Best years? Daily Drivers

[John Byrd]

We've had a lot of vehicles, and before moving to Hawaii, nearly always had long  commutes to our jobs, and was back and forth between AL. and TN. at least every other weekend. I also escorted wide loads as a kid along with my Dad. Of all our cars we've had, we always tell folks to buy a new Mazda if asked for an opinion. Just plain reliable, and if buying them used, they don't have the resale value of some other similar cars, so an even better deal ! Having said that, I imagine most new cars are great these days, but the old used Fords, Studebakers, and English cars are my favorites for playing around with. I would NEVER buy any car new again just because of the horrible loss of value as soon as you sign the paper, but I'm married, and my bride loves to have a new car every few years, soooo, lol.  There are a lot of variables in rating the best tho', and even tho' they were not ones we kept the longest or had the least trouble with, a 78 Fiesta, an 80 Datsun 210, and a Ford EXP (84 I think) were our gas mileage champs at 42 mpg.

[TexRiv_63]

Back in early 2000s I bought a very cheap ex-Texas DPS 1995 9C-1 Chevy Caprice unmarked cruiser with 113,000 miles just out of service. DPS had painted it a weird "leftover paint" light brown metallic and the interior was filthy but it ran like a scalded cat. I cleaned it up and put another 50,000 fun miles on it with very little maintenance needed other than usual wear. Turned out that GM put the same police drivetrain  in just about every full size car they built from 1994 to 1996 so I wound up owning a Chevy Impala SS, Buick Roadmaster wagon, and Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham before I moved on. Today these are still great cars but the 20 years passing mean a pretty fair list of common ills would have to be addressed for them to be as reliable as they were back then.

[mrspeedyt]

my 2012 prius has been good until the last 6 months. 200000 miles and the head gasket probably needs replacement due to seepage of coolant. (a characteristic issue.) after replacement maybe get another 200000 out of it. gets pretty good gas mileage.

 

but overall the best vehicle I had (other than gas mileage) was my V8 1973 suburban 4x4 granny gear stick. sold it with 400,000 miles on it.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

14 hours ago, TexRiv_63 said:

Back in early 2000s I bought a very cheap ex-Texas DPS 1995 9C-1 Chevy Caprice unmarked cruiser with 113,000 miles just out of service. DPS had painted it a weird "leftover paint" light brown metallic and the interior was filthy but it ran like a scalded cat. I cleaned it up and put another 50,000 fun miles on it with very little maintenance needed other than usual wear. Turned out that GM put the same police drivetrain  in just about every full size car they built from 1994 to 1996 so I wound up owning a Chevy Impala SS, Buick Roadmaster wagon, and Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham before I moved on. Today these are still great cars but the 20 years passing mean a pretty fair list of common ills would have to be addressed for them to be as reliable as they were back then.

 

 I drive my 1992 Roadmaster Sedan daily.   It will probably outlast me.

 

  Ben

[TAKerry]

On 12/19/2023 at 10:18 AM, Leif in Calif said:

I've always felt the mid to late 70's were the bottom of the curve for several reasons. Smog laws were really starting to hit and many of the manufacturers gained compliance in ways that when you look back on it shows how little they understood. My mother had a '76 Monte Carlo. It was huge on the outside but not at all spacious inside, got terrible mileage while producing not a lot of power. Made you wonder what it was using all that gas for! 

In the same period, my father in law gave us a '74 Audi 100LS. I very stylish car that had a very nice and comfortable interior. One reason you never see one today: they were front wheel drive with inboard front disc brakes. The pads only lasted about 10,000 miles and were relatively inaccessible.

Power from the 4cyl engine was marginable at best, and if you turned on the also marginable A/C on the freeway, you immediately dropped about 3mph. It felt like you hit a massive head wind. Mine developed a minor exhaust leak and people started asking me if it was a diesel. 

I decided it was time to let it go, but the dealer wouldn't take it...he actually said "We don't want those, everybody knows they're no good"!

 

 

 

Dad bought his first Audi around 81 or so. A 5000 diesel 5 speed. It was a very stylish car, typical european flare for the time, leather seats (hardly any American had leather at that time) centre console, separate dash pod, kinda like all the cars today, LOL. Car ran great, one of the first new cars I started driving on. He had the means and would trade every couple of years. He upgraded that to a new 5000. Also a great car. He traded that one after a year or so for a 5000S which was a bit more luxurious. Within about a year on a trip to FLA the heater core went out, spent a couple of days in the shop in Orlando getting that fixed. Went out again on the way home in a blinding snowstorm. Got it fixed again then all of the little stuff started going wrong. Everytime I see an audi I think about what a great car they are for the FIRST six months!! As tempted as I have been I will stay away from them. btw, he traded his last audi on a Continental and never bought another foriegn car.

