My automotive history

"Sneaky Pete" (trappster) 09/08/2015 at 00:50 • Filed to: None

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First car that was all mine was a 1986 Accord LXi , 5MT with about 290,000 miles on it. I don’t have any photos of the car, but it looked like this, louvers and all, though with lots of door dings:

Mom got a new car, dad got mom’s old car, sister got the 86 LXi, and I got my dad’s 1990 Accord LX , 5MT. Parents bought it when new, dad maintained it, despite having about 180,000 miles on it when I got it, it ran and looked brand new. Great engine, the F22A1. Very similar to this photo, but mine had hubcaps.

Gave that Accord to my sister when I bought my first fun car, a 1992 Prelude Si, 5MT - this was the car that got me into cars. Had this one for about 5 years.

Sold it after I graduated college and bought a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser , 6MT. Lots of fun. Terrible gas mileage. Wish I’d kept is as I bought it brand new for 23.5k and they sell for more than that used now and it was a great SUV.

Sold it and bought something that got a little better mileage, a 2008 Acura TSX . First auto. Nice enough car. Comfortable, but boring to drive.

Shortly after buying the TSX, I bought a beater truck, a 1988 Toyota 4x4 , 5MT. Affectionately known as the POST-piece of shit truck. Gutless, no A/C, awful ride, and despite the reputation of the 22RE being indestructible, this one ate headgaskets and blew up on me twice in the span of a couple years.

Shortly before selling the TSX, I bought a new fun car, a 2011 Mustang GT , 6MT, Brembo package. Fun car, decently fast. Had pretty much every option other than the glass roof and navigation. It felt like a fairly big car, and a bit more refined than I’d like out of a performance car. Had this one for 5 years.

After the POST blew up, I unloaded it and bought a new beater, a 2007 Honda Fit Sport , 5MT. Somewhat affectionately known as the Piece of Fit. Gets great mileage, is a fun little car to toss around on twisty roads, but has pretty much no power, is a chore to do maintenance on due to the tiny engine bay, and has a poorly designed electrical system-at least when it comes to the headlights. It eats bulbs. To change the headlight bulbs, you have to pull the front wheel off and remove the fender liner. PITA. Still have it, for now.

Due to the Mustang’s general bulk and “too refined” character, I bought something a bit more raw, one of my dream cars as a kid, a 1996 Viper GTS . Raw. Beastly. Sold the Mustang. Don’t miss it. Still have this car and have no plans to get rid of it any time soon. Want to get a set of custom wheels, but due to the oddball 6x114.3 and 13” rear width, all wheels are specially made and costly.

Got tired of my brutal commute in the Fit since it’s a manual, so I bought a pre-owned car that’s a little more comfortable, a 2012 Cadillac CTS . 5AT. Comfy, much better for the commute, gets decent mileage for a V6. Will be keeping this one for a while

In the next year, I’d like to sell the Fit and buy a used truck.

Anyone else have an interesting series of cars that they’ve owned? What’s your car history?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 00:58

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Backstories mentioned in posts past, so here’s the list instead:

‘92 Integra (RIP)
‘96 Civic DX (RIP)
‘89 Toyota Pickup 2wd (sold)
‘80 Toyota Pickup longbed 2wd (still my DD)
‘85 Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon (sold to family member)
‘83 Toyota Tercel 4WD (sold, scrapped by new owner)

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 01:10

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1995 Toyota 4Runner.

That’s it. As a Toyota lover, I have found that the 22RE isn’t very good. It’s underpowered, likes head gaskets as much as/more than the much derided 3VZE, shitty on fuel, likes to jump time, etc. I’d much rather have my 3VZE, because other than head gaskets(which if done right is a one time thing), it has been pretty faultless from a reliability standpoint. The 22RE is dirt cheap to fix though.

Osiris - I can haz Euro spec? > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 01:42

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Here’s my list:

1990 Toyota Camry (Auto, nothing fancy. Point A to B car.)

1994 Ford Ranger (2wd, manual, and power nothing. It was fun though.)

1984 Chevy Camaro Berlinetta (Pretty sure I bought a stolen car. Fun even though it was auto.)

1996 Ford Exploder Eddie Bauer (Fucking money pit. Fuck that car.)

2011 Chevy Aveo (Fantastic little car for a starting family. And fun as shit on dirt roads.)

2000 Dodge Dakota (5MT, 5.9L Magnum. So much fun. I miss that truck.)

2010 Ford Explorer (Because I didn’t learn the first time. Great truck though.)

2000 Renault Megane (My first European purchase since getting to Spain. It’s not bad. Need to sell it though so I can get something more fun.)

ly2v8-Brian > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 01:43

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My first car was an S10 that looked exactly like this one, except mine was owned by a company and a farm so you can imagine it looked a little rough, but not bad. One of the previous owners even put a spray in liner. My mom gave it to me as a gift, I cherished it greatly. It was motivated by the mighty 2.2L pushrod inline four produce a heartpounding 120hp mated to an automatic. None of that mattered because it became an awesome drift machine in the Minnesota winters. Unfortunately it died to soon, my sister crashed it in a tree. It kept her safe, but at the cost of the little fella’s life.

My next car was a LeSabre like this one (the only differences are the wheels, tint, and mudflaps) right down to the tires. It was a great car. Simple to work on. The best car I have ever been in for long roadtrips, it rides so smooth with its air suspension ironing out every bump. It got great mileage (got 31 mpg average going from the Twin Cities to Illinois). The rear seat was as soft as a couch (you would sink down in it when you sat on it). But I missed having a truck.

