What do you drive?

[Brudda]

Bought this , Honda element ex awd with 70,000 for $5000. I work in the car industry so when I find a deal I buy it. No car payments. But I now have 11 so the wife said we need to get rid of a few. I have grand daughters that in a couple of years will need a car so two will go. The 65 mustang, 05 corvette, 70 barracuda and 70 challenger stays with me. 

[Big_John]

I posted my fun cars.  These are my daily drivers.  

2010 Ford Ranger.  One of my favorite drivers ever.  It hauls everything I need to.  

2019 Ford Edge.  We bought this used from a local dealer that my son used to work for.  He's been gone from there for a while, but his buddy still sells cars there.  The previous owner's wife had passed and wanted a smaller car that was  easier for him to drive.  The dealer took it in before the lease was up.  I saw it the day after it came in, not even cleaned up  yet.  I shot them an offer, figuring on going back and forth.... and they took that  offer, so I  think they needed to get it off the books.  

 

[johnyrotten]

4 hours ago, Big_John said:

I posted my fun cars.  These are my daily drivers.  

2010 Ford Ranger.  One of my favorite drivers ever.  It hauls everything I need to.  

2019 Ford Edge.  We bought this used from a local dealer that my son used to work for.  He's been gone from there for a while, but his buddy still sells cars there.  The previous owner's wife had passed and wanted a smaller car that was  easier for him to drive.  The dealer took it in before the lease was up.  I saw it the day after it came in, not even cleaned up  yet.  I shot them an offer, figuring on going back and forth.... and they took that  offer, so I  think they needed to get it off the books.  

 

Thats a clean ranger you have, I had a '99,  long bed. Great little trucks if you can keep a rear end in them. This one ate 2.

[Big_John]

29 minutes ago, johnyrotten said:

Thats a clean ranger you have, I had a '99,  long bed. Great little trucks if you can keep a rear end in them. This one ate 2.

No rear end problems, but I did have to have the transmission rebuilt this past summer.  That  was a bit expensive, but I said it was less than replacing the truck.  It's a  southern truck originally and it doesn't see much, if any winter duties now.  I've had  it almost 7 years now, 

 

[johnyrotten]

15 minutes ago, Big_John said:

No rear end problems, but I did have to have the transmission rebuilt this past summer.  That  was a bit expensive, but I said it was less than replacing the truck.  It's a  southern truck originally and it doesn't see much, if any winter duties now.  I've had  it almost 7 years now, 

 

I'm a "fan" of them, I've owned four. Mostly beater work trucks, they're dependable and capable little trucks. Cheap to maintain,too.

[Nosferatu]

I sold my Honda CRV for this 2024 GT....its a lot more fun!!

Dave

 

[Zen]

I bet it is! Looks really nice, I would be afraid to drive it on gravel roads

[stinkybritches]

34 minutes ago, Nosferatu said:

I sold my Honda CRV for this 2024 GT....its a lot more fun!!

Dave

 

Nice. I wish I could get my wife to get rid of her CR-V and get a Mustang GT.

[deuces wild]

On 1/3/2025 at 9:33 AM, Nosferatu said:

I sold my Honda CRV for this 2024 GT....its a lot more fun!!

Dave

 

Looks sharp!... 🙂👍

[Ace-Garageguy]

Recently bought this '96 S10 Blazer. One family-owned since new, car people who take care of their stuff.

Spent much of its life traveling around the country behind a Prevost motorhome, much of the rest of the time lived in a garage, as apparent from the condition of the paint and headlights.

A few minor issues I can fix in a weekend when I have time, weeping water pump seal, intermittent O2 sensor and ABS lights, and needs tires.

I really need to do the O2 sensor, as she goes way rich when the light's on, and the gas mileage goes to jell.

Excellent overall condition except the rear carpet where somebody spilled something that won't come out. Perfect leather interior except for a split seam on the driver's seat.

Never hit, no body damage 'cept for some ripples on the hood where a big branch fell on it.

Too nice to pass up for the price, feels like it'll run forever.

That's my '05 Neon next to it. Very clean semi-one-owner I bought from a "mechanic" who swore he'd just done the timing belt. Didn't get 3000 miles on it before the belt failed and bent a bunch of valves. Currently building another head on the bench, otter have her back in play in a month or so.

