CARS!

[yakers]

There was a thread on cars in Cost Of Retirement Life but I think this deserves its own topic. I am sort of a car nut, well I like them anyway, even if I don't collect them. I go to the Auto Show each year and love to look at and play with the cars. I wonder how my wife can spend so much time window shopping but I guess that would be true of me at the Auto Show.
My first car:in 1972 a 1967 Plymouth Fury III, 383 engine. Great car. 1973 an Opel Kapitan, can't explain this one, imported by a serviceman. In 1974 A 1966 Pontiac Tempest OHC 6, interesting car, interesting engine, in 1976 A 1966 Mercedes 200D, just before they became popular, I love diesels. An Austin Mini 850 in 1979-80, loved it and left the Navy and it in England. AN Austin America over hear, worst car on a cost per mile basis. In 1982 I got my first new car, a Honda Civic wagon. Kept it 11 years had a replacement engine and transmission put in and older son drove it for 3 years before a tree fell on it and killed it off. Then I got my favorite all time car, a 1992 Ford Taurus SHO 5speed. I bought it new in 1993, MSRP was $27.1 and I paid $17.5. That car could fly, 141 MPH according to some, I loved it on back roads to Vegas but just generally a comfortable, fast, reliable, fun car. It died in an accident a couple months ago, 150k happy miles. I replaced it with a 2005 Ford Focus, it is a 5 speed and has a decent stereo and AC but not much else, under $10K new, full 100k warranty and oil changes included. Nothing to play with under the hood. It lacks the comfort and speed of the SHO but is still fun to throw around and promises not to have as many "adventures in moving" as some earlier, lless reliable vehicles.

So what was your first car?
Your favorite car?
Your best deal?

What is the best recommendation for a retirement car?

Yakers: whose Dad always wanted a Corvette but drove economical always used family cars.

 

[Bob_Smith]

I like cars that start every time, that don't break down, and that don't gradually become sluggish dogs for mysterious reasons no mechanic can find. In other words - reliability. If it gets me where I'm going - every time - I'm satisfied. I could care less about all the rest. With that in mind the best cars I have owned have been these:

-- 1979 Chevy Nova
-- 1988 Nissan Sentra (my favorite)
-- 1994 Mitsubishi Mirage
-- 2000 Honda Accord

My least favorite have been these:

-- Olds Delta 88 (constant problems)
-- Ford Escort (Fix Or Repair Daily)
-- AMC Gremlin (lime-green with gold stripes - the ugliest car I ever owned)
-- Chevy Vega (my very first car, and the worst of the bunch.  I have memories of making very fast runs at steep hills and slowing to about 15 mph by the time I reached the top - if I reached the top)

 

[Spanky]

So what was your first car?
Your favorite car?
Your best deal?

What is the best recommendation for a retirement car?

First: 1965 Ford Fairlane 500
Favorites: 1969 MGB, 1972 Pontiac GTO 442
Best deal: 1985 Toyota Camry -- reliability

Retirement car: 2004 Toyota Camry or Honda Accord

 

[John Galt]

For me.............

First car 1952 DeSoto 4 door
Fav. cars 1972 Corvette T-top
1988 Cad. Seville
1992 Cad. Seville
1993 Cad. Seville
1993 Chev. S-10 pick up
( New, also the best deal)
1990 Mazda Miata
1991 Mazda Miata
Fav. ER car Jeep Cherokee

JG

 

[bruce1]

Hi All

First: 1967 Dodge Monaco
Favorites: 1971 Dodge Charger SE 383 Magnum
Best deal: 1984 Chrysler Fifth Ave
Current Car Chev Lumina, 1977 Chrysler Cordoba T-top Toy
Worst Car 1986 Volkswagon Diesel
Retirement car: Not really sure yet may be small pickup or may keep Lumina or similiar. Probably nothing small.


Bruce

 

[wabmester]

-- Chevy Vega (my very first car, and the worst of the bunch.  I have memories of making very fast runs at steep hills and slowing to about 15 mph by the time I reached the top - if I reached the top)

Ugh. That was also my first car -- a used 1972 Vega with the dreaded aluminum block. I took it skiing one day, and blew the head gasket by the time I made it to the top of the hill.

