Your First Car

[Rmfnlt]

Ain't that the truth. Nothing like manually shifting a car with lots of torque.

Yup... I've probably had over 15 cars thus far in my life and 9 of them have been sticks.
1941 Cadillac 3 speed)
1966 Dodge Dart (3 speed)
1982 Mazda 626 (4 speed)
1984 Colt (3 speed)
1986 Mitsubishi Mirage turbo (pocket rocket) - 4 speed
1991 Ford Ranger (4 speed)
2003 Mini Cooper S (6 speed)
2006 Mini Cooper S Works (6 speed)
2010 Infiniti G35 (6 speed)
2010 Mercedes C300 (6 speed)
Hard to find those last 2!

That '84 Colt? Slowest damned thing I ever drove... at the time, I needed a very basic car... cost me $3,400 cash new. Couldn't get up the hilld of CT! No radio... no lighter... nothing!

I think my favorite car is the 2006 Cooper S Works. That car was fast... and handled like a go cart! The Mitsu Mirage turbo was a lot of fun as well.
Loved the Infinity too... but the multi-stage clutch gave me fits. After all those sticks before it, I still stalled that car sometimes!

This is my current car:

Kia Cadenza... I'm getting older and want a quient, smooth ride and this car delivers! I've had it for around 10 months now and would recommend it to anyone.

 

[Ramhusker]

When I think back to my high school daze , and all those classic cars that used to sit out in the high school parking lot , I went to high school in the early 80's , and our parking lot was just full of late 60's , early to mid 70's Camaro's and Firebird's , Mustang's , Charger's , Cuda's , Nova's

But at the time , we never thought of them as classics or collectibles , they were just cheap used cars high school kids could pick up for 800 bucks

The three cars that stick out the most in my memory were we had a bunch of 68/69 Cameros and Firebirds , but what sticks out the most was that they were all that dull light blue color , the second , was The Ford Mustang Mach 1 , now I've never been a Ford guy , but I always like the Mach 1 , in Yellow , and third , Chevy Nova's , these things were all over the place when I was in school , these things were like a dime a dozen , all jacked way up in the rear with big ol'e wide tires on the back

Although I was in high school in the early 80's , if anyone has ever seen the movie Dazed and Confused , and the cars in that movie , you'll know exactly what I'm talking about , my high school was just like that

Man, yeah, I just watched that movie again a couple of weeks ago and dug all the ol muscle cars in it.

 

[LazyWinker]

This is my current car:

Kia Cadenza... I'm getting older and want a quient, smooth ride and this car delivers! I've had it for around 10 months now and would recommend it to anyone.

Are Kia's getting to be reliable? My Grandfather's nephew, my second cousin, has been driving around in Kia's lately and we've been cracking up because the man has an abundance of wealth. I will say that the K900 he was driving was the biggest sedan, I've seen in a long time.

I'm starting to think they might be reliable.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Are Kia's getting to be reliable? My Grandfather's nephew, my second cousin, has been driving around in Kia's lately and we've been cracking up because the man has an abundance of wealth. I will say that the K900 he was driving was the biggest sedan, I've seen in a long time.

I'm starting to think they might be reliable.

Yup... just got my Consumer's Report and the brand is rated reliable.

They've come a long way since entering the US market. Reliability... style.

Funny... my previous car was a Mercedes... when I rolled up in the Kia, my son started laughing. "You went from a Mercedes to a Kia... really?"

I woudn't call myself wealthy.. but I could afford much more expensive cars.

Why do it? For prestige?

For the money, the Cadenza was a great value. Like I said, I am very satisfied... no problems whatsoever (so far).

 

[Stranger]

Now I want to drive a sports car. I don't have a sports car .

It pains me to admit it, I'm just not a sports car guy. Which sucks because I imagine it's very fun to drive something fast and sporty. I've thought it would be cool to have one but I've made peace with myself. Don't get me wrong, I would jump at the opportunity to drive something with lots of power, I just wouldn't purchase it.

I think I'm the same. I'd like something fast and handles well, but not a sportscar guy either. Of all the stuff out there, I think my current dream car is the classic Mercedes 500e, which was created in close cooperation with Porsche; with each 500E hand-built by Porsche. Am I showing my age?