Edited January 6 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

2 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Recently bought this '96 S10 Blazer. One family-owned since new, car people who take care of their stuff.

A few minor issues I can fix in a weekend when I have time, weeping water pump seal, intermittent O2 sensor and ABS lights, and needs tires.

I really need to do the O2 sensor, as she goes way rich when the light's on, and the gas mileage goes to jell.

Excellent overall condition except the rear carpet where somebody spilled something that won't come out. Perfect leather interior except for a split seam on the driver's seat.

Never hit, no body damage 'cept for some ripples on the hood where a big branch fell on it.

Too nice to pass up for the price, feels like it'll run forever.

That's my '05 Neon next to it. Very clean semi-one-owner I bought from a "mechanic" who swore he'd just done the timing belt. Didn't get 3000 miles on it before the belt failed and bent a bunch of valves. Currently building another head on the bench, otter have her back in play in a month or so.

We leased the GMC version of this model back then. Never missed a beat and was a great handling car as well. Only issue had to do with an assembly line problem. My wife said she would be driving down the highway and the power seat would suddenly try and nail her to the steering wheel, she's 5'10'. Never happened to me but I had the dealer look at it. Seems that the wiring for the power seat was routed wrong and under some conditions when driving the wiring was grounding or something and it would activate the power seat motor and go full forward. Nothing after that was fixed. 

[johnyrotten]

36 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Recently bought this '96 S10 Blazer. One family-owned since new, car people who take care of their stuff.

Spent much of its life traveling around the country behind a Prevost motorhome, much of the rest of the time lived in a garage, as apparent from the condition of the paint and headlights.

A few minor issues I can fix in a weekend when I have time, weeping water pump seal, intermittent O2 sensor and ABS lights, and needs tires.

I really need to do the O2 sensor, as she goes way rich when the light's on, and the gas mileage goes to jell.

Excellent overall condition except the rear carpet where somebody spilled something that won't come out. Perfect leather interior except for a split seam on the driver's seat.

Never hit, no body damage 'cept for some ripples on the hood where a big branch fell on it.

Too nice to pass up for the price, feels like it'll run forever.

That's my '05 Neon next to it. Very clean semi-one-owner I bought from a "mechanic" who swore he'd just done the timing belt. Didn't get 3000 miles on it before the belt failed and bent a bunch of valves. Currently building another head on the bench, otter have her back in play in a month or so.

Those are great little blazers, 4.3 just run and run. Is that neon the 420a or 4g63 engine?

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, johnyrotten said:

... Is that neon the 420a or 4g63 engine?

A588. If I keep the little car (depending on what kind of deal I can find on a manual gearbox after I get settled in AZ), she'll get side-draft Weber 40 DCOES, headers, and a cam.

EDIT: I've already looked at driving a distributor off the end of the cam where the cam-position-sensor lives now, and it's doable. The object is to get away from electronics that aren't side-of-the-road repairable.

I figure that's good for an honest 20+HP increase, and taking some weight out of little car will help too.

I can't recall ever driving a late-model FWD shibox that feels as nimble and handles as well as the Neon, so setting her up as a cheap 4dr "sportscar" makes sense for me for a variety of reasons.

Yes...SRT-4 guts would be considerably faster, but I'm looking for cheap and simple and fast enough to be fun.

EDIT 2: Since I can fabricate or machine anything I might need, it'll be cheap for me.

 

Edited January 6 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[PHPaul]

What do I drive?

 

Well, after spending the morning cruising internet truck dealers, it looks like I'll be driving my '13 Toyota Tundra for the foreseeable future.  Which, really, is fine.  Only has 71,xxx miles on it and I've kept up the maintenance.  Just kinda had the twitch for a new one until I started checking prices.

If I don't need the truck (which is mostly...) my '20 RAV4 gets the nod.  With the fold down rear seats, it'll haul most anything volume-wise that the truck will and gets 33+ MPG vs. 17 on the truck.

And, if it's a nice day and my right foot is feeling 16 again, I'll flop the top down on the '90 Corvette...

[johnyrotten]

55 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

A588. If I keep the little car (depending on what kind of deal I can find on a manual gearbox after I get settled in AZ), she'll get side-draft Weber 40 DCOES, headers, and a cam.

EDIT: I've already looked at driving a distributor off the end of the cam where the cam-position-sensor lives now, and it's doable. The object is to get away from electronics that aren't side-of-the-road repairable.