My favorite car is my Ford F350. The truck's interior is designed to be hosed out. That's my kind of maintenance procedure

 

[unclemick]

1st: 1958 Volkswagon beetle

Favs: 1967 XKE 2+2 coupe, 1968 Camaro SS

Now: 1999 Chevy Silverado and 1994 GMC Sonoma - both rigged for towing - no boat or trailer currently.

 

[MJ]

My first "car" as an adult, was a "Frejus". It was an Italian 2 wheeler better known as a bicycle. That was my main mode of transportation for 10 years.

Since 911, I returned to riding my 28 year old bicycle commuting, shopping and leisure riding averaging about 5k to 6k a year. My small way of saying F-U to our oil driven economy that helps support terrorism (IMHO).

but

I still am the original owner of functioning 92 Camry.

MJ

 

[BUM]

Cars can be very cool toys or reliable transportation. I dont think they can be both. True motorheads value the design, engineering and style. They often pay $$$$ for that certain machine.

I like muscle cars of the 60's.

First car: Used Pontiac Catalina.. The "Catal" had fallen off so we called it the "ina".

Favorite car (so far): Caddy sadan deVille, White, Blue leather interior... its was like budda.

Best deal: '90 Olds Cutlass...Free, inherited still going strong looks great only 40K miles "My Mother the Car".

Best recommendation for an ER car: Get a horse.

BUM

 

[johnblake]

First Car:

1968 Chrysler New Yorker (440 engine, 10-14 (highway) mpg). Great for cruising long distances. Very comfortable at high speed in a straight line. Useless brakes at high speed. Drove it cross country when I was 18. Large comfortable back seat . Unbelieveable ash tray (larger than many glove boxes in modern cars). I bought her for $225 in 1979, drove her for 10 years. She finished life with 250,000 miles (never opened the engine). Died in Vernon Connecticut on July 4th 1989. The rear axle started slipping out (New York->Boston trip). Oil pressure was getting low, so I left her in Vernon.

Best Car: Tie - New Yorker or
1989 Honda Civic SI: Bought new. Great replacement for the New Yorker. Quick, excellent handling, easy on gas. By this time I had my own place, and didn't need the roomy New Yorker interior.

Best Deal:
1992 Honda Civic DX. Bought new for $9600. Totalled in 1998 with 70,000 miles (no driver or passengers inside), insurance company gave me $6500.

I always liked the '67 mopars: Dart, New Yorker, Imperial, 300, ect.

My buddy had a '70 Challenger 440 six pack. We used to race rich guys in new Corvette's - and win.

Recommend:
Single inexpensive: ======>Honda Civic
Large Family: ==========>Honda Oddessy
Mid end: =============>Honda Accord, Toyota Camry
Work/Farm/Pickup: ======>Toyota Tacoma
Skiing/Mountains/Snow:===> Any Subaru
Ecological: ============> Toyota Prius
High End, Luxury: =======>Ask Cut-Throat.

 

[Marshac]

Skiing/Mountains/Snow:===> Any Subaru

Not only that, but they hold up well against deer... I found that out this past week.

 

[JWV]

1st car-79 Chevy Chevette-how geeky
Coolest- Datsun 280ZX-What's the male version of babe magnet? Dude magnet? :
Best car-91 Volvo Wagon (AC-after children) that's my daily transportation-I will mourn the day it finally gives up the ghost because it has been so reliable. Currently auditioning replacements.

Judy

 

[Nords]

Ugh.  That was also my first car -- a used 1972 Vega with the dreaded aluminum block.   I took it skiing one day, and blew the head gasket by the time I made it to the top of the hill.

I'm not surprised to hear that. I think snow skis are the preferred method of navigating the slopes, not used Vegas!

 

[Hyperborea]

So what was your first car?

Had semi-control of family's late 70's Plymouth Volare station wagon.  Wagons can be put to good use as a teenager on a summer date.  

Your favorite car?

1987 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo).  Absolutely amazing handling and the kick in the pants when the turbo lit up was awe inspiring.  The Honda CBX 550F motorbike comes in second place.

Your best deal?

The monthly bus pass that my company pays for.  

What is the best recommendation for a retirement car?