[TAKerry]

My previous 06 f150 is probably one of the better vehicles I have owned. Only reason I took it off the road was because it failed emissions (anyone need a decent truck that is emissions exempt let me know, lol). My current '14 f150 is equally as nice, but with a little more electronic crap. I have had to replace a couple of sensors already, just hope something important doesnt go out.

[EmTee]

39 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

it failed emissions

Couldn't be fixed?

[29 Chandler]

My DD is my pair of hiking shoes. Work is just two miles each way. I have always thought that short distance would do more harm than good to my car/truck. Had a 2002 Honda Insight for a while, great car that got 50 mpg, but with the short commute the batteries could not go through their programmed maintenance cycle, thus we went through 4 sets of batteries under warranty. It was not until the last replacement that Honda finally told the dealer that the customer has to drive the car more. Sold the car after that.

 

For all-round use our 2008 F150 5.4L has been fantastic! Does everything we need it to, tows our car trailer, hauls our family all all our stuff on vacations, easy to park in town, and safe on the freeways. We love this truck and are happy so far with 230k with routine maintenance all done in my driveway. Expect to get another 200k out it.

[Leif in Calif]

16 hours ago, TexRiv_63 said:

Back in early 2000s I bought a very cheap ex-Texas DPS 1995 9C-1 Chevy Caprice unmarked cruiser with 113,000 miles just out of service. DPS had painted it a weird "leftover paint" light brown metallic and the interior was filthy but it ran like a scalded cat. I cleaned it up and put another 50,000 fun miles on it with very little maintenance needed other than usual wear. Turned out that GM put the same police drivetrain  in just about every full size car they built from 1994 to 1996 so I wound up owning a Chevy Impala SS, Buick Roadmaster wagon, and Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham before I moved on. Today these are still great cars but the 20 years passing mean a pretty fair list of common ills would have to be addressed for them to be as reliable as they were back then.

I bought a (Police spec) 9C-1 Chevy about 1980 when I owned a business and had a history with the local dealer's fleet department.   I have always had a hard time leaving cars alone so one day I thought I'd see about changing out the factory carb and intake. I was just looking but I took the carb off to examine the intake and when I put it back on, I managed to get something wrong so that the linkage would bind at full throttle and at the same time the line to the brake booster didn't get reconnected. My wife was the next person to drive the car....she wasn't pleased! 

[TAKerry]

4 hours ago, EmTee said:

Couldn't be fixed?

Yes, but with an estimate for a couple of grand I put that towards a newer truck. 

[pont35cpe]

 1982 S-10, bought new 18Dec`81. Original weak suck 2.8 died at 64,000mi. On my 3rd 4.3 now with 700R4OD.  Currently 954,040mi.

[Lee H]

2 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Yes, but with an estimate for a couple of grand I put that towards a newer truck. 

Let me guess, code P0430, catalytic converter efficiency. There are ways to fix that cheap. As long as they don’t look too close underneath.😉

[EmTee]

"Mini-cat" 

 

[Lee H]

2 hours ago, pont35cpe said:

 1982 S-10, bought new 18Dec`81. Original weak suck 2.8 died at 64,000mi. On my 3rd 4.3 now with 700R4OD.  Currently 954,040mi.

Two things are certain. You don’t live in Indiana. And you’re related to Jack Benny.

[Packard enthus.]

On 12/18/2023 at 2:39 PM, 1935Packard said:

It all depends on what you like and what you value, I think.  

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couldn't agree more.   As much as I enjoy automotive tech. history,  simple fact of life - each era brings us technology that is helpful.   My "daily driver"....well....WHEN?    When I started driving, I was happy with my '34 Packard Super Eight.  Trouble was, it was factory equipped with  "poured babbit" connecting rod bearings.  (bet there's folks in here who can figure out what happened when driven by a wild high school kid....!)    So - keeping up with technology as it evolved,  got a '38 Packard V-12, with its vastly superior, more advanced engine design.  "Time-marches-on"..... its "stock" gearing was too low for the then-new Hollywood Freeway,  so it went into storage, while I enjoyed my over-drive-equipped later Packards.   Then came a series of air-conditioned Cadillacs.   By the early 1970's....tired of the Caddy products.    My latest "daily driver"...?  Hard to beat our new Toyota RAV 4.  (unless, of course, the weather isn't too hot here in Arizona...so...out comes the '38 Packard V-12.....!