What's the motoring habits of the EM crowd?

[Scott Stites]

I'm still reeling from Oenyaw's excellent post.....

My '95 Pontiac Grand Am was the only new car I ever bought. Other than the occasional problem with the cooling system, and the trannie giving out at 120,000 miles, it served me in good stead until the engine self-destructed 27 miles south of the 200,000 mile mark.

Rather than buy a new American car, which are mostly plastic (the one's I can afford), and not wanting to spend as much as required to buy a new Japanese car, my wife and I decided to buy a used low mileage 2001 BMW 325i, which cost as much as a new American car. The logic being it would not depreciate as soon as we drove it off the lot, and being German made....well, there you go.

Not sure if it was the best decision - for the most part, the car has run extremely well, but there's a constant stream of sensor replacements that have fed on the wallet. It was purchased shortly before petrol began streaking upward, so there's that consideration as well.

Of course, it turned quickly into my wife's car. I drive a 2000 Saturn POS that gets me where I'm going and back.

I used to use the car more often than I do now. Now I strictly drive to work and back, no where else. My wife works at a grocers, so she buys the food there and that's pretty much it.

Now I'd prefer not to own a car at all, but that is impossible where I live, unless I win the lottery and never have to work again. It's exactly 30 miles from my driveway to work. It's 24 miles for my wife. We can't carpool because our schedules are so diverse. Petrol going up the way it has done has severely affected our bottom line - it's becoming difficult to make ends meet. If it goes up much more, my wife's job will become pointless - she'll make enough to get to work and back, but nothing else. At the time we purchased our home, natural gas was much more economical than electricity for heating in the winter. That situation has reversed along with everything else, and we're stuck there as well.

There is no public transportation between our jobs and home, period. Too far by bicycle, and the temperature extremes of the climate here would make it deadly in the winter, and miserable from July through September on motorcycle. We're literally caught by the short hairs.

[dmosc]

An opportunity to brag about my car? Couldn't resist.

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi:


I'm kind of a Subaru nut, not entirely sure how that happened. AWD + Manual Transmission + Turbo = Fun.

[BobTheDog]

Very nice, nice colour as well.

They use these for high speed pursuit police cars here.

Go careful with the accelerator

[gsanchez]

My current car:
Peugeot 206 - 2006


My fantasy transport:

[dmosc]

[Inventor]

Now that old Benz of mine is my current ride, but if I were to remenisc and think of my favorite car, it would be the Red 67 VW Beetle that I had for four years...

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[BananaPlug]

Yeah, I had a white '65 beetle for several years, and before that I had a '67 Kharmann Ghia for a few of years. Had a Saab (and a commute) for awhile too but now I hardly ever drive and I use car sharing. I work at home, there are local shops, it's about 3.5 miles to the center of the city and a block and half to a trolley line.

I wouldn't mind having one of these though:
http://www.acecraftusa.com/index.html

[Oenyaw]

Past history.

My first car was a 1972 T-bird. It had a 454 4 barrell. It would get up to 45 mph just idleing on its own. The exhaust manifold blew off the side of the engine.

Second car was a 1974 Vega Hatchback. It was wrecked, and a passenger would have to get in from the drivers side and climb across. I learned to drive a stick with that car. I really loved it. Problem was, why spend any money at all fixing a car that cost me $200.

Third car was a 1977 Plymouth Grand Fury. You could land airplanes on the hood, it was so big. Drove it into the ground. I paid $350 for it and learned alot about fixing cars, and learned never to buy another Chrysler motor product. I threw a rod, just like in the Blues Brothers movie. Left it off the highway between Dallas and Ft. Worth.

Forth car was a dream. 1975 Chevy Impala. It was 11 years old when I bouth it and it had 10,000 miles. Still smelled like a new car. It got me through college delivering pizzas, which is not good for any car. Got rid of it when I graduated.