I figure that's good for an honest 20+HP increase, and taking some weight out of little car will help too.

I can't recall ever driving a late-model FWD shibox that feels as nimble and handles as well as the Neon, so setting her up as a cheap 4dr "sportscar" makes sense for me for a variety of reasons.

Yes...SRT-4 guts would be considerably faster, but I'm looking for cheap and simple and fast enough to be fun.

EDIT 2: Since I can fabricate or machine anything I might need, it'll be cheap for me.

 

I like the idea, keep it simple, parts "readily" available. People around me used them for 4 cylinder dirt track cars, they seemed to figure out how to get them competitive. I remember Skip Barbers driving school had a fleet of them for training. 

[Falcon Ranchero]

On 12/24/2024 at 5:15 PM, johnyrotten said:

I'm a "fan" of them, I've owned four. Mostly beater work trucks, they're dependable and capable little trucks. Cheap to maintain,too.

On the subject of Ford Rangers, I remember I had a photo of my dad's first vehicle, which was a 1984 Ford Ranger he bought from his dad in like 1988 or so. He wasn't a fan of his truck, though, as it had the tendency to stall at red lights and then he'd be franticly trying to start it up before the light turned green. The photo is of the truck brand-new in 1984.

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

On the subject of Ford Rangers, I remember I had a photo of my dad's first vehicle, which was a 1984 Ford Ranger he bought from his dad in like 1988 or so. He wasn't a fan of his truck, though, as it had the tendency to stall at red lights and then he'd be franticly trying to start it up before the light turned green. The photo is of the truck brand-new in 1984.

That's the generation before the few I've owned, still pretty neat trucks. My friends and I had one as a "field car" as kids. We beat that thing so badly. The truck took the beatings,till it didn't. The pic of your father's brings back some memories. 

[Old Buckaroo]

Most road trips I drive the 06 Dodge -

[The Junkman]

Two new children in the family.  3 weeks ago my son found a car he wanted badly enough to go from San Francisco to LA to buy it.  I'd been looking to replace my 2013 Mustang with 166k miles on it so I looked a little harder after getting his report.  I found mine closer to home, worked with a dealer (45 miles away) who got it from another 105 miles away.  Today both cars met for the first time.  That sound you hear is the eyeballs of both my wife and his long term girlfriend rolling in their sockets.

Edited January 20 by The Junkman

[Radretireddad]

My family truckster is a 2015 Ford Flex SEL with 150,000 miles on it that I just paid off. My fair weather only cruiser is this lovely lady.

[Falcon Ranchero]

7 hours ago, Radretireddad said:

My family truckster is a 2015 Ford Flex SEL with 150,000 miles on it that I just paid off. My fair weather only cruiser is this lovely lady.

Real nice Jag; always love the body shape of the E-types. Diggn' that '66 'Bird off to the side too LOL

[Zen]

10 hours ago, The Junkman said:

Two new children in the family.  3 weeks ago my son found a car he wanted badly enough to go from San Francisco to LA to buy it.  I'd been looking to replace my 2013 Mustang with 166k miles on it so I looked a little harder after getting his report.  I found mine closer to home, worked with a dealer (45 miles away) who got it from another 105 miles away.  Today both cars met for the first time.  That sound you hear is the eyeballs of both my wife and his long term girlfriend rolling in their sockets.

Nice! Looks like both are 5.0 cars? Any special packages on these?

[The Junkman]

Both GT models. His has the performance package (leather seats, split info screens, 19 inch wheels to my 18s, bigger Brembo brakes with painted calibers)  Mine's the regular GT but the color was the selling point for me. Both are 2024 so without the $3-$4k surcharge Ford added to the 2025's.

Edited January 21 by The Junkman

[keviiin86]

Here's my two..2017 silverado LS 5.3 and a 2002 firebird formula

[OldSkool81]

I was driving my 1998 Ford Ranger short cab stepside 2wd 2.5 manual since 2012, but I bought my first house in the summer of 2023. Being in the countryside with badly maintained roads, I needed something more comfortable and with AWD/4x4 for winter, so last summer I bought a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, with the 4.7 H.O. V8 and Quadra Drive. So that's my main daily driver, and for summer I've got my 1988 Jeep Comanche Pioneer resto-project.