Nothing at present, but as I will have to get a car soon as the baby grows up I’ve been looking a various cars online. I fell in love with this
https://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/detail/CU5494662190/index.html?TRCD=200002
2006 purple Bentley Continental. Alas, I have been unable to convince the wife that this is the car we need. She said I could have it if I was indeed Prince, but otherwise …No.
I want a car that has everything: performance, economy, reliability, while also being practical. That’s impossible, but my VW GTI comes close to meeting all my needs. I like that it’s a bit of a sleeper. To the casual observer, it looks like a typical econobox. I expect to replace it next year with a VW Golf R, which looks a bit stodgier than the GTI, yet has more performance.
I also have a 2017 Honda CBR1000RR. It’s a 180 horsepower crotch rocket; an over-powered and over-braked organ donor bike. I like machinery that ‘talks’ to me, and ‘listens’ to me, whether it’s a toaster or a vehicle; the bike does so, to an extreme level. On a racetrack, it can deliver an intensity of sensations that are almost unbeatable; flying while wearing a wing suit is probably more intense. Others probably see me and the bike and think, ‘what an idiot. At least he’s wearing a lot of safety gear, it will make him easier to clean up when he crashes’.
Lexus SC300? I know cars, but I had to use Wiki to confirm that a manual could be had on the SC. Beautiful car.
Due to a recent change, I’ll answer about two wildly different vehicles.
Until a month ago, a 2017 Ram Long Bed Crewcab Cummins Turbo Diesel (pickup)
This being Texas, the assumption would be “another yahoo redneck compensating…” etc. etc. The reality is we bought it as retirement prep to tow our really large RV trailer and boat. Each of these exceed 35 feet and the largest tips the scales at 12,500 lbs. We actually need a truck that size.
Absolutely love it. It’s so high up that I can see forever, and I’ll admit I love the diesel growl. The 600+ mile range is nice too.
Now the change…
Now, it’s a 2007 Corolla, standard shift with 220,000 miles on it.
Some old guy, down on his luck and barely making it, schlepping into to another day’s work. The car looks its age, but underneath has new steering, tires, a/c, etc. Drives like new and has a really upgraded sound system. It just looks like crap. It’s strange however. Driving the exact same route at the same speeds I get tailgated, rushed, passed and treated like some sort of leper in everybody’s way. Last week I decided to experiment and drive the Nimitz (wife’s name for the truck) one day. It’s really true. The other drivers’ aggressiveness and behavior is noticeably different when I’m in a new 60K vehicle, than when I’m driving a “poor” person’s car.
We acquired this car from a relative, and have replaced my wife’s car with a hybrid (all in the same month). Our Exxon bill is a fraction of what it used to be. So… hell yeah. I love it now.
I have a 1999 Ford Ranger and a 2002 Toyota Echo. I try to drive them both roughly equally.
I don’t like car payments?
I tend to take care of my stuff and hang onto it for a long time.
The truck: I live in Indiana. I’m a 20th Century gal.
The car: I value gas mileage over coolness
The interiors: this person does not eat in her vehicles
Yep
Nope. They do what I want/need them to do, they’re reliable enough for my needs, They’re paid for.
2017 Renault Duster Diesel
I’m a dad of young kids (who occasionally drives in the desert)
I love it.
Not really - I intend to get the latest of the same make and, hopefully, model next time. Unless we get the Renault Duster Orochs twin-cab locally by then, in which case, I’ll get that.
No! You shouldn’t feel uncool.
As a minivan driver you aren’t qualified to judge. 
So my wife is the hot-rodder, right? When we hooked up I was transitioning from an '86 Toyota MR2 that had blown a head gasket (never a fast car to begin with, but fun) into a 98 Ford Windstar. She, on the other hand, was rocking a '04 Dodge Neon SRT4 (NOT your average Neon!) Eventually the Ford started to die, and since we were dealing with a swarm of little kids we had to go minivan shopping. Now, the Windstar is a gutless turd but you tend not to realize it because it’s a minivan and one’s soul can suffer when it’s beaten into a minivan day after day. To make it go you stomp the gas pedal to the floor and wait. On car-shopping day we climbed into a '08 Kia Sedona. As one does with a minivan, she stomped the pedal to the floor…and put about a foot of rubber on the parking lot and pulled about 3 Gs on that first launch. The car was sold to us immediately. Fantastic vehicle. Comfy for a personnel carrier, impressive off-road when we’d take it camping, and big enough to haul whatever furniture or lumber we needed to move around.