Which brings me to auto #5. When I graduated from FSU, I was 33 years old. Never had a new car. I bought a Ford Ranger. I needed a truck, really liked it, and it ended up being a good choice. I kept it until I got the Scion. 13 years. Something like 150,000 miles. (True story:) One of the paranoias of getting new wheels was that since I never had a new car, and had neve been in an accident, I was terrified that I would total the damn thing as soon as I got it. The first day, I brought it home, parked it outside (lived in a close-to-downtown neighborhood in Tallahassee.) That night, someone keyed it. One fine line of paint scraped off the door on the passenger side. I walked out and saw it instantly. I looked at it and thought (honestly) "if that's what is going to happen to my new truck, then I'm ok with it." Nothing else ever happened to it after that. (Except for the minor scrapes I did).

Then I got the Scion. The first time I puled into a gas station to fillit up, I opened the door and hit a concrete block. Put a dime sized dent in the door.

Then I just got the bike. First ride home, I fell off, dented the logo on the gas tank. Second day, rear ended, broke the tail light.

I'm not to good at first days, huh?

[seraph]

our family car is a Toyota Yaris Verso



plus we got 2 motorbikes:

a Peugeot Elystar



and a Vespa ET4



my first car was an old Fiat 500 (given to me by my grandfather. first I burned the engine, then I replaced it and had a fatal accident...for the car, of course. I was a teenager )

[Jyoti]

[DrJustice]

[Oenyaw]

the thought of being able to drive a Vespa around Firenze makes me sooooo jealous.

[seraph]

[seraph]

[BobTheDog]

[Blue Hell]

[DrJustice]

[Blue Hell]

[seraph]

[Blue Hell]

Hey cute, you found one with a Dutch license plate. And near the sea .. where he wanted to go to. His was red though and it did have four gears ... he thought it was normal for the car to be a bit noisy.

[Norman Phay]

First car was a Wolseley 1100, (luxury version of what was sold in the st8s as the "Austin America" &/or the MG1100/1300. It wasn't very reliable, but it was a delightful little thing otherwise. I wish I still had it.

Then I had a Ford Fiesta which was functional, reliable, but a little bit boring TBH.

Then I had a long gap w/o a motor vehicle

Then I got a SAAB 900S, DOHC engine, old shape, which was on its last legs, as the previous owners had not looked after it at all. It was AWESOME, the best car I've ever owned.

When the engine crapped out, I got another SAAB 900, this time a SOHC one, high mileage, but with a full service history. It was crap, and went wrong all the time.

The I ran a Ford Transit van for a while, that was great, slow as hell, but a pleasure to drive.

Currently running a SAAB 9-5 2.2L diesel estate car. Servicing costs are WTF high, but it's a nice ride, comfortable, economical (always better than 40MPG), lots of load space, I'm very pleased with it.

Dream ride would be a Studebaker Avanti w/round headlights, a Corvair Monza Turbo, a Bristol 410 or a Tatra T-87. Or a big Wolseley from the '50's. Or a big Humber from the '50's. Or a Daimler Majestic Major or a (drones on boringly for rest of day)

[Acoustic Interloper]

Here's my preferred mode of transportation, although the rains have been so slight (if fairly frequent) that I haven't had an opportunity to get out on a flooded stream since October. Also like cross country skiing, hiking, bicycling, and some running. Still have a minivan for hauling kayaks and skis and music gear, and two little cars for the kids, and a gas guzzling Maxima from 1999 that has been our only somehat fast car in 33 years of marriage, although it is nice for pulling out into traffic on the highways!

I had heard the streetcar scandal before. It wasn't just in the cities. I grew up in farm country where you supposedly need to drive, but at one time there were trollies connecting the small city of Reading to the even smaller borough of Boyertown, and thence to Pottstown, where you could take the train to Philly. I used to live in a farmhouse where the trolly bridge supports over the Manatawny Creek ("Manatawny" -- place where we come to drink -- not for the water, but for the place that the invading Europeans would sell alcohol to the Native Americans) are still standing. That meadow is the place I learned to Nordic ski, and also one of my regular creek kayaking spots.

As the auto industry becomes less profitable, perhaps it will be dismantled. Life goes on.

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[DrJustice]

[Inventor]

It is time for 40's vehicles to emerge as a popular style. Let's redo the Tatra T87!