So I bought this sexy beast. My current vehicle the 2009 Chevrolet Silverado, known simply as Big Blue. It has been completely rock solid for me, can’t complain about much at all. Its LY2 V8 is awesome, such marvelous sounds it makes. It can be a bit cumbersome in tight urban confines, but certainly not difficult at all. The looks are perfect, just the right amount of chrome and the blue granite metallic paint is gorgeous in the sunlight.

And yes the common thread between all of the vehicles has been that they all have had the fuzzy dice. Extra Horsepower and such.

EL_ULY > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 01:46

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Awesome line up. All i’ve owned is cheap “euro big 3” headaches. I want a base C6 Vette in yellow for my 30th bday next year. Fingers crossed and busting ass at work to make that happen

AlexTheSeal > ly2v8-Brian 09/08/2015 at 02:31

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LeSabres have air suspension? I did not know that. Is it just in the back to help keep the ride height level under load, like a Town Car, or is it all the way around like a Continental or Mark VII/VIII?

ly2v8-Brian > AlexTheSeal 09/08/2015 at 03:26

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It was all around. When you start it with the radio low you would here a muffled whirring from the back as the system pressurized. It was a bit more advanced than those systems, so it wouldn't lean or have one really high side when occupants left the car.

KnowsAboutCars > EL_ULY 09/08/2015 at 04:01

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You mean German big three? :P Don’t you own a Silverado or something similar too?

yitznewton > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 06:21

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Mmmmm 3rd gen Accord LXi... me gusta

Mine:

1984 Jetta GLI college beater (bought with 235k miles and too much naïve hope)

1992 Ferd Tempo hand-me-down when I got married (V6 w/3speed auto)

2006 Toyota Sienna size upgrade from the Ferd (still own)

2007 Honda Fit (commuter; sold while I didn’t need a car)

2003 Jetta 1.8T (commuter and occasional track day beast, needed a car again; still own)

Future: NA or ND or MS Miata, FR-S/BRZ, or something else small and RWD (MR2?)

McMike > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 08:01

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I don’t have any photos of my first car (also an Accord), but here’s the brochure

That was followed by:

84 Colt Turbo

86 Conquest Tsi

(two years of bicycle)

(one year of motorcycle)

85 Vanagon

Dad’s Jaguar

(another motorcycle)

69 Austin Mini

87 Vanagon

(another motorcycle)

I don’t go through many cars. I tend to keep them. Bolded are the ones I still have.

EL_ULY > KnowsAboutCars 09/08/2015 at 08:11

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oh that awesome truck. Best thing I ever owned. Drank fuel like it was going out of style tho. She is long gone :’(

jjhats > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 08:12

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which made a better commuter, the tsx or the cts?

twochevrons > Sneaky Pete 09/08/2015 at 08:17

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I’ve written a lot about my automotive history before, but here’s the list:

1976 Triumph 2500TC - 4+OD manual: hand-me-down from my parents, old, worn-out, but a thoroughly lovely car. After I was done with it, it went on to my brother, who kept it on the road until rust got the better of it last year.

1984 Rover SD1 - 3 speed auto: an entirely rash choice for a first car purchase. Terrible fuel economy, questionable reliability, and a fair bit of rust. Huge amount of fun, though, with a lovely little (3.5 litre) V8 and handling that was a great introduction to RWD hooliganism.

1993 Citroën Xantia - 5 speed manual: almost a polar opposite to the Rover, being compact, economical, and not particularly sporty, this was probably one of the nicest cars that I have ever owned. Relatively high-mileage, but in mint condition, with only two previous owners. It never gave me any trouble, and I’d probably still be driving it now if I hadn’t moved to the US.

1996 VW Cabrio - 4 speed auto: my wife’s car when I got to the States. Utterly trashed (not by her), with terrible rust, a roof held together by duct tape, and a ruined interior. It was a total deathtrap, but you couldn’t help but love it – it did amazingly well in the snow, and although it was terrifyingly slow, was actually pretty fun to drive.

1985 VW Scirocco – 5 speed manual: my father-in-law goaded me into buying a barn-find Scirocco not long after I moved here. It looks like an absolute heap, but with only 40,000 miles on the clock, it drives like a new car.

1956 MGA Roadster – 4 speed manual: my father-in-law is to blame for this one, too. He’d bought it while in college, but it had been off the road since 1979. I spotted it, and he told me that if I could get it running, it was mine. With fresh fluids and a new battery, it fired up on the first try! It’s really in need of a full restoration, but for now, I’m just driving it and enjoying it.

2011 VW Golf – 6 speed auto: the Cabrio had been finding new ways to disgrace itself faster than I could fix it, so, in a fit of rage, my wife brought home an off-lease VW Golf. I’m a fan – the 2.5 litre engine is gutsy and sounds fantastic, and the automatic transmission is excellent. For a base-model car, I’m very impressed at the quality and quantity of equipment, but then again, I’ve hardly even been in a car that new before.

1996 Volvo 850R wagon – 4 speed auto: this one definitely has a story attached to it – write-up here , Opporeview here . I somewhat foolishly use this as my daily driver.

We still have the Scirocco, MG, Golf and 850R. A bit ridiculous for a four-person household, but they all have their niches.

Sneaky Pete > jjhats 09/10/2015 at 10:06

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I had to give this a bit of thought as they are both good commuters.

Despite the TSX getting slightly better gas mileage, the CTS is more comfortable, quieter, smoother, and more refined. The V6 and gearing are smoother both in running and power delivery. The CTS is just a base model, so the TSX had more amenities like heated seats and a moon roof, but I still prefer the CTS. The TSX felt like a relatively well built economy car is luxury car’s clothing whereas the CTS feels like a legitimate luxury car. Interior quality isn’t really close. Honda makes great reliable, fairly fuel efficient cars, but they don’t do luxury well.