The Mustang is fun, but I wish we’d bought the GT. It’s a good car for driving along A1A in Florida, though. The Sport Trac is a great vehicle for divers (which we are); you can throw all your wet, smelly gear in the back, secure under the locking cover and not have it stink up the interior. The '99 Explorer is now in the hands of our daughter, and is going pretty strongly with 180,000 miles or so on it.
I was also surprisingly fond of the Contour. My wife hated it; it was too vanilla for her. For what it was (a cheap, smallish sedan) it had pretty good handling, and reasonable comfort.
1983 Datsun Nissan Sentra Diesel- I bought the car broken. The timing belt had snapped and valves met pistons. I paid $350 for it and spent about $350 in parts and machine shop work to get it running. Over seven years and seven months I went through two sets of tires, replaced two axle shafts, two tie rod ends, and replaced the alternator with a $50 junkyard unit. The car consistently got over 40 mpg in the city and I measured over 50 on the highway several times. The car was slow as a slug but I sometimes forgot when and where I bought fuel the last time since weeks could pass between fill-ups.
The car met its death one September afternoon in 1998, accordioned between two Chevy 1/2-ton pickup trucks. After 7 years and 7 months and 80,000 miles, I got $1100 for it. I still miss that car.
I miss our '89 Dodge Shadow. Paid about $1000 for it in 2000; all it needed was new CV joints and we drove it until it basically fell apart. It was repairable but would have cost $800 so we ended up donating it.
Later on, we got a notice that it had been impounded. Apparently the couple who ended up with it didn’t bother to change the title.
I loved my Honda CRX, and drove it until my daughter arrived (well, actually, it was comandeered by the wife before that, but nevermind…).
My all-time favorite was my 1973 Porsche 914, with the targa top, it could cruise all day at 80 mph and get over 30 mpg.
It didn’t leak much when it rained, really, and leaked oil every day of it’s life, but I loved it. Wish I still had it.
My current ride, an Infiniti QX4, is my first SUV, and I do love it too. I’ve loved every car I’ve ever owned, except the ‘out of necessity’ Taurus station wagon I drove for a few years.
1967 Impala
1967 Camaro
1971 240-Z (three of them, at different times)
1983 Camaro
1994 Mustang
2001 Ford Windstar
2003 Ford Escape
2005 Saab 92-x (Subaru WRX clone)
Most fun vehicle: The 240-Z. Those things were pure sports car. Unfortunately, they all rusted away.
Most memorable: The 1967 Camaro. I had an engine from a 375 HP Corvette dropped in it and stroked to over 400 HP, and it was a hoot.
Most Reliable: The Saab. Also crazy fun. The Escape is a close second. The Saab has required no maintenance other than service intervals, the Escape ate a power steering pump about five years ago, and other than that has been maintenance free.
Worst vehicle: The Windstar. Total piece of junk. It was in the shop five times before I had it a full year. It had a complete transmission failure in its first year. There was always something broken on it. Guh.
Favorite: 1988 Chevy S10 Blazer, It’s only got 165,000, but its 22 yrs old and every single thing on this vehicle still works, its easy to get parts for it, easy to repair it, can pull my dad’s bayliner…I’ve used it off road, pulled small stumps, and I don’t care if it gets dings and scratches… its just fun and goes anywhere. Although the Charger is plenty fun to drive and has modern conveniences that I love.
Sucks: 1995 Mercury Mystique (Mistake, as I call it). Everything broke on that car. The interior was cheap plastic and cup holders broke, knobs broke, A/C quit working, Springs on the suspension broke, wiring harness rotted (bare wires everywhere), the trunk leaked when it rained, water pump went bad at 50,000 miles, electric radiator fan quit, the heater blower resistor melted in the dashboard. It was extremely tight under the hood and was very difficult to work on… And I hated that it had a timing belt and ‘permanently sealed’ ball joints. I sold it for $500, and I was glad to get it.
