Your Vehicle

[Taco]

What do you drive? Do you love it? Hate it? Would you trade it in at the drop of a hat?

I drive an automatic (as opposed to stick shift) 1993 tan colored Saturn... something. It's a fairly compact car. It's a comfortable car to ride in, and it gets fairly good gas mileage. It has a cassette deck (as opposed to a CD player) that I love, because I missed making mixed tapes all the time, and it gave me the excuse when I got it. I have decorated the rear window with several stickers, several of which have been destroyed by the weather (I had a Faith No More Sticker in the top middle for a little while. It made me sad when I realized it was too far gone to remain there.) I also have some random stickers that I found in some kid's locker when we were cleaning them out this summer; put them on there for some reason... My current favorite is a gundam on the side window.

This car has given me problems, though. It used to jolt for no reason when I'd accelerate, like it didn't know how to change gears, and sometimes it would just die. Plus, there was a point where it would make a lovely screeching noise. I got the first problem taken care of (it was computers problem, apparently) but only kind of got the second problem taken care of; it still screeches sometimes (that had to do with a cracked water pump. My friend replaced it for me, and says he probably didn't tighten it enough when he put it back in.) Other than that... I scratched up the paint job on one side by parking next to bushes outside my house all the time.

I like it. I probably won't be able to afford anything else, so I will probably just run it into the ground, then get another cheap car. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[Koda]

I drive a Teal Green 1995 T-Top Camaro. Automatic. I've had it for almost 10 years and I love it! I've driven it from the east coast to the west coast and wouldn't trade it for anything. Within the next year or so I would like to get a new paint job done on it. Maybe change the color. I did put a new engine in it about 3 years ago. I got lazy and didn't keep up with the oil changes like I should have. A new engine was a lot cheaper than buying a new car, besides, I just have no desire to part with my car. Plus, obviously after having it for this long...it's paid for.
Even before I put the new engine in it I really haven't had any major problems with it. Just the usual...replace the brakes when needed, an alternator, water pump, and fuel filter. But that's about it. So I certainly can't complain about it. And even though Camaro's aren't suppose to be good driving in snow....my car does great. Although I do have many many years of driving experience as well as years and years of experience driving in the snow.
So yeah....I think I'll keep her.

[Rocky]

I drive a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero. It's a 4 door all white with a sweet rear wing. Even though its automatic it seems to get ok gas mileage; the tank is small but I don't have to pay much to fill it up. A couple of years back I dropped about $500 for a sound system that I self-installed that to this day holds up nicely, which keeps me preoccupied while I'm driving around the city, which I tend to do a lot with my job. It's got fairly low miles on it (like 67000 as of right now) and there have been few problems with it, except this one time...

Last winter I was driving back with a friend to college late one night. It was in the middle of winter mind you, and we had about a half hour to go before we got home. It was snowing all day and the roads were really bad, except now we were getting to the bigger cities so the roads weren't absolute trash like normal. I was driving and hit a patch of black ice, and long story short, I ended up in the ditch. Neither of us were hurt at all, it's just the car was smack dab in the middle of it and we had no way of getting it out. So, we ended up getting a lift from a stranger (lol he had good candy! jk) to a nearby area and we got back home by my friends dad. (This story has so much more to it that makes it hilarious but I'll stick with the car stuff) Well, I get a towing guy to get my car out the next morning, and I find out that over the night some car ending up sliding in the same exact spot as I did and completely totalled the backend of my car. So I spend a god-awful amount of money getting a new back end for my car, but everything worked out in the end in so many crazy ways. (Like I said, a LOT happened over the whole thing but I don't wanna get off topic, unless you really want to know)

Short story? My car has been totaled twice and I'll probably get nothing for it, so I might as well keep the car, since other then that it runs nicely.

[Govinda]

Well better than cars, cause I live near everything. And I love them.

[Meier Link]

Ok technicaly I have 2 cars, I will start with the one that I drive the most. It is a 2007 Kia Sorento, Higher end V6, with seating for 5. For being a Kia I actually really like this ride, it is big but not so huge that I can not park it. My son seems to love it also because the back seat sits up high enough for him to see out of all of the windows. When I was moving this was a key aspect to getting it done. Being able to fold the seats down gave me more room to haul stuff then most trucks can provide. Gas milage is some where between 22-24 MPG.

As for my second car, that the wife drives, is a 2006 Ford Mustang, we bought this one used but the previous owner kept it emaculant. After doing some research on it I found out that it has been chipped, limo tint and flowmasters have been added for the exhaust. It has the higher end V6 in it also. I finally got to see what this car could do the other day and I must say that I was really impressed with it, I left over 20 feet of rubber and got it up to over 75 MPH in the matter of about 8 seconds. And had it shut down and stopped in under 6. Gas milage is somewhere between 23-26 MPG.

Look at some of my older post in PYP thread to see both.

[Pete]

I drive a lovely '91 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera S. It's light blue and quite possibly the best thing that came out of my relationship with my ex. V6 with about 133hp and a 3.1L engine. It can motor.

It's got barely 67000 miles on it, which is pretty incredible for a 91, and power everything, driver's seat included. The one thing that kinda sucks is that I need to get the AC fixed for the summer, but the heater works great in the winter, so I guess I'll survive. Better yet, I can get about 20-23 miles per gallon, and probably an extra 1-2 if I put in some fuel injector cleaner and higher quality gas.

Last fall, I put a cd player in there, which is pretty great, but I need new speakers, since the aforementioned ex blew one of them out and half blew out another. I guess when I start getting paychecks I'll drop some money into that.

