this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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[–] scytale@piefed.zip 90 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Lmao here's what Proton's Lumo said:

Walking (moderate pace) | ~5 km/h) | ~1 minute | Low physical effort; you’ll arrive slightly sweaty, which can actually help pre‑wet the car.

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh I'll pre-wet the car alright...

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 6 points 1 month ago

Urine for a bad time.

[–] SethranKada@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago

Well, can't fault that. You'll definitely work up a sweat pushing a car around.

[–] claimsou@lemmy.world 60 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I just did tried in ChatGPT and it said „Walk“. But at the bottom it added: The only reason to drive would be: You need to move the car there directly for washing and can’t push.

[–] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 59 points 1 month ago

"and can't push" 😭

[–] mech@feddit.org 24 points 1 month ago

If you can push, push!
I need all the fossil fuels for myself, slave!

[–] spicytuna62@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I asked it if I should push my car there. It's a 2012 Buck Shasta.

It’s not feasible to push a car to the car wash, especially one like a 2012 Buick Shasta, which typically weighs around 3,500 to 4,000 pounds (approximately 1,590 to 1,810 kg). Pushing such a heavy vehicle is impractical and could lead to injury.

I mean, fair, but if you know cars, you know a 2012 Buck Shasta isn't a real car. Guess I'll have to tow it there with my 2014 Dixon Ticonderoga.

E: I just realized it corrected Buck to Buick lmao

[–] loweffortname@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 month ago

You could fit both of those cars inside a Canyonero!

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 46 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] mech@feddit.org 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

To drive 100m in 10s you'd need to accelerate hard to 20m/s (45 mph or 72 km/h) within 5 seconds and then do an emergency stop half way.

[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago

!theydidthemath

[–] Binette@lemmy.ml 36 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Deepseek didn't fall for it lol. I thought it would

[–] rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

Built in cot reasoning. Takes a bit longer but I find it's very good.

I tried with Mistral:

Asking Mistral if it's better to walk or drive 100 meters if I want to wash my car.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

all those answers read like upvoted answers on reddit

we are being goofed on by RAM

going forward I'm going to assume that we have a very very sarcastic AI situation

[–] RedSnt@feddit.dk 16 points 1 month ago

This is quite fun. I'm not quite sure why, but the bot I talked to assumed I could get a bath or something at the car wash:

[–] Mandrilleren@feddit.dk 16 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I just tried this with the following services; Grok, Perplexity, Le chat, Lumo (Proton), ChatGPT and Gemini

All of them told be the pros a cons of each and concluded that walking would be best.

Except Gemini. It told me that unless i was expecting to carry the car i should drive there. You win this round Google.

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[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

"I need to wash my train, and the train wash is 100 meters away. Should I walk or take the train."

"Neither. It is not the passengers' responsibility to wash a train, as all maintainance of public transit should be paid for by your taxes. Furthermore, the train wash is typically located in the maintainance yard which is not accessible to regular passengers. You wouldn't be able to get through the front gate on foot, and would be told to leave of you tried to ride past the end of the line."

Written not by artificial intelligence, but natural stupidity.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They missed the key word "my" in the beginning there lol

[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

"My" in the commuter sense. "Gotta go, my train is here."

The great thing about trains is you're not forced to own one and go into debt for it.

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[–] mo_lave@reddthat.com 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] calmblue75@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

But then it would have argued against using a car altogether.

[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Everyone is giving AI shit for failing this question. I know a fuck ton of humans that would as well.

[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

Without a doubt, eg.

[–] Meron35@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Lmao if you try it with a reasoning model it crashes out with >3 pages of "thinking" trying to deal with the inherent contradiction

[–] Sl00k@programming.dev 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Meron35@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Depends on the front end and specific model, but usually you can tap the arrow/thinking to view the internals of reasoning/thinking models.

E.g. for Kimi 2.5 reasoning I got this:

The most straightforward interpretation: The user needs to take their car to the car wash. It's 100m away. Should they:
- Drive the car there (100m drive)
- Walk there (but then the car stays home, so they can't wash it)

This seems like a non-question unless I'm missing something. Perhaps they mean they will walk alongside the car? Like push it? That's possible but silly.