 

[IowaRam]

In the late 80's , I bought a 84 Pontiac Fiero , I was in the Navy at the time , and spent a good part of 3 years over sea's and hardly ever got to drive the thing , I also had a 87 Chevy Pickup as my primary vehicle , which I hardly ever got a chance to drive as well ,

After I got out of the Navy , was the same time my wife graduated from college , ( not my wife at the time , we had been dating since high school , )

We got married shortly after she graduated , and we ended up trading in the Fiero for a new car for the wife , a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville , first new car either of us owned

Even though I never got to drive that Fiero for long , I always had fun memories of it

So now , skip ahead a few years ,

About 5 years ago , I found a real good deal on a 86 Fiero GT , with only 36,000 miles on it and couldn't resist

Still don't drive this one much either , the wife and I will take it out for Sunday afternoon cruises around the lakes in the summer , the car handles amazing in the summer , but is a nightmare on Iowa roads in the winter

The car is a blast to drive , you sit like 3 inches off of the ground , with a very tight suspension , the thing will turn on a dime

The first picture is of me and my first Fiero , probably around 1989 , the second picture is of me and the Fiero I have now

 

[rams24/7]

2006 Toyota Scion xB (blue). Still driving "my baby" and love it. Good mileage (around 27-28 mpg) & cheap maintenance. Grandpa gave it to me a few years ago when he bought a new car. It only has about 50,000 miles on it. Not getting a new car any time soon.

 

[-X-]

My favorite car was my 1999 convertible Trans Am, but I couldn't keep it. It got about 12 MPG, and the back seat was essentially two bucket seats. My kids couldn't fit in it well, my dog couldn't fit in it well, and it sucked for long trips. I had it for about 3 years, and had a lot of fun with it. Wish I had kept it, because they keep going up in price ever since Pontiac decided to quit making Trans Ams.

 

[Athos]

Kia Cadenza... I'm getting older and want a quient, smooth ride and this car delivers! I've had it for around 10 months now and would recommend it to anyone.

One of my good college friends always joked about KIA.

Killed
In
Action.

Ever since that clicked, I don't think I could ever own a KIA.

Bad juju.

 

[Leuzer]

This is an excellent thread! Love every post in here.
I'm a little lazy to get up and take a pic of my car so here's one just like it: a 1999 White Toyota Camry.
I share it with my twin brother since we attend the same college and go just about everywhere together. I threw on a Rams license plate holder on the back to pimp it out.
My brother and I kind of inherited this after my grandpa passed away in 2012. My grandpa was big into storm chasing so he and I would go out and try to spot tornadoes. We never saw any but he caught a few by himself and would radio it in over his ham radio to the other chasers. It's a nice, reliable car.

 

[shaunpinney]

Damn some of these cars are just far too cool for a first car, mine was a hand-me-down Rover 216, had weird arsed electrics, used to hate the summer and just cut out mid drive, worst moment came mid over-take at 90MPH on the outside lane of a busy motorway, managed to take her through 3 lanes of fast moving traffic with zero power and lots of will and momentum!

Looked like a granddad's car, but was the best car to drive in the snow ever! I used to live on a mountain which had lots of people with their 4x4s who couldn't drive for crap in the snow, I used to shoot past them up and over the mountain every winter -

Best moment (while driving) was pulling a 4x4 Audi from a ditch in the middle of a snow storm...

Worst moment (while driving) breaking down in the summer on a small coast road, ended up being towed by a farmer in his vintage Land Rover through the lanes at crazy speed!

Currently driving this, it's big-assed with 7 full sized seats and the biggest thing I could find that wasn't a van!

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

My first car was a powder blue 1972 Plymouth duster. My brother gave it to me. It looked badass. Aluminum slot rims, air shocks. Jacked up in the back real high, sweet interior that I did over in all black with reupholstered bucket seats. I loved that hunk of crap. It only had an in line six. I always dreamed of replacing the engine but in the end I had more important things to do.

The first vehicle I purchased was my