Not there yet and I'll probably be homeless and vehicle-less for most of the first part of my early retirement.  However, something cheap, durable, and reliable would be my choice for my main vehicle.  What that turns out to be is completely unknown as it will be at least ~10-15 years before I'm retired and have stopped full-time travelling.

If it's not too expensive compared to my portfolio then I will also probably have something that is purely for fun - a sports car of some type for summer driving and maybe autocrossing.  Of course it may be too expensive to even think about it by then and I'll have to make do with a Playstation 8 virtual reality driving game.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hey cut-throat, fellow mustang first car man!

I had a '66 with the v8, which started succumbing to frame rot on me. However I managed to sell it to a rather unpleasant co-worker who liked to go get stoned on his lunch hour. After he got back in I used to use my spare key to move it to another part of the parking lot.

Just once in a while. Infrequent enough to avoid raising suspicions but often enough to make him wonder if he was losing it.

I've had a lot of favorite cars for different reasons. For squoosh, I liked the infiniti Q45 I just sold last year. One heck of a nice luxo car for very little money if you buy them used. Wouldnt bother with any of their other models, but the Q is a sweet steal. My old mercedes turbodiesel was pretty good in that regard, back when I was logging 40k miles a year. Nothing like getting 20-something mpg out of a big boat. Unfortunately it became badly waterlogged during a drive from new jersey to mass. during the tail end of hurricane andrew. I was reminded of the tom cruise movie line "ok, who's the u-boat commander" when I opened the back door and saw the 4" of standing water in the floor pans. Electrics never worked right after that. Miata was fun but I couldnt put the top up without wanting to cut a hole for my head. For absolute bizarreness I was somewhat taken with a teenaged girlfriends two-tone ford pinto with chrome wheels, raised white letter tires, a v-6 (yep, they put one in it), and a little jacked up in the back. I dont think anyone ever saw that car go by that didnt think whoever was driving it probably wasnt completely right in the head.

 

[wabmester]

TH, does your wife know about the teenage girlfriend?

I'm 6'1" and the Miata's headroom seemed fine, but I seem to recall that the top windshield support was about eye-level, which could be a little annoying. One of my cars has always been a 2-seater run-about for the last 20 years or so. Currently, it's an MR2. Just as fun as the Miata, but a little less common, so it still gets mistaken for a Lotus/Porsche/Ferrari on occasion

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I knew that'd raise an eyebrow. Well, she said I could maintain one vice after the baby is born, I figured it might as well be teenaged girls. I think she'll be pleasantly surprised that its not beer. We'll see.

Actually this was back around 1979 or 1980. Teenaged girls were perfectly ok back then, although as I think about it, I think they're perfectly ok now too. Just as long as I keep my hands to myself when I'm around them.

6'1"? May I call you stumpy?

 

[wabmester]

May I call you stumpy?

Why not? That's what the local teenage girls call me. (Ouch, sometimes this self-deprecating stuff can really sting.)

 

[bow-tie]

Mmmmmmm, cars.  Sweet.  (Hence the name bow-tie)

First car (and hands down the best)
'72 Chevelle   - -zoom zoom with that new BBC

also had
'76 Nova - winter beater - looked like hell but ran awesome with that inline 6 banger
'90 Maxima - my only import. Ran awesome with 160k on the clock
'96 Chevy 1/2T reg cab 4wd
'98 S-10 ext cab 2wd
'97 Chevy 1/2T ext cab 4wd - really miss this one

still have
Chevelle
'94 Impala SS  -  Wife's car.  Feel like a pimp driving that thing
'98 Bonneville - Nice ride from the Poncho folks
'77 Chevy 1/2T 2wd - Working on turning her into a 3/4T 4wd

Cars rule

 

[jarrob]

Cars..... Where do I start!

I had a succesion of truly awfull cars when I was younger (Ford Cortina, GM Viva, Chryslers, etc..) Mainly cos I couldn't afford anything else. I used to spend most of the weekend repairing the car so I could use it to get to work on Monday!

Anyhow - the current stable is:

1995 Jaguar XJR supercharghed - awesome car - horrendous depreciation!
1994 Toyota MR2 - great fun to drive and looks good
2004 Hyundai Terracan 4x4 - dull and boring but does what it says on the tin!
1972 NSU Ro80 - rotary engine classic - amazingly good to drive - stills tops 115mph!