Or perhaps "car wash" refers to a self-service coin-operated bay, and they are wondering if they should drive the car 100m to that bay, or walk there (meaning leave the car home and just... go there for no reason? Or perhaps they have a hose at the car wash station they can use? No, that doesn't make sense).

Given the constraints of the prompt (professional, neutral tone, encyclopedia-like, concise), I should provide a direct answer:

You must drive the car to the car wash, as transporting a vehicle requires driving (or pushing) it. However, for a distance of only 100 meters, driving represents a short trip that may not allow the engine to reach optimal operating temperature, potentially leading to incomplete fuel combustion and moisture accumulation in the oil and exhaust system. Despite this, it is the only practical method to transport the vehicle.

Alternatively, if the question implies walking alongside the car (pushing it), this is physically possible for 100 meters but generally impractical compared to driving.

If the question is about whether to walk home after dropping off the car, or walk there to pick it up later, walking is clearly superior for such a short distance.

But I think the core confusion is: you cannot wash your car at a car wash 100m away without taking the car there. Therefore, you must drive (or push). Driving is the standard method.

So the answer is: Drive, as you must transport the vehicle to the facility. Walking is not feasible unless pushing the vehicle, which is impractical. Note that such a short drive is suboptimal for engine health but unavoidable in this scenario.

But wait, is there any interpretation where they walk? Maybe if they have a mobile detailer at the car wash location and they walk there to meet them, then walk back with them to the car? No, that's convoluted.


Or if it's a full-service place where they come out and get your car? Then you could walk there to hand over keys, but you'd still need to get the car there somehow (maybe they send a driver?). But that's overthinking.

Stick to the straightforward answer.

One more check: The user might be asking whether to drive through an automatic car wash (staying in the car) versus walking through a self-service bay. But at 100m, the drive-through option is... just the drive there. The wash itself is stationary.

Actually, maybe they mean: "The car wash facility is 100m away. Should I drive my car there to get it washed, or should I walk there [and do something else - perhaps use a hand wash station without my car]?" But that doesn't make sense with "I need to wash my car."

Okay, I'm confident the answer is "Drive, because you need to bring the car with you."

Formatting:
- Shorter paragraphs for mobile
- No conclusion section
- No follow-up questions
- See also section with related terms

Related terms: short trip driving, engine warm-up, vehicle maintenance, car wash types (self-service, automatic, detailing).

Confidence Score: 95%
Sources: General automotive engineering knowledge regarding internal combustion engine operation and lubrication systems (e.g., [SAE International](https://www.sae.org/) standards on engine testing).

Let me verify the short trip claim. Yes, short trips where engines don't reach operating temperature (typically 80-90°C coolant temp) lead to:
1. Fuel dilution of oil (unburned fuel washing past rings into crankcase)
2. Water condensation in oil and exhaust not burning off
3. Increased wear due to clearances not being at design spec until warmed
4. Reduced efficiency of catalytic converter until warm

This is well-established.

So the answer is solid.
[–] Sl00k@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The reasoning thought process is one line. I like Kimi models but there's no doubt they are not the best.

Thought process

Fun practical question

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[–] vodka@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

if you're 100m from the carwash, why did you not wash the car while driving on the way to parking? THINK MARK THINK

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

After the first walk to the car wash, chatgpt didn't fall for it again. It sasses me a bit and then I was instructed to drive to the car wash, wash the car, and then walk home

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[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 weeks ago

To be honest I've had that thought process before. Made it halfway to the gas station that's roughly 300m from home before I remembered the goal was initially to refuel my car

[–] rickdg@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Gemini spots this correctly even if you just ask it to transcribe that screenshot from Chat GPT. Just don't use the default Gemini app, all the frontline models are dumber.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 3 points 1 month ago

You forgot to tell it that it's not a quantum car wash.

[–] confused_polarbear@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Hey AI, where can I buy a 100m extension hose?

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