As for the damages, lets see:

-I was rear ended on Christmas Eve '06, 13 days after getting the car. The guy wasn't paying attention and didn't see the red light up ahead, and smacked into my car and bolted. Couldn't even get a plate number. The damage was minimal though, so I'll live.

- My ex backed her Celica into my car, perpendicularly (which is hard to do in itself, since I drive a tank), which slightly dented the chrome accent above the rear drivers side fender and cracked my hubcap. Funny thing was that she cracked her bumper and tail light worse than my car, which means that Oldsmobile plastic hubcaps are stronger than Toyotas.

- The front passenger fender was smashed in when a moving truck backed into my car. I was parked on another block and apparently neighbors of those moving put a note on my car, telling me who hit it. However, when I started knocking on doors, someone said the people moving took the note and threw it out. Fuckers.
We had to get my dad's friend to use some kinda jaws of life-like tool to pull the fender out enough so I could drive it.

Just once, I'd like to smash my OWN car up, rather than have some assholes do it for me.

[Sasquatch]

Christine is a 1998 Ford Ranger. Extended cab, manual transmission, 4.0L engine. She's red, slightly darker, with an oh-so-slight purple tint, and the bottom foot or so is gray.

The only thing I would change about her is that she's rear-wheel-drive. Living in Wisconsin, four-wheel drive would be much better during foot-deep snow in winter. But sometimes, rear-wheel drive is very fun.

I bought it in April of 2005, when it had about 66,000 miles on it. Since then, I've put about 40,000 miles on it, and I (obviously) didn't use it for about a year and a half, because of military training and deployment.

My former brother-in-law does car stereo setups, so I managed to buy a set of 10" subwoofers from him for $40, a 500W amplifier for another $40 from an auto parts store that was going out of business, and a wiring harness and head unit from Wal-Mart for another hundred bucks. Less than two hundred bucks, and there's plenty of sound inside that cab. Nothing too much, not fit or competitions or anything, but I don't have to worry about turning it up too loud and blowing one of the stock speakers out, and it still sounds pretty good.

Christine was named after the Husky I used in Iraq, which I named after the Stephen King book. See, the book is about a '58 Plymouth Fury, which, in short, has a mind and motivation of its own, and kills the enemies of its owner. Good book, good movie. In Iraq, we took two Huskies out. (If you'd really like to know more about military route clearance equipment, let me know -- otherwise, settle for this Husky. Mine was older, green, and had a manual transmission. And better.) We were getting another Husky sometime, and there was talk of retiring mine. But for four or five missions in a row, when we would take "my" Husky and a newer one out, the newer one would go down. It would either get hit, or something simple would happen to it -- a belt would break, the alternator would go out, stuff like that. So by the end of the mission, I would be the only operational Husky out. It was like she was "willing" the other Huskies to go down, to make sure we knew that she could still keep up with the newer ones. So I named her Christine. And when I got home, since I hadn't named by truck yet, I dubbed her "Christine".

I've had a bit of work done to her, too. About a year ago, I figured that she was getting on ten years old, and had been sitting for a while, so she needed some work. I got new tires, a new battery, replaced every hose, tube, and soft line, flushed every liquid system, and more. I also replaced all four brakes when they locked up on me, two at a time on two seperate occasions, one of which being during a vacation in Georgia. And -- on a different vacation in Georgia, oddly enough -- I also hit something with my right front tire and bent the tie rod, so I had to get that replaced and realigned.

She's never really had any problems, other than those. No accidents, no troubles. I've slept in it, I've eaten in it, I've driven it for eighteen hours at a time.

Not the best fuel mileage, but not bad at all for that type of vehicle.

Oh, and other distinguishing characteristics. It has an Engineers sticker on it, and a "Freedom Isn't Free" magnet. The magnet was stolen once -- which I got severely pissed about -- so I bought a new one to replace it.

[Lunasa]

I drive an mid-90's Volvo Station wagon somethingorother with a caution sign-yellow interior, clashing gray seat covers and body, hot-glued rear-view mirror. The highlight of the vehicle? The stereo has huge ampage. That, and it managed have a flat driver's side front tire. It's currently at home on LI getting repaired.

God, I love it, though. Mainly because it's my first car. I'll trade it in whence she's had her time or the motor blows or something.

All in all, it's the ultimate ride. I can stow people and things in the trunk since it's a station wagon! Wooo! I'll get a lovely picture of it once I return home.

[Pete]

Ok I've got some old pics of Wanda... pretty much right after she got dented.

http://a7.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...b9e87fc036.jpg

And this is my car with a snowhawk, because I was extremely bored. Notice the missing hubcap.

http://a578.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...5fb3de55b1.jpg

[dimmufan]

I drive a 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis. I really like this car. My only problem is that it has a V8 and therefore likes gas more than I do. It has 4 doors, a white paint job, and gets decent highway mileage for being a V8. It looks and runs like brand new even though it has over 107K miles.

[IRANianCha0s]

I got myself a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta. I have lovingly named her Kalina Ann (yes, straight from DMC3, go stfu now). her skin tone is a very fair pearl white, and she's packing 4 cylinder, 1.8 L, front wheel drive, and enjoys 30 unleaded gasoline margaritas per mile she journeys on the beach. Been with her for 2 years, and while she has been sick lately (both front and rear strut mounts are coming loose, and engine has a phantom load), she has loyally served me since.










I don't have a picture of her (yet), but this should be a close approximation: