Topic: What's everyone's "other" ride?

[bleuquila]

I thought it would be fun to see what sort of 4-wheelers people driving when it's raining out

I'll start! Subaru WRX

[Harry]

When its raining? Then I ride my SOHC! When its snowing, gales are howling, roads are salted, bears and wolves attacking pedestrians, then the tough get going and I dig out my trusty old MZ TS150.

[Tim.]

My other Honda OHC - 1999 Civic DX hatchback.  I had a 1992 Civic Si hatchback but sold it off a few years back.  I simply won't buy a Civic coupe or sedan - has to be a hatch.  Next car will likely be something like a Scion Xb (when I can get one in Canada).

[pmpski_1]

My other rehab: 1991 Mercedes Benz 300TE

[galaxian]

I had a 99 subaru RS2.5 thats now gone. So to take its place I got a 04 wrx in the fastest color of course world rally blue.

[MetalHead550]

Ricers!

Ha!  I love Jap bikes but jap cars...not so much.  I will say Honda makes some solid, reliable cars and Subaru makes some kick as stuff too like the WRX STI,  but they just dont do it for me when it comes to styling and size.  Sorry but they are just kinda girly and I get tired of people who do the fast and furious thing and think that putting rims and a giant spoiler on their otherwize stock 4 banger with the ugly fart maker coffee can mufflers makes them fast.  I do however have respect for any machine that is truely a performer, and those little 4 bangers can be made to scream!  But heres mine...last of the 4 door American muscle.  1994 Caprice 9C1, thats the police package to the b-body ignorant. Very simular the the Impala SS of the time...full size, rear wheel drive, body on frame construction...very sturdy and comfortable cars.  Police package includes:  280hp, 340ft/lb LT1 which is a 5.7 liter V8.  4L60E transmission specially tuned with higher shift points and more agressive shifts, uses overdrive as top gear.  Specially ballanced drive shaft for high speeds.  3.08 gear positive traction differential.  Stainless steel, 2 1/4 inch true dual exhaust.  Heavy duty cooling system including:  high capacity radiator, external engine oil cooler, external transmission fluid cooler, power steerng cooler, dual electric cooling fans.  Water pump is cam shaft driven and features a two way, bypass 160 degree thermostat.  4 wheel disc breaks.  Heavy duty suspension with massive, high rate coil springs and beefy front an rear sway bars, DeCarbon shocks(replaced w/ Bilsteins ).  140 amp alternator.  Quick ratio steering box.  ect.  Anyway they kick ass.  0-60 is like 6.8 seconds stock, which is nothing to scream about until you consider its a full size luxury sedan that weighs well over 2 tons dry.  Top speed is 145 or so and the damn thing still gets about 25 mpg on the interstate..no #$%*.  Point is, very few people know about them=total sleeper.  This car will smoke a mustang of the same model year...its well documented.  Shame Chevy stopped makin em!

[Raul CB750K1]

A rara avis for our fellow americans. 2000 Turbo Diesel A4

(this picture is not my car, but it's the same model and color. To be honest, I don't have any picture of the car. I think I took one when I bought it but it was not a digital pic).

As opposed to Metalhead, I can't mention all that technical stuff. It's 110 BHP, and I generally don't push it faster than 70-80 mph. Not many chances in the jammed Madrid streets anyway. Everything is stock. The only thing I'm proud of it is the Kenwood stereo, because it matches the interior lights and dashboard color. Was stolen twice. The first time I bought a new model. The second time I bought another from eBay. I recently installed a Kenwood Music Keg, a 10 Gigabyte hard drive. I store there about 140 records in mp3 format. Gone are the days of taking the changer magazine to change the discs. I put it in random mode, and there is always a unexpected song. The rest of the car is stock.

My other bike is a Suzuki GZ250 Marauder.



Small and not so powerful, but pretty convenient for the traffic in Madrid, where lane splitting is forbidden by law but overlooked by traffic police. Parking on sidewalks is permitted when they are wide enough, so they are and advantage in the city. Now a new law authorize people with 3+ years of car driving license to drive bikes up to 125 cc, in order to reduce traffic jams.

Raul

[dusterdude]

here`s mine.

[Bob Wessner]

Well, I guess we are a Honda family all the way. Both my wife and I drive CRV's, she has the newer one of course. 

[Raul CB750K1]

As opposed to Metalhead, I wouldn't mind to have a jap car. A Honda Accord or a Mazda 6 or a Toyota Avensis. They are F%$%ing reliable and cost a fraction. My Audi A4 has given me trouble and the aftersales service is very unprofessional. I could tell horror histories about them, that charge about 60 dollars per man-hour.

I plan to keep it at least another 6-10 years, and my next one will be either a Mercedes or a japanese car. The good thing of Audis is that they age very well, as the quality of upholstery and plastics is very good, so if you put some TLC and do all the maintenance tasks when scheduled they can last long.


Raul

[Uncle Ernie]

Put too much money in this and it still stalls when it drives through puddles. What is it with you guys in England? You make cars like there's no hills or rain in that country?! I've had it with old s**t. Well... OK- not really.    Maybe.                       


                                                  Oh hell- never mind

[pmpski_1]

No problems whatsoever with my Mercedes. When I rescued it from duties as a latte repository\toddler playpen it had 116k on it and a leaky coolant container. It ran out of coolant and started to overheat but the PO was wise enough to shut it down and get it towed. This happened the day after I first looked at it and the PO wanted to get rid of it quickly. I got it for a little more than a song.

The interior got stripped and cleaned, the front main seal was replaced, the valve seals were replaced, the leaky coolant container was replaced, and a new radiator was put in. Various other bits and pieces were replaced or refurbished. It now has over 146k and doesn't burn or leak a drop of oil. It's a dream to drive and has enough room for a lot of junk in the back. I think I'll keep it forever. If it's taken care of it will last that long.

I have heard horror stories about newer Mercedes though. I don't think I would touch one, even if I could afford it. Metalhead, I lust over the Impala SS. Someday when I have more garage space and money to fill it I will have one. Or maybe an Impala SS "Estate" of my own creation

[jsaab2748]

Wow man......I better be careful...I drive a Mustang

[jbailey]

Well, It's not much to brag about, but my friends like it.

[Terry in Australia]

Put too much money in this and it still stalls when it drives through puddles. What is it with you guys in England? You make cars like there's no hills or rain in that country?! I've had it with old s**t. Well... OK- not really.    Maybe.           
                                                  Oh hell- never mind

All those old English vehicles (bikes and cars) used "Lucas" electrics, which were notoriously unreliable. The standard joke here in Oz (we had #$%*loads of English cars here before Ford and GM started building decent cars for us after WW2) is:
Q. Why do Pommy Bastards (an endearing term for our English friends) drink their beer warm?
A. Because Lucas make their Refrigerators!

I don't own a car, I gave my old Ford to my son when I got a company car and he promptly destroyed it, but I have a penchant for Ford V8's, Metalheads car sounds neat, but is a bit underpowered compared to the all alloy 32 valve DOHC Aussie Ford 5.4 litre engine that punches out 290Kw (386 BHP) standard. I've no idea what the fuel consumption figures are, but I know that if I had one my license wouln't last as long as the first tank of gas, ha ha! Cheers, Terry.  

[Seyser]

99 Nissan Maxima SE as a daily driver in the summer, 86 Chevy S-10 for the winter and...

Here is my other weekend toy (Hope the pic works)
94 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4

[MetalHead550]

Wow man......I better be careful...I drive a Mustang

 :DWell it depends on what year Mustang you have.  Is it V6 or 5.0 or 4.6 V8?....or are you driving a Saleen or SVT or Cobra and laughing at my ride right now?  I guess I wasnt slamming Mustangs when I said my car would smoke a 94 Mustang with the 5.0, just a good comparison and that was its competition at the time as far as cop cars.  My car wouldnt touch the new GT Mustangs, those things are bad!  You also dont need to worry about me being an anti-Ford Chevy fanatic.  In fact Chevy sucks.....GM sucks...except for their tuner devision that designs the Corvettes and STS-Vs.  I didnt buy my car just for its respectable performance qualities..its comfy, roomy, safe, dependable, and coming from a small town PD...dirt cheap!  300,000 is not unheard of with these things and I'm only at 48k .

[Uncle Ernie]

Terry, we have a radio show here on public radio called Click and Clack; The Tappet Brother's Car Talk Show. Some guy called to say he was moving to Montana and wanted to know what they thought of the Range Rover. Without even thinking, one of them shot back, "The reason the English don't make computers is they haven't figured out a way to make them leak oil!"   Having had several "olde" English machines, that still cracks me up.

[74cb750]

My other ride is a 1995 Ford F150 with 220,000 miles and still going. Was owned by a young college girl, and had no scratches or dents for 160,000 miles. Now, after having carried many junk bikes from junkyards to my back yard, and 15 year old driving it into the corner of my house....oh well....

[Raul CB750K1]

When I was living in the states (2002) I was driving rental cars and had the chance to try a few. I liked the Dodge Stratus and the Pontiac Grand Am. That car had good acceleration and a nice styling in my opinion. The interior was not so detailed but hey!, that was a rental car. Another thing that surprised me was the lack of carpet in the bonnets. In Spain cars have bonnets with carpet all around. Also we don't have that device with which one can open the bonnet in case he get's trapped, mostly because no spaniard had found a good reason to step into a car's bonnet!! (I assuming the bonnet is the luggage compartment, not the engine compartment)

The Chevrolet Monte Carlo stank. An ugly styling and very, very underpowered. The Oldsmobile Alero was nice; very similar to the Grand Am, but less responsive. Last one I tried was a Chrysler Neon (or was it Dodge Neon? I can't remember, in Spain it's marketed by Chrysler). What can I say? It's a good car for learners, basic equipment. I generally don't complain about free stuff, but I think I can aim a little higher.

That where the car's I was allowed to rent. I liked the Dodge Intrepid very much. It was funny that after six months driving automatic cars, when I returned and took my manual shift it was just automatic, I couldn't imagine how the shifting gets into your brain and you don't even have to think about shifting.


Raul

[Jonesy]

I know what you mean, Raul. I was putting a new head gasket in a friend's car and I hadn't driven a stick shift car in years. When I went to test-drive it, it was like I had just driven one yesterday. I guess it's like riding a bicycle- you never forget.

I remember my first ride in a Plymouth (now Chrysler since they killed the Plymouth division) Neon. I though the styling was neat, but it gave an awfully harsh ride- suspension too stiff in my opinion. You feel every little bump, and in Michigan with so many bad roads it get tiresome really quick! One time when travelling on business I got a Buick Century. This was the opposite end of the spectrum. The suspension seemed so soft that you couldn't get any feedback from the road. My wife drives a Grand Am now and it is a fun-to-drive car.

Carpet in the bonnets.. (in US-speak "trunk" [boot]?) More cars in the states are equipped with that feature now. The escape latch feature was mainly for children that might happen to climb in and shut the lid. Probably the result of a lawsuit. Don't get me started on the ambulance-chasing lawyers!

Oh, BTW... in keeping with the thread, I drive a 1998 Chevrolet S-10 or a 2004 Ford Taurus (Company Car- can't wait to turn it in for an Impala... been nothing but trouble!)

[Raul CB750K1]

Yeah, trunk, that was the word I couldn't find. Sorry about that.

If you want to hear something funny, in Spain the former Daewoo oriental cars are marketed as Chevrolet. As there was not too much brand awareness here they decided that Chevrolet have more "punch" than Daewoo. But for us that knew about the brand before, it's hard to see that the Matiz and the Camaro have the same badge...

[needswork]

My daily is a 1995 Volvo 850 GLE. The boss has a 2001 Volvo V70. I like my old beast better though. 

[Philly550K1]

hmm.  mine are all SOHC4's at the moment.  not counting the camper....

[Chrisboden]

1993 Mazda MX3, with some slight modifications

Custom Paint (Prismatique)
Corner strobes from a firetruck, Siren.
4 onboard computers.
About a mile of wire and cable.
Computer controllled everything
Realtime engine management.
Etc ad astra...