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Notes -
It appears that this forum is filled with city slickers in fancy German cars. What cars have you driven on a regular basis? If they were expensive, have you found them to be worth the extra money?
I have driven the following cars on a regular basis.
2023: 2023 Mitsubishi Mirage (purchased new for 18 k$)
2019: 2015 Honda Fit (purchased from my mother for 14 k$)
2017: 2007 Pontiac G6 (borrowed from my father for free)
I have been driven around by my parents in the following cars.
The aforementioned Fit (mother's) and G6 (father's)
2013 Honda Civic (mother's)
2001–2010 Volvo S60 (father's)
2000–2005 Dodge Neon (mother's)
1993–1997 Mazda MX-6 (father's; manual)
1993 Toyota Tercel (mother's)
I have never found fault with these cheap (not including the S60, I guess) cars (other than the Civic's poor rear visibility; I prefer hatchbacks to sedans) or seen any reason to get anything more expensive.
(Note that I purchased the Mirage, not to replace the Fit with it, but so that (1) I could sell the Fit back to my mother, and then (2) she could expunge from our household the Civic that I disliked. Another motive for getting the Mirage was FOMO on a car that was soon to be discontinued in the US market despite obviously being the best car there.)
Well, here's the list of everything I've ever put more than a few thousand miles on. Most of them were family vehicles in one capacity or another that I either borrowed for long enough to get a feel for them, or they were , only one did I buy new-ish from a dealer,
1952 Dodge Pickup Truck: A friend of my father had this parked in his driveway for about two decades straight. When I was in high school, he called my father and said all his wife wanted for her 50th anniversary was the damn truck out of the damn driveway. So my father and I went over and towed it out of where it had sunk into the pavement, and spent the better part of a year fixing it up. It's candy apple red with a small block chevy v8 in it, running through mostly Ford Explorer running gear. It's not actually fast, but it's fun to drive in that you feel every single thing. Sometimes I think that if you get caught speeding way over the limit, you should be sentenced to your license being limited only to cars like this, in that at a sustained 60mph everything rattles so damn much that it feels unsafe, while in better more modern cars 80 or 90 or 100 feels like nothing.
1991 Ford Bronco: I never actually drove this much on the road. My dad picked it up for $100 cash on the side of the road, and gave it to me for my 14th birthday to learn to drive on the farm. I drove it all over the local farms and trails. Not a bad car in and of itself, but I once read a statistic in an article that something like 1/10 of this model wound up involved in a fatal rollover crash, so probably good that I sold it before I actually got my license.
1996 Ford Explorer XLT V8: My sister's first car before it was my first car, stayed in the family for about twenty years. Bought for $1800 with 100k miles, ran without any problems through two fender benders to 200k miles, while being driven mainly by teenagers, before finally being sold off for $1200 two years ago. This was really a near perfect teen car, strong AWD system, the V8 had enough power to pull out on the highway but not so much that I got pulled over as a teen. You could pile ten kids into it when we went hiking, or about 500lbs of fireworks when me and a buddy bought them illegally. Had a six cd changer, which was the height of luxury.
Various American Work Spec Pickup Trucks from between 1990 and 2005: All pretty much the same. Ford, Chevy, Dodge, it's all the same thing to me. Different mechanics swear by different trucks, but with some minor variations (Chevys are cheaper to replace an engine on, Fords have the little keypad) it's all the same story. It'll run forever but everything will break. Every little thing will need to be replaced, but it's easy to find and never fatal.
2000 Subaru Outback Wagon XT Manual: First car I bought, off my elderly cousin who bought the turbo for some reason. Oh man did I love this car. Fun to drive, AWD, manual, space in the back for stuff. I'd still have it, if i hadn't been t boned at a rural intersection and gone into a coma for a week. RIP to a real one, amazing I survived after the damage it took.
2000 BMW 323ci Manual: Got it off a family friend. Gorgeous, perfect car, one of the best driver's cars ever made for my money. Perfectly balanced, rides comfortably but can take corners as hard as you want, perfectly stable predictable handling, the small engine option so you can drive the hell out of it, but despite only having 170hp the inline six pulls in every gear. I still have it, and periodically I think I should get rid of it because I don't need it, but I see the pittance I'd get for it and think eh I really like driving it when I do. Then my wife got a 3 series and now likes the his and hers/collection bit.
2003 Mercedes-Benz C230 Wagon: Here's where the chronology vs model year gets thrown off, I bought this car for $5k after I graduated law school. I love station wagons, especially small ones like this, and if they were more available it's what I'd drive now. It was a great car, only flaw was the automatic transmission. My dog loved it, riding in the back. It was great on the highway, had pretty good sporty handling, and it could hold all my rock climbing stuff. Got totaled in a hailstorm, I put the offer ($2k more than I'd paid) in my back pocket and drove the car for another two years and 30,000 miles, then sold it to the insurance company. I regret getting rid of it sometimes.
