My automotive timeline

"HoustonRunner" (houstonrunner) 11/30/2018 at 10:26 • Filed to: None

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Only the most recent ones are real pictures, but I tried to get close. Also only listed ones that were my daily at some point, not my wife’s cars.

‘92-’93: 1982 Square body Suburban. Not “my” car but the first one that I was given to drive regularly. 6.2L diesel, not turbo, 2WD. This was a tank. Many, many good (stupid) high school stories. This is close, but ours was darker blue with the silver two tone (though that may not have been factory paint, can’t recall). One of my first wrenching memories as well - my dad and I installed a vacuum driven cruise control kit from Sears.

‘94-’98: 1987 Acura Legend 4 door. 5 speed manual, 2.5L V-6 that loved to rev. One of the very few ones I ever saw with no sunroof and cloth seats. Almost like this picture, but no sunroof. First car I bought myself. Sold it to our family Honda mechanic when the clutch needed replacing.

‘98-00: 1994 Ford Explorer. Bought from my parents after I sold the Acura. My mom had to have a first gen Explorer when it came out, it was pretty solid. 160k miles and a transmission rebuild at 90k. Other than that it was rock solid. Exactly like the one in the picture. Sold it for $2k cash.

‘00-’05 : 2000 Passat 4 door, SE, 2.8V6, 5 speed manual. First new car I bought. Surprisingly (in retrospect) reliable. Same color as below, but with worse custom wheels from Tire Rack. Really wish I could find a picture of them, they were a horrible choice. Sold it to my younger sister who put another 50k miles on it, think it had 150k when she sold it.

‘05 -’07: 2000 BMW 540i 6 speed. My baby. Still the best driving car I have ever owned. But kids came along and out went my time to work on it, and couldn’t at the time justify keeping it as a project. Did I mention I loved this car? It just didn’t love me back. Replaced e verything cooling system related, intake manifold gasket, ABS seat sensor, and the list goes on. Probably dropped $7k in repairs for a car I paid $20k for. Sold it for $15k. Actual car below.

‘07-’10: 2005 Acura TL, auto. Good reliable transportation. Got tired of bland. Sold it in ‘10.

‘09-’10: E36 BMW 328 (don’t even remember year) 5 speed . Bought it as a running project car, got rid of it as soon as I found out I was having twins. Was midway through pulling the head to replace a blown gasket. Yes, those are rattle can black wheels (as purchased, I didn’t do that).

‘10-’12: 2008 Honda Odyssey Touring minivan. Bought basically the same time we went from 2 kids to 4. For a minivan, it surprisingly didn’t completely crush my soul. Actual minivan below. Didn’t sell it, it was lost in the first flood event (for those in Houston it was the Memorial day flood 2015). Flooded exactly where you see it in the picture below, imagine water up to the door handles.

‘12-15: 2007 VW GTI 2 door. Got as a third car for me to drive (mostly to the airport and back as I was traveling a lot). Nanny drove the minivan, and I got a manual transmission again. Did APR stage 1 tune, and it was a hoot to drive. Would have kept it longer if it was 4 door, but once I was back in town getting kids in / out of the back seat was a pain. Relatively reliable, but was starting to show VW gremlins at 110k. Photo below was on the day I traded it in o n the 328.

‘15-’18: 2015 BMW 328i M Sport 6 speed. Leased it when I was traveling, then got back in town but with a long commute so the wife started driving it . It was fun. You really had to rev the 2L turbo to get it moving though. I thought it looked pretty sharp as well. Turned it in at the end of the lease in July this year.

‘17-present: 2015 Chevrolet Suburban LTZ, 2WD. Current daily. Only regret right now is that I didn’t look harder for a 4wd and I didn’t ask them to switch out the wheels to 20" instead of the 22". When the tires are worn I’m buying some 20" take offs (probably GMC Denali ones).  

Now - looking for a project car, probably an E24 or E28 BMW.

Whew, that took longer than I thought.