What makes this your car?
I’ve got a Seat Alhambra. It is basically a VW Sharan, but cheaper, and I bought it for space. Seven seats if needed, five with quite some space for transporting things, and down to two seat and a lot of space if that is needed (and I ran this configuration twice in the last three weeks, so it is not something once-in-a-cars-lifetime like.
It also has a trailer hitch which allows me to pull 1.8t. That’s a feature I have only tried to see how it works out, pulling a trailer around the block and doing some reversing and parking with it to see how it works, but the hitch was included and might be needed next year, so I’m fine with that.
I originally wanted to buy an electric car, but at that time, most electric cars were overpriced matchboxes on wheels, so they were simply useless for me. At the moment, the VW ID Buzz is one electric model that would do size-wise, but it is way, way too expensive, and it is ugly as f-ck to boot. If prices and design have reached acceptable levels, maybe the next one will be electric.
Ford focus RS.
My old car was sporty (RX8), and I wanted another sporty car, but I wanted AWD because I was done with RWD in the snow. I needed a 4 door, because I was planning to have a kid. That really limited my options.
I liked the AWD system in the focus over the WRX STI or Golf R.
I don’t really like it anymore, though. It’s a really rough ride, and the seats are uncomfortable for long trips. And it’s kind of a boring car when it’s not snowing.My wife has an Hyundai Elantra GT. It’s pretty much the only car we use now, it’s way more comfortable to drive.
We’re probably gonna sell both of them and get an Ioniq 5.
2022 Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo
- It’s electric and electricity is cheap in the Seattle area, especially from 11pm to 7am for me when it’s $0.044 per kwh
- It charges very quickly on roadtrips, up to 270 kw or 5%-80% in about 20 minutes (did Seattle to Vegas and back in it!)
- it’s a wagon so it’s very practical. both our big dogs fit in there and we’ve taken them on some shorter roadtrips. I even got a roofbox for it, and it didn’t impact the range as badly as I’d feared
- the driving experience is wonderful. it’s not even close to the fastest Taycan but the 4S even at second lowest trim is without question fast enough, but the real enjoyment comes from the handling on top of that, it’s just so so so good
- keeps up with GT3 RS at the track, though that might be more about GT3 RS owners babying their cars than anything else
- its comfy and quiet and communicative
While I’m not exactly thrilled about the massive depreciation, I don’t see any other car now or in the foreseeable future that can also do all the things it does well without being a fucking SUV or crossover or truck.
Also if Taycans get cheap enough for more people to get into them, I hope more people do, cuz even the absolute lowest spec, zero options, smallest battery sedan is a solidly excellent car
I’m not sure. I’m about to buy a car for Uber, but I’m not sure what I want to get.
I used a rented 2020 Toyota Corolla for Uber a couple years back, and that was pretty good. I’m tempted to get some kind of hybrid, so I might go for a hybrid Corolla or Camry (the Camry would qualify me for Uber Comfort rides, but that’s not that much more money).
I’m open to suggestions.
Daily: 2018 2.5 Outback. It’s nice, comfy, reliable, and overall an amazing daily driver.
Fun car: 1994 Mazda Miata. It’s a Miata.
It’s a Miata.
Let’s go!
It’s a Miata
'Nuff said (I’m only slightly jealous). A car that’s undetappreciated by too many gear heads. It’s a modern version of a 1960’s Lotus. Love it
1994 Miata
I wrecked my car recently and this might be the new one if I can’t fix it. Did you get a 94 for the reasons I think you got a 94?
94-97 have the bigger 1.8 motor which I wanted. Coincidentally the 94 was the first year to switch to the new freon for the AC system so if I need to get it recharged (which I do) I don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for ancient AC that won’t even work well.
The guy I bought it from had 4 Miatas and actually prefers the 1.6 since you have to work harder for the speed, but the car is slow enough as is. It doesn’t need to be any slower.
If I’m not mistaken, the 94 is also the only year to have the 1.8 but still using OBD rather than OBDII, which supposedly makes it easier to slap a turbo in.
Preferring the slower version is wild, haha. I’ll be moving from a VQ platform so losing ~200HP is going to be an adjustment.
Just wanted to pop in and say I have a 95 with the 1.8; It’s OBD1.
Interesting! Any idea if it’s uncommon or anything? From what I’d read (which is admittedly not a lot), 95 is when they’d switched to OBDII, but maybe they made the change in the middle of the production cycle?
I think 96 was the first model year that had it. But the OBD2 mandate took effect in 1995 (for the 96 model year).
That said I’m not turboing the car and it currently has a check engine light so obd2 would be really nice right now.
