What kind of car do you drive?

[AsphaltPlanet]

2000 Buick LaSabre, Gramma willed it to me. Grams only put 25,235 miles on it until I got it in 2010.
I've put an additional 22,234 since. 
26.5 mpg, I can live with it.

Gotta love the big cars that can hold their drink. I had a 2004 Buick LeSabre myself. There's a reason they made the 3800 V6 for over twenty years.

No kidding.  My first car was a 1995 Buick Riviera, with the 3800 engine supercharged.  That car moved like stink.  i put over 420,000 km on it before it finally bit the dust.

[WillWeaverRVA]

I have a 2007 Toyota Camry LE with about 52,000 miles on it. Got it when there were only 9 miles on it, too.

[realjd]

2000 Buick LaSabre, Gramma willed it to me. Grams only put 25,235 miles on it until I got it in 2010.
I've put an additional 22,234 since. 
26.5 mpg, I can live with it.

Gotta love the big cars that can hold their drink. I had a 2004 Buick LeSabre myself. There's a reason they made the 3800 V6 for over twenty years.

No kidding.  My first car was a 1995 Buick Riviera, with the 3800 engine supercharged.  That car moved like stink.  i put over 420,000 km on it before it finally bit the dust.

How did it handle though? The few Buicks I've driven felt like they were floating down the road. I'm not a fan of that.

I'm continually amazed at how much power they can get from increasingly smaller engines. You can find 200+ hp 4 cylinders, and my G37 has 330hp with a V6, numbers that would have only been possible with a V8 not too long ago. And one of my coworkers has a sweet Cadillac that gets around 500hp with a modern V8.

[Takumi]

It used to be that one needed to install a turbocharger or supercharger in their engine to attain those numbers, trading the extra power for shortened engine life. Nowadays, thanks to advances in engine development and valve timing adjustment systems like Honda's VTEC (which increase fuel efficiency and/or horsepower at high RPMs) make those numbers more common.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

1990 Volvo 760 turbo wagon.

[Alps]

I have a 2007 Toyota Camry LE with about 52,000 miles on it. Got it when there were only 9 miles on it, too.

2009 Camry, got it with 6 miles, has over 100K now

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

I got mine with 181k a little over a year ago and it's now at 223k.  Does that count for anything?

[achilles765]

1997 Honda Civic manual.  I won't ever own an automatic again, even here in Houston traffic.  It has 117,000 miles and all I have ever had to change (other than oil and clutch fluid) was the radiator reservoir when it cracked from old age. 

[Darkchylde]

I don't own it, but I use a 1996 Ford Explorer in my day-to-day travels for the time being.

My current vehicle, a 1994 Nissan Sentra, died on me. Torque converter broke.

[vtk]

1997 Honda Civic manual.  I won't ever own an automatic again, even here in Houston traffic.  It has 117,000 miles and all I have ever had to change (other than oil and clutch fluid) was the radiator reservoir when it cracked from old age. 

Few repairs up to 117k isn't surprising to me. It will probably start to fall apart between 150k and 200k.

My dad has a saying I really like: "A GM car will run poorly longer than other cars run at all."

[Takumi]

Few repairs up to 117k isn't surprising to me. It will probably start to fall apart between 150k and 200k.

Yep, especially on a Honda. Both of mine are in that range. The engine swap on the '95 will likely delay problems there for awhile longer, but I've had to get some sensors rewired/replaced. The '91 needs lots of work but still runs and drives.

Having said that, once the little stuff is fixed, you could get another 150-200k out of a Honda easily.

[bugo]

Black 1998 Chevy Cavalier 2 door post.  It has almost 180,000 miles on it.  I'm going to keep it until it completely wears out on me.  If the engine ever blows, I'm considering turning it into a project and putting a supercharged Buick 3.8L V6 in it.  Talk about a sleeper.

[bugo]

I also have 4 project cars: 2 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 2 door hardtops, one is white with a teal top and with a 390/300 HP and automatic transmission.  The other one is black with no engine (it came out with a 223 six cylinder with a 3 speed on the tree) and no front seat.  Plans for the black one include an FE big block engine (probably a 390, but a 406, 410, 427, or a 428 if I can find one) and a 3 on the tree with overdrive.  The white one has highway gears, while the black one has low gears.  The black one will be a brutal around town car that is quick off the line, while the white one will be more of a long distance cruiser. 

The other two cars are just shells: a 1955 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop and a 1966 Ford Mustang coupe.  I haven't decided if I'm going to go with an old-school carbureted Chevy small block for the 55 or a modern LS engine (maybe a 427 Z06 Corvette engine.)  I'll probably retain the 3 on the tree with overdrive.  As for the 66 Mustang, plans include a 351 Windsor with fuel injection and a 6 speed manual with vintage style Hurts shifter.  All that I need to do is to come up with the money to fix up my cars.

My dad has several other project cars that he would give to me if I wanted to fix them up.  He has about 20 60s-80s Chevy trucks, a few old Ford trucks, and several old cars.  If I ever win the lottery, I'm going on a restoring binge.

[relaxok]

2007 Porsche Cayman (weekend/fun)
2003 Hyundai Elantra (daily commuter)

[realjd]

2007 Porsche Cayman (weekend/fun)
2003 Hyundai Elantra (daily commuter)

Cayman or Cayman-S?