The current Asian cars (like Hyundai, Proton, etc) are very reliable and excellent value for money but are dynamically poor (just like most Japanese cars were in the 70s and 80s) - you can guess what will happen in the next ten years!

Cars are currently split into two markets. The cheap, reliable car and the expensive badge car. You choose whether you want to pay for the badge! BMW, and Mercedes are 'prestige' cars in the US but are commodity items in Germany. US built cars don't sell at all well in Europe mainly because of the poor finish and handling and the thirsty engines (they do well in niche markets - the Jeep sells pretty well here in the 4x4 market - it is fitted with a diesel engine though!).

 

[mickeyd]

1ST- 1955 Chevy- High school senior

Favorite- Austin Healy 3000- Brand new 2LT in the army

Best Deal- 2005 Toyota Camry- good for ER vote

 

[AltaRed]

1st car - 1957 Ford Monarch, bought it in 1967 for $500, dog off the line but could top out ~120 mpg range, half sister to the tank, should have kept it and restored it, the girls loved it :-/

1968 Ford Torino 2 dr HT, 302V8, worst car ever, highly unstable, definitely Fix Or Repair Daily

1974 Toyota Celica, 5 speed, great fun car, loved it buy a bit underpowered, drove it through 1985

1974 Ford LTD, for family, another Fix Or Repair Daily, slow learner and last FORD

1979 Olds 98, 400V8 4 bbl, classy, luxury, reliable and wonderful but thirsty, made me sad to sell it to go ex-pat to USA

1986 Nissan Maxima, 5 speed, great fun car, reliable, sad to sell it for another US ex-pat assignment

1988 Nissan Pulsar, fun car with T tops off and very reliable, great for running around DC, underpowered

1991 Dodge Caravan ES, loaded V6, wife still in love with it for carting art around, had about 10 recalls but otherwise pretty reliable for Detroit built - Chrysler never made money on this one

1993 Pontiac Grand AM GT, poor man's version of sporty, reasonably reliable and flashy but wouldn't buy another one, son still drives this one

2000 Infiniti I30, our current luxury car, love this one, never spent a cent on it other than oil changes

Retirement: not there yet, but either Lexus 300 series or Infiniti 35 series or Acura PLUS a compact Japanese SUV for mountain fun in Rockies of Alberta.

 

[SDY888]

From 1988 through 2001 I owned, drove and occassionally "remodelled" -

Mini 1275GT - Great fun - built with an permanent oil leak and no brakes!
Volkswagen Golf 2.0 GTI - fantastic drive and very reliable
Peugeot 205 1.9 GTI - Scary. A skateboard on steroids - expired after "disagreement" with a concrete bridge abutment.
Vauxhall (GM) Astra 2.0 GTE 16v - beautiful 16v Twin OH Cam engine, great fun to drive but rot-box body work.
Audi Quattro Coupe - without doubt the best car I've had. Fantastically expensive for spares and repairs though. Wish I had kept this car in storage as it turned into a classic.
BMW 325i - fast and reliable but like driving on four pieces of soap around corners - done more pirouettes than Mikhail Baryshnikov in that car - not as expensive as one would have thought to maintain.
Mitsubishi Lancer - reliable, economical, utterly boring.
Jeep Cherokee - Company provided this car for field work - hated it.
BMW 735i - as the 325 but bigger. Very comfortable.

For the past 3 and half years we have not had a car (Are we the only family in the world with a net worth approaching US$1.5 million that doesn't own a car?)

Living in a large city with fantastic public transport we don't miss a car and have no plans to go back to car ownership in the near to medium future. I will, however, get myself a hobby car, once certain other financial goals are achieved. Would love either a Porsche 911 or Ferrari 328, but would settle for a Lancia Delta Integrale. This particular hobby may be a few years away though.

Gotta run, my bus is coming!

Simon

 

[MJ]

Gotta run, my bus is coming!

Although, I still have my 92 Camry which I should have sold last spring as I bearily used it. Could have saved me over $1k on insurance. I commute to work mostly by bicycle except on rain/snow days, or if the temp goes below 25 degrees. I do some limited shopping with it as well.

The bike commuting keeps my adrenalin high and me very healthy, as long as I don't get hit by a car. :-/

MJ