My daily driver is a humdrum compact sedan with manual transmission and crank windows. It has been economical and reliable but it was never anything better than an okay car. I am very tired of it but it runs perfectly and without complaint so when I need to get somewhere, it’s easiest to just turn the key and go.
When I bought it, my choice said I was very cheap and too busy to search for a better used car for the same money and that I believe manual transmissions can make even a boring car a lot more fun. Now that my car is very old, my car says that I am even cheaper than I was then. I am also less busy than I was then, so my car now indicates that I am just too lazy to shop for a new car. The new car buying was sufficiently awful enough for long enough that I am in no rush to reengage.
I do have some other much more fun cars to drive when I want to.
Well, I think I can narrow it down to an ES300 or an SC300.
A 2017 Ford F150. Love it.
I didn’t answer all the OP questions, I think the ST says about me that I want a 4-door car that can haul some cargo in the back, but also has good performance and decent mileage. It says I don’t want a boring car but I want utility too.
Not ready for a change because I just got it in February. Will probably have it for 8-10 years.
Yep. Loved the SC400 when it debuted but I don’t like automatics, so I jumped at the 300 when it appeared.
Pretty much a Supra in Lexus disguise (and normally aspirated)
2010 Prius. Just got a new 12 volt battery (probably didn’t even need it) and nothing else has gone wrong with that car.
Silver Prius, like half the other cars in the Bay Area.
In 2008 someone joked that he put a McCain sticker on his silver Prius to distinguish it from all the ones with Obama stickers. Not that he voted for McCain. Not a bad idea.
Plug in hybrid would be next, but I keep cars for a long time. My last was a 1997 Saturn, which I got only because my older Saturn gave up its life to protect my wife.
2017 Nissan Versa sedan, white. This replaced a 2013 Honda Civic that got totaled when some dickhead rear-ended me back in May. About as wimpy and innocuous a car as exists today. Goes adequately on the freeway and has decent seats, a/c and radio; otherwise a pure transit appliance.
What I’d prefer? my needs are simple: a BMW 4-series or Mercedes C-class. Given my current job and life status, however, I can safely say that’s never going to happen.
2014 Suburban. It’s our long drive/camping vehicle and as I have a pretty short commute it doesn’t hurt too badly on the not very good fuel consumption. My wife drive the Subaru which gets most of the mileage.
They are all free and clear, but if my commute distance rose and I ended up in more traffic, such as the joy of beltway 8, I would be tempted to get a 3rd car , something with a little more comfort ( seat coolers!) and more tech to stop me crashing during early morning under caffeinated moments.
2014 Toyota Corolla with only two payments left. I want a Mini Cooper. I think I will go a couple years without a payment though.
What do you drive?
2002 Pontiac Trans Am WS6, and yes, I drive it every day except for maybe 1 or 2 days a year when ice or snow is too bad. It will handle ice OK but get stuck in 2 inches of snow. Fortunately I live near the Oregon coast and rarely get much Winter.
It has it’s own building with all the tools needed to work on it myself. Which I do and over-maintain it, except if it needs exhaust welding, then it goes to the hot rod guy. This year I changed the rear axles and bearings, brakes and rotors, panhard bar, lower control arms and shocks. So I’m done under the car for awhile. All that was really needed was an axle bearing.
5.7L aluminum block LS1 engine that the computer limits to 165 mph. T-tops, leather, ram-air, bitching car, but the technology is getting a bit dated. This is actually my 3rd F-body car so you could say that I have been driving the same kind of car since 1997, so many years that driving is like getting into a suit that just fits rather than actually operating a vehicle, it just seems natural. They made a lot of these cars but they are not common around here and I get “nice car” compliments regularly. Even putting my foot in it I get 22 mpg, 25 on longer trips.
130k miles and uses no oil at all between changes so I expect it to last for some time. That is if I can continue to avoid the deer, elk, and stupid drivers that are so common here.
And no, I do not have a mullet or a mustache.
After my current work relocation, the DC Metro subway is my everyday ride.
Still back at home, though, is a 2009 Honda Accord EX with just 55K on the clock, bought new. What it says is at the time I wanted something highly reliable, comfortable, not flashy but modestly elegant, that I could pay off easily in no more than 4 years and for which I knew that wherever I am in the island there’s parts that fit and people who know how to fix them at the local shop. To this day drives and rides great.
Will I get something for my current location? I suppose I might, though since I am subject to short term changes I could go for something used or else get a lease until the end of 2020, and it might be something with a lighter footprint since I would not be using it so much.
2013 Prius, says I don’t like buying gas.
2008 Chrysler Town and Country.
It was beautiful until hurricane Irma. Irma had my car port make sweet love to my people mover.:mad:
Now she all boned.:o