They're nice cars. I looked into them when I was buying my new car, but decided on the Infiniti because I decided having 4 doors was important for when my wife and I have kids.

[Stratuscaster]

1998 Dodge Stratus 2.4L: bought in '99 with 24000 miles; it now has over 176000 miles. No major failures - just the standard stuff one would expect from a daily driver. It's worth nothing on a trade-in, it's paid for, so I'll just drive it until the cost to fix it makes no sense.

2002 Dodge Caravan Sport 3.3L: it currently has about 403000 miles on it - I bought it back in September 2011 with 397000 miles for $994. Plenty of folks thought me insane for buying it - but when we inspected it we found that the replacement parts were all Mopar factory parts - near as I can tell this was a company van with a service contract. It replaced a '99 Grand Caravan SE Sport 3.8L with 148000 miles that suffered an oil pump failure and subsequent oil starvation.

[kphoger]

Wow, 397 000 miles is a LOT for a 2002 vehicle! 

It's funny, we switched from a 1999 Stratus to a 2004 Grand Caravan; different years, same models.  The Stratus ended up being more work than it was worth, so we went for a van to accommodate the growing family.  FYI, we just had the powertrain control module (read: one of the computers) replaced, as it was telling the coil to fire on 4 instead of 6 cylinders for about three weeks.  Now that we've sunk so much money into it the past few months, and it's running OK now, I think we'll try and hang on to it until it's paid off and then some.  The bad thing is, I'm paranoid now that it will start firing on 4 cylinders again for no apparent reason.  Even thought it's running fine, I'm nervous about our two upcoming trips–Minnesota in February, and México in June.  At least, after I replace the remaining five spark plugs and wires, it will have a whole new ignition system.

[Central Avenue]

1994 Toyota Corolla.

My first car, too, as I didn't have a license until last fall.

[formulanone]

1994 Toyota Corolla.

My first car, too, as I didn't have a license until last fall.

They are quite indestructible, parts and maintainence are cheap, and the car is easy to work on. Used to have a '93, but they are a lesson in automotive minimalism without sacrificing much of anything. The three-speed automatics weren't very thrilling, hopefully you have a 4 or 5 speed, but all those gearboxes are virtually trouble-free. About the only major issues those have are failed struts, as they aren't as cheap as shock absorbers (although that's a common issue with any 10+ year-old car).

[Sanctimoniously]

My dad has a saying I really like: "A GM car will run poorly longer than other cars run at all."

Well, as Dave would say, "You can always depend on your Buick."

My mom's current 1997 LeSabre was once driven more than thirty miles with the temperature gauge maxed out before it died. The 1993 Skylark she had when I was a kid spent a lot of time with that gauge at very obtuse angles, and even had five or six thousand miles put on it with a bad harmonic balancer. My 2004 LeSabre (fortunately) was trouble-free during the time I had it.

[relaxok]

2007 Porsche Cayman (weekend/fun)
2003 Hyundai Elantra (daily commuter)

Cayman or Cayman-S?

They're nice cars. I looked into them when I was buying my new car, but decided on the Infiniti because I decided having 4 doors was important for when my wife and I have kids.

It's a regular Cayman with a few options: S wheels, full leather (natural brown leather),  bi-xenon headlamps..

Beautiful car that handles amazingly..

I barely have time to drive it and plan to trade it in toward a newer one in a few years.

[goobnav]

2011 GMC Terrain, Carbon Black Metallic, 2.4L I-4.  SLE trim.

[Brandon]

1994 Toyota Corolla.

My first car, too, as I didn't have a license until last fall.

They are quite indestructible, parts and maintainence are cheap, and the car is easy to work on. Used to have a '93, but they are a lesson in automotive minimalism without sacrificing much of anything. The three-speed automatics weren't very thrilling, hopefully you have a 4 or 5 speed, but all those gearboxes are virtually trouble-free. About the only major issues those have are failed struts, as they aren't as cheap as shock absorbers (although that's a common issue with any 10+ year-old car).

Indestructible?  The rust mites say otherwise.  Corollas of that vintage are almost entirely gone from our automotive landscape in the Midwest as they've almost all rusted away.  Toyota may have spent more in other places, but they skimped majorly on rust protection.

[andrewkbrown]

1999 Toyota Camry, which I bought in 2007 with 151,000 miles on it. It now has 249,000 miles on it, and I'd like to squeeze 300,000+ miles from it.

[wriddle082]

If you have the money, and still feel the need for a big SUV, I highly recommend the current Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon with the 5.3L V8.  Has cylinder deactivation, which has made my mpg average around 21.  Been driving a rental one around SE Wisconsin since 2/1, and since I'm going to need to replace my big truck pretty soon, I WANT ONE OF THESE!

2011 GMC Terrain, Carbon Black Metallic, 2.4L I-4.  SLE trim.

My wife has a 2011 Equinox, gray, LE, same engine.  It's probably really going to be my next vehicle, as we're most likely going to trade my truck in on something bigger for her.  Not that I'm complaining, it's an excellent car, and the Eco mode on the transmission really seems to make a difference with the mpg.