1973 (?) Opel. My first car. Dad helped me pick it out. 4-cyl but usually ran on 2. :rolleyes:
1981 Toyota Celica GT - gorgeous, all mine.
1991 Geo Prizm - first new car ever!
1997 Toyota RAV4 L- best little SUV ever
2001 Toyota 4Runner - current!
2004 Toyota Corolla LE - replaced the Prizm. current
I totaled the RAV4 earlier this year. We were SO sad to see it go. It served us well, helped us move house not once but twice, and buy new furniture, but with just a fender-bender it wasn’t worth saving. Poor little guy.
Saving up for a new RAV4, but they’re bigger and not as cute. Maybe they’ll have a hybrid or all-electric model by the time we’re ready!
So, what was it that you liked about the Chevy that put it in the same class as the rest (not knocking Chevys…I’ve owned a number of them and still do…and loved them, but frankly, even I’ll tell you that they’re not in the same class as a Porsche. ).
I bought it used and as my husband and I were driving it home from the dealer, I stopped briefly at a corner so he could jump out and throw a letter into a mailbox. As he left the car, I suddenly heard a pleasant, disembodied female voice say, “Door is ajar”. :eek:
The car talked! I was amazed and delighted! I don’t think the salesman who sold me the car even realized it had this feature, since no mention had been made of it. As the years went by, she never failed to remind me when ‘fuel level is low’ and ‘lights are on’.
What a great car, when things were bad and no friends to be had - at least my car always talked to me!
The 924 was getting a bit worn out, and gas prices were climbing. My dad had an '85 Sprint, and he found an '88 with 12,000 miles on it that served my purposes. Good little car, actually. But I liked it’s replacement better.
Most of the cars I’ve owned have been absolute clunkers. Then I got my 2003 Alfa156. That was an incredibly fun car to drive. Sadly the severe floods in my area in 2007 killed it stone dead.
1979 Honda Civic - mine was a total piece of crap.
1982 Ford Tempo
1987 Mazda 323
1992 Ford Tempo
2001 Saturn SL - this was a great car
2005 Ford Taurus
I’m a vehicle nut. Since getting a license in '73…
(* indicates still owned.)
Listing only the cars/pickups (I’ll leave out RVs, boats, and airplanes)
67 International Harvester (pickup)
69 Camaro
71 Olds Delta 88
73 Buick Electra 225
75 VW Rabbit
78 Cutlass
79 K-Car (My 1 and only Chrysler product)
81 Ford F-250 (pickup)
85 Olds Delta 88
90 Ford F-250 (pickup)
97 Ford Aerostar
00* Chevy C-3500 (pickup)
01 Lincoln Continental
05* Toyota Camry
07* Toyota Corolla
10* Toyota Corolla (yes we have two Corollas)
All time favorite? The Camaro. I had it in high school, and learned a lot of valuable things in it. (Thanks Debbie, if you happen to be reading this!)
Second place? The F250 pickup truck. It was a stretched-cab, long-bed Diesel monster that I spent many happy hours off-road, hunting, fishing, and traveling pretty much coast-to-coast (with 2 big fuel tanks, it had a lot of range). It towed boats and campers all over the US (sometimes towing both at the same time, like a road train).
My first car was a black '72 MG Midget I bought for $700. It blew black smoke so thick you couldn’t see through it all the way home. My older brother who is a mechanical/engine genius tore the engine apart with me, showed me what was wrong with everything inside, and showed me what to do to fix it. The smoke problem was a set of very bad rings. We tore the engine down, had it ported and polished, and put it all back together good as new. Hell of a car, and hellaciously loud for an MG. Probably had something to do with the complete lack of anything attached to the back side of the headers it had.
My second car was a '68 Chevelle Malibu, also black. Incredibly sweet American muscle car supreme. A beauty. I replaced the Powerglide transmission with a Muncie 4-speed, almost entirely by myself.
And then my true love, the '72 Alfa Romeo Spyder in Tomato Red. Sheer perfection… well, except for the fact that it never wanted to slip easily into 2nd gear, but that’s a well-known issue with the synchro.
).
