What personal vehicle do you have the most fond memories of?
What is it about the vehicle that makes you feel so fondly about it? Some feature or performance aspect?
Would you actually want to drive it today as your main ride over your current vehicle if that was an option?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much is that decision based on rationality versus nostalgia (1 being ultra rational and 10 being purely for fond memories)?
I’ve owned a Ford Future (1979 brown with orange pleather interior), 1988(?) red Chevy Cavalier, 1990something aqua Buick Skylark, 1990something red Buick Skylark, 2003 blue Honda Civic, 2010 red Camry, 2023 red Camry. My fave is the 2010 Camry because it had a CD player. The 2023 Camry has heated leather seats though. The aqua Skylark had bench seats which I really like (plus a cassette player, ashtray and lighter cuz I smoked). I’m gonna go with the 2010 Camry.
I would have to say my 2010 Volkswagen GTI. I had bought the top level trim with the fancy leather and thin tires and cool wheels. That car went like a bat out of hell and hugged the curves like it was on rails. I never really “drove it like I stole it” but there was that time that I went 'round the corner with the kids in back, in full drift, and they cheered.
These days I’m driving an hour each way on the PA turnpike, so I wouldn’t want that car back again. I hit potholes twice in PA with the VW, blowing a $250 tire each time.
The second time I had to change the tire on the bridge that goes over the Delaware river to Jersey, not a fun activity.
Nowadays I drive a full size pickup–much better for potholes. It isn’t nearly as fun to drive and the gas mileage is nowhere as nice.
62 Corvair. You ever hear the line about how fun it is to drive a slow car fast? It’s true. Air-cooled rear engine responded better the harder you drove it and slung you around the curves. Cheap and not so pristine as to worry overmuch about, and plentiful GM parts. Super easy to work on yourself with little other than a couple of screw drivers and a set of box wrenches.
My GTI was a 17. Yeah - that was a helluva fun car.
My father had a 1975 Impala. It was huge, it rode smoothly, it was a cabin cruiser on wheels. I think the mileage was about 15 highway. I loved that car, but wouldn’t drive it today — where the hell could I park it? 
Have to say my '76 Chevy short-bed 4x4. My god that truck (named Puddles) worked hard for me. Owned it for… 39 years.
Had a lot of fun in that truck. 4 wheeling/camping, moving friends and everything a truck does. Ended up being my plow truck.
Didn’t have the heart to sell her, so I donated her to a school that could use a plow truck Keystone Science School. They do a bunch of outdoor education here in the Colorado mountains.
94 pickup - turns out I am not a pickup guy
97 Civic Ex - It was a good fit for me, and was my favorite until recently
03 MR 2 - Very high on the fun scale, but very low on the practicability scale
08 Spectra 5 - Very high on the practicability scale, but very low on the fun and quality scales
12 Fit - Very high on the practicability and quality scale, but low on the fun scale
18 GTI - Sporty, practical, good fit and finish, good stereo, useful safety features - My new favorite
FYI - All the above have been manuals, given the near extinction of the breed (24 will be the last year a manual is available in the GTI), I don’t know where I am going moving forward.
69 Camaro, red with a strong 350 engine, 4 barrel Holly carb and chrome Crager S/S rims. It was a chick magnet back in 79. Me and my first GF made a lifetime of memories that summer in that car. Would I drive it today/everyday? Hell no, if I still had it would be a the centerpiece of my shrine to my teen yean years. Definitly a 10.
Got to be my 2005 Mini convertible. It’s obviously a small car, but I was living in London when I had it so its smallness was its virtue, and thanks to BMW’s engine and body parts it felt like a big, chunky car in a small car body - held corners really well, nice chunky steering wheel. A real driving-lover’s car. The soft top was also handy when I needed to transport large objects, like a Christmas tree.
Nowadays I prefer a bigger car to give me more road presence in heavy traffic, but that car was amazing.
