the basis of muticulturalism? if everybody was supposed to fall in and meld into one, wouldnt we be something like... say... the usa where everybody is supposed to check their differences at the door?

cloak... you make a good point about the > is bad considering usa is the biggest purchasers of can goods, but at least i can now buy parts cheaper!

i studied economics too. thats why i drive an e.


With the issue of multiculturalism, I think he's referring to the fact that many parts of Vancouver seem to be distinct segregations of a specific culture or ethnicity. Richmond = all Asians, PoCo = mostly Korean, Surrey = East Asians, etc... There are little mini-colonies and it seems like people aren't willing to integrate into a general Canadian identity when they land here, they're only looking for a China in Vancouver.


That being said, I once heard a metaphor for Canadian identity that I really like: "America may be a melting pot, but Canada is a tossed salad". I like that immigrants here don't have to conform to one set standard, but instead they're encouraged to retain their culture and celebrate it. The diversity is what makes Canada, and Vancouver especially, such a unique place. The problem is finding that balance between how much of their culture should be imported and how much should be homegrown. Still, I wouldn't trade this city for any other in the world. :)

One of the worst things about Vancouver is how poorly foreign cultures have integrated into ours. But I doubt this is the place to discuss it...could get pretty heated.


WOW!!!! what an ignorant comment....


Croak, sucks to hear you're hating your stay in vancouver. the bureaucracy there can be unbarable. the waits, the jumping through hoops, and just to pay more money for everything. calgary is more a lot more laxed vehicle regulation, and not to mention cheaper. ( I pay $1476 a year with full cover for 2 cars, and I paid $1860 for one in vancouver) and the jobs here pay a lot more. but when it comes down to it I would move back in a heartbeat.

AHHH I'll be back in vancouver for the long weekend... I can't wait

Wow...This is reactivating an old thread. If Croak is still here I guess he has recognized the good vibes in B.C. especially the coast.
...Jay

hecuter... an adequate summary...
... but that was exactly my point. the 'unwillingness' to integrate into mainstream canadian culture is the strength of canadian multiculturalism. although newcomers tend to seek familiairity, the kids go to the same schools, the language of business remains english, and we all equally hate paying taxes to the man.

nothing wrong with looking for a china, india, mexico, or watever in canada as long as the best of each are used. if immigrants of the world were to 'fully integrate' like the usa, my e30 would have been designed by germans, built by austrians, and assembled by canadians. i prefer authenticity.

hecuter... you dont know my friend miss frade do you? shes mexican from n van too.

hecuter... an adequate summary...
... but that was exactly my point. the 'unwillingness' to integrate into mainstream canadian culture is the strength of canadian multiculturalism. although newcomers tend to seek familiairity, the kids go to the same schools, the language of business remains english, and we all equally hate paying taxes to the man.

nothing wrong with looking for a china, india, mexico, or watever in canada as long as the best of each are used. if immigrants of the world were to 'fully integrate' like the usa, my e30 would have been designed by germans, built by austrians, and assembled by canadians. i prefer authenticity.

hecuter... you dont know my friend miss frade do you? shes mexican from n van too.
I know where you're coming from, but I'm saying it's becoming an issue since it seems Vancouver is just becoming a collection of Little Chinas/Little Pakistans, etc... instead of simply "Vancouver".

Sorry, don't know her. North Van is still a pretty big place.

move to saskatoon?

Just end the fuckng thread.....nothing good will come of it.

Its not an ignorant comment... an increasing amount of immigrants are treating Canada (mostly Vancouver as their entry point) as a doormat. Take a look at where most of the gang violence is coming from, mind you our laws are pretty weak... When my mother came to Canada from Athens in the 70's, no one gave her her driving test in Greek, but here its available in purely Chinese so when they come here there is no incentive to contribute to the community. I've been treated very poorly by immigrants when I come into their stores because I cannot speak their alien language. It's also unsafe. I don't have a problem with people retaining their culture but I see it as unfair when they come here and we have to accomodate them while they will not even try to be a part of Canada.

It's very hard to describe in text and there definately is a fine line here, because obviously the Dominion of Canada was initially made from "white, European" immigrants.