2003 Chevrolet Corvette: My dad's car, he bought it new when Chevy was running crazy incentive deals, as he tells it "post 9/11" though I don't remember the time well enough. Red, convertible, manual, FE RWD. What a vette should be. The 2000s GM finishing is as mediocre as you'd think, and it's not the performer that later vettes would be, but it's fun to hoon around in on occasion.
2004 Audi A6 Quattro 2.7t: My mom's car when I was in high school, I inherited it when I went to law school and they felt I needed an AWD. It was a great car, tons of power from the twin turbo, I'm told that a chip tune would double the power on it pretty easily but I never messed with it. Ran great for 100k until suddenly it didn't: died on the highway when an alternator gave out, then flooded in a rainstorm because the drain holes under the batter pan clogged with dirt, then the cooling system leaked and leaked and leaked. Sold for peanuts to some kid who I hope had better luck with it.
2005 Audi A4 3.0t Quattro Cabrio: Bought it used from a local dealer. Extremely fun car to drive, but ultimately I don't get the point of a fun car without a manual. Bad time technologically: screen but a crappy screen and no native bluetooth. Sold it for a little more than I paid for it after fixing it up a little.
2005 Toyota Camry: Another family car, my grandfather bought this new, in classic Indian-Dad gold/beige, and smoked in it every day until he died. Smell of cigarettes on the cloth is just fading now, but the burn holes aren't going anywhere. Honestly, one of the best cars ever made for my dime: starts whenever I turn the key, v4 is plenty on the highway and sips fuel, never done a single thing to it. Some of the interior parts are cracked from sun damage, and the exterior is showing wear, but it runs and runs. And when I park it in the city, I never worry about it, which is a use case all its own. I drive it the most, but really it's more of the family beater: it's the utility infielder if anyone needs a car, or the car we lend to a friend if someone needs to borrow a car. For which it is great, because it will always work, but no one is too thrilled about borrowing it. I reach for the key any time I need to go anywhere and not be seen.
2008 Chevrolet Avalanche LTZ: My first "nice" pickup truck in my life, got it at a bankruptcy auction from some jackass who didn't pay his taxes but did spend a ton of money on a chromed out bitch of a pickup. Still only 80k miles, so it's got a decade to go at least. Leather, good sound system, big v8, got a chip tune on it so it wouldn't do the v4 thing. Terrible mpg, but I have other options to avoid using it when I don't have to on long trips.
2015 Mercedes Benz E550: My mom's car for a while until it had some kind of weird electronic heart attack and was impossible to revive for less than it was worth. My god was it an amazing car while it lasted, though. I can see why at one time its close cousin held the Cannonball record: on a highway it would pull through 130-140 like nothing was happening, and would hold 120 better than the Camry held 65. It was still beautiful and the interior perfect when it gave out, but too expensive to revive.
2015 Mercedes-Benx SL550: My mom bought this car for reasons I have never really figured out. What possesses a 65 year old woman to buy a v8 coupe/convertible that gets to 60 in 4 seconds? I think she couldn't resist the bargain: she got it off the estate of an old guy who had only put 8k miles on it, and she got it for a song at seven years old. She almost never drives it...but I borrow it frequently. Honestly, it's too much power. It would be more fun with less engine. Within seconds of touching the gas pedal, you're committing a felony. Good for a couple of passes, but not really a great driving car at the end of the day. Handling is clumsy, transmission is herky-jerky with the too big v8.
2015 Lexus Rx350: My wife's first car. Workhorse, did everything you wanted it to do, ran perfectly except for eating batteries, but ultimately I just hated it for being a mid size feminine SUV. Around the time it hit 100k, I looked up its trade-in one day out of curiosity and realized that Lexus' hold so much value that we should really consider getting my wife a new car. Then my wife decided she didn't want a new car because nothing was any better than the Lexus, but my in laws had already decided that if my wife got a new car they wanted the Lexus and we had decided to give it to them, so we wound up buying my wife a...
2022 BMW 330i: My wife's new car, the ultimate answer to the last time I posted asking what car I should buy. This is honestly, in my opinion, the peak of the ICE car, the swan song of the genre. Four door awd completely practical to commute or take to costco, gets 40 on the highway with the mild hybrid, but also tons of fun to take on a twisty and hoon. Tossable, responds well to the gas pedal in sport mode, my wife loves driving it so much that she frequently takes breaks while WFH to just take it for a spin on country roads near us. Can drive it five hours and feel great, can rip around a country road and love it, can drive it every day. Fingers crossed on reliability, but Consumer Reports gave it good marks so maybe we'll be ok. Genuinely love this car, and my wife loves this car so much that she suddenly understands why I've loved cars before. Truly a great machine. Bought it two years old with 12k miles for a little over $34k, which was reasonable for me for getting my wife something she liked.
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