Favorite for nostalgia was my 1967 Datson. Roadster 1600.
Road car , 1993 Mitsubishi Diamonte
Favorite truck 1995 chevy S!0
I recently bought a new Malibu and I hate it, drives ok but very loud inside.
Favorite hunting vehicle, 1970 VW sq back, out fitted for off road and slightly souped up.
It’s the vehicle I have right now, my Honda HR-V! It’s very peppy, can cruise easily at high interstate speeds, is maneuverable, can fit easily into parking spots, but still weighs in at about 3,200 pounds so I feel like I have something of substance around me without it being so big and bulky that it fits into spaces like a 350 pound person fits into an economy airline seat.
Probably my '86 Kawasaki GPZ 750–first real motorcycle (not counting the '76 DT175). Put 30,000 miles on that bike in 4 years. Never laid it down (thankfully). ATGATT. Was pretty sporty for the time. Now? Not so much.
In 1992, we bought a Honda Civic with a 5-speed manual transmission. I drove that car for 22 years and put 305,000 miles on it. Though it had its occasional problems over the years, as any car might, never before had I owned a vehicle that reliable, and never expect to again.
After owning a 1978 MGB and a 1976 Fiat 124 Spider, I had a 1991 Mustang GT. That was a nice looking, fun to drive, and reliable car. https://i.imgur.com/XbLTQeo.jpg
It wasn’t great in the snow and it wasn’t that fast by today’s standards, but I’d give it an 8 out of 10.
In 1968 I had just changed jobs and doubled my salary, so I was feeling the high. I bought a new Mustang ‘Grande’. It was gold with a tooled leather top and interior (phony plastic stuff, but it looked great). The car carried out a western theme inside and out and I really enjoyed it.
Second was my 1999 Land Rover Discovery, twenty years and 250,000 miles of adventure and pleasure. It had a modification of the ABS that would hold a straight line down the face of a sand dune.
My current Ford Escape with all the automatic gadgetry and heads up display is far more practical transportation than either one. And the cost of ownership is miniscule compared to a Land Rover. But, it’s not as neat as the Grande or as much fun as the Discovery.
In the late 70’s I owned a VW Dasher in bright chrome yellow, I think the model year was 1974. My memory of it is that it was a zippy car that was fun to drive. Also practical with that large space in the rear, and really easy to see out with all those windows. I was sad to have to sell it, but I was going overseas for a year and I had no place to keep it.
No question: 1989 4Runner SR5 V6 4WD 5-speed with a moon roof and a tailgate instead of a lift back. Perfect road trip/camping vehicle. The only drawback to having one today would be it only got 20 mpg.
By far and away my Mazda 3 MPS (sold as the Mazdaspeed3 in the US). 250bhp in a small hatchback made for such a fun drive - never really needed to change gear to overtake, but if you did, it shot forward like a catapult. Cornered like it was on rails, despite my best efforts I never managed a sniff of lift-off oversteer (it’s front-wheel drive). I once took it to a track day with a friend who’d had decades of experience driving all sorts of performance and racing cars, and he still talks about how brutal the power delivery was.
Yet it was also practical - five doors, took it on several family holidays loaded with children and their associated paraphernalia, and it didn’t break down once (except when I ran it out of fuel that one time). Very sad to see it go when my wife insisted on something a bit bigger and higher.
Oh yeah, I forgot the '32 Cadillac roadster I had in college. Loved that car. It had a 35 gallon gas tank and got 8 1/2 miles to the gallon, regardless of speed.
My 2006 Acura TSX. Also my current car with 160,000 miles. 6-speed manual, Japanese build quality, everything was standard (except the $2000.00 nav system that no one in their right mind would pay for). Slightly smaller than the US Accord (markered as a Honda Accord in Europe). Still gets 30+ mpg and with 200+ hp, quick. Clear coat is mostly gone, I’m looking at a wrap on the way to 200k miles. Interior and seats are still fine.