You know, I’m not certain on that. Now I’m gonna have to do some reading! I was just happy it had that combo when I bought it.
Jealous. I have a 2011 prht and it’s amazing and a much better car in a lot of respects, but NA Miatas are just the best.
A bike is my preferred method of transport. Just a simple 3x7 steel hardtail mountain bike. It keeps me in shape and can go just about anywhere.
When I have to drive, a manual Subaru tends to be my ride: Capable, reliable, and fun I guess. I also use an ebike if I have to haul a lot but don’t want to drive.
If it’s going to be in city only, the old Honda Fit is hard to beat functionally: Easy to park, very maneuverable, and lots of storage.
I was looking at mountain bikes recently and found out the new norm is 1x. Been ages since I rode a 3x, but going to 1x seems attractive if only to remove the shifter.
I too bike around town, on 25mm tires, and usually with a trailer though. Such a joy to get everything done under your own power. Obviously this isn’t the post to tout such ideas, but more people should be riding around the city.
First I’d heard of that in mountain biking, unless are you thinking of the r/Xbiking subreddit? They often repurpose MTBs, sometimes with 1x, but often with other drivetrains too.
I was surprised too. Went into a local shop and every single one of their mountain bikes, be it full suspension or otherwise, was 1x.
They said most of the time a chain gets spit off a ring, it’s the front, so people have been converting over to 1x to keep the chain on, and going to 10-12 on the back to make up for the lost range.
No idea if it’s bologna or marketing but it seems to be the new trend. I’m guessing it’s beneficial moreso in competitive circumstances, but the only time I spit my road bike chain out is when I shift under too much pressure. I don’t really do much trail riding on account of not having an appropriate ride, so I’m just going off what this one person said.
They look nice though without a front derailleur. Makes me want a fixie.
Oh, you mean like 1x10 or 1x12? Yeah, that’s definitely a thing. I thought you meant literally one gear on a MTB.
Right, I should’ve been more specific. I haven’t shipped for a bike in eons so I don’t know when they became common. Last I remember using everything was 3x7 or so.
Would be funny to use a single speed on a trail though.
1997 Mazda Miata. Simple, reliable, easy to repair, incredible aftermarket support, huge community with a ton of knowledge, and an absolute joy to drive.
Plus the headlights go up and down.
I’m daily driving a '92! ☺️
I drive a 2000, no popups but a pleasure to drive
Ford ranger - it was $500
Fuckin ford ranger
I live in a walkable city and I am an insufferable snob about it. It’s really nice being able to just go outside and get groceries. No traffic. No parking. No fuel. No insurance. No maintenance.
God I wish more cities were walkable
I live <.5 miles from Sprouts and Costco, yet it’s so sketchy to cross the intersection as a pedestrian that I have resorted to driving for groceries 🥲
Same, still have a car though. Never driven it since I moved into the city. I feel so guilty about it 😭
I drive a 2018 Subaru Forester. I got it because I wanted a SUV with AWD and a turbo charger. My previous vehicle was a Camaro, and while I loved driving it, having a RWD car in the winter sucks, and I had recently bought a house, so having a vehicle that can carry more than just groceries made sense.
I was driving the Camaro around Xmas time and there was a light dusting of snow on the highway. I hit a patch of it and started to fish tail, and that scared the hell out of me, so I traded it for the Forester the following fall. The Forester has handled any conditions I’ve come across so far like a champ, including heavy rain, snow, ice, and muddy hillsides.
Trading the Camaro in and getting the Forester marked the transition (in my mind) from being a young adult, to becoming an older, more sensible one. I was driving home from work one day, and a Camaro passed me on the highway. I couldn’t help but sigh and ask myself why I had to get old. The Forester is a good vehicle and very nice (got the XT Touring package), but the Camaro was way more fun to drive, and I still miss it. I’d like to get another sports car in the future, but we’ll see if that happens.
Tires make all the difference. Both the size/proportion and materials.
I’ve had RWD cars that were beasts in the snow (East Coast ice no less) because they were near perfect weight distribution and had the best winter tires on the market (Nokian).
I’ve had AWD cars that sucked, because the car was poorly balanced, the tire sidewall was too small (so the tire can’t flex much), entry level winter tires (rubber was harder), and stupid electronic traction control that tried to out think the driver but just got in the way.
RWD will still usually be more challenging to drive than AWD (I think even more so with RWD cars post 2000), though some AWD systems can be unpredictable. Part of the issue with newer RWD cars is the tire sizes - it can be hard to get proper winter tires (plus they cost a lot). I’ve seen some cars for which winter tires didn’t exist, or were exorbitantly expensive to get (it’s assumed by both car and tire manufacturers that these cars won’t be driven in snow).
Fortunately Subaru uses a dead simple AWD system (basically open diffs at each end) - the most complex thing they do is use the brakes for traction control/torque distribution, which is less likely (In my experience) to get in the way than things like electronic diffs (can you tell I’m a fan of Subaru AWD?).
I’ve driven RWD sports cars in the snow with ease. Tires are aboslutely everything. People tend to ignore their tires for WAY too long before getting them replaced, and/or get shitty all seasons that suck in every condition possible.
The trend of “I need AWD SUV because snow” terrifies me because people are buying bigger, heavier, and worse handling cars when they really just need better tires. A FWD sedan with good tires will do WAY better than an AWD SUV with crappy tires. The only upside is people will tend to put better tires on their SUV because it’s more expensive than their shitty sports car/sedan.
I drove an RWD sports car in Canadian winters, and despite researching tires and getting the best I could find, stop and go traffic on snowy hills was stressful.
That said, people who think an SUV is gonna make driving in snow safer are just not thinking at all.
I got an AWD sedan to replace my RWD coupe.
Subaru forester and I’m not a lesbian. It’s just a solid if boring car.
You’re not a lesbian yet
That joke never gets old …… when I first got mine, I happened to be wearing flannel and drove to Maine with my wife. So many lesbian jokes, but my beard was a bit more literal
Proton Saga 1.3
Unless you buy a domestic car, there’s an import duty of 70-100% in Malaysia, so if you want to avoid that you can basically decide between Proton and Perodua.
I don’t care about cars whatsoever, so was checking for used models of either brand (less than 4 years old, max 30k km down) and found a good deal on this one.
Sagas are unkillable, garbage time on YouTube put pepsi in the coolant and replaced the oil with Nutella in a 2009 saga, then when the Nutella killed the engine he fixed it with bolts from a hardware store and it still did almost the exact same times in a drag race before and after. He also cleaned out the Nutella oil using a pressure washer and it still survived.
LOL, I’ll have to watch that video. Sounds like a fun time!
I’ve got the 2019 model I believe (manufactured in August 2020, first registered end of 2021), so it still came with half a year of manufacturer’s warranty.
So far I’m really happy with it. Definitely not a race car with a 4 gear automatic transmission, but since we have a 110kph limit on highways and plenty of traffic, it gets the job more than just done.
Come Monday I’ll do the first longer trip (400km, about 5h) up into the mountains, curious how it’s gonna go.
Bro, link that video.
Thanks :)
2021 Chevy Bolt. Traded in a 1999 beater for it during the gas pipeline crisis. It’s a wonderful, simple, cheap car. I haven’t had any issues with it - it just gets the job done. I charge it for free at work every week or two, so I don’t even have to pay for fuel. I figure I’m gonna drive it til the bottom rusts through or the batteries die.
Good luck on both. My 2017 bolt has 321,000kms on it, driven in very rough winters and charged every day in cold weather, every other day in summer. Still gets 450kms in the summer. Still doesn’t have rust anywhere on it. No repairs, just maintenance (minus one front spring). My daughter’s likely taking it once she gets her license in 2 years.
2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder. Bone stock except for a LSD I dropped in when a bearing grenaded in the transaxle. It was my daily driver for a long time.
2003 Subaru WRX. It was my daily before the MR2, but I blew the head gaskets around 200k miles and got the MR2 while I rebuilt it. It’s now lifted, running a 2.5l ej25 with the stock 2.0l heads. It’s become my fun car that I use to tow stuff with and take out when the snow makes the 2-seater convertible impractical.
But now we mostly drive my girlfriends 2022 Honda Accord Hybrid. It’s bare bones low end model, but she likes it.
Excellent taste. I had a silver bugeye, one of the prettiest cars ever in my opinion. Was my first actually fast car. Those MR2s are rad as well, poor man’s Elise. I’m a Miata driver, they feel like kin.
Toyota Hilux. A nice blend of not too uncomfortable but will carry me anywhere I choose to go. Seen a lot of places that thing.
Wish they were still sold in the US. I spent so much time trying to figure out how to import one from Mexico and get it on the road. Quite possibly the toughest consumer vehicle of all time
I was so dissapointed when my dad bought a frontier instead of a Hilux. The Toyota dealer didn’t want to negotiate with him, but the nissan dealer did.
At least it’s the non US model diesel Frontier. It’s a pretty nice car. But it’s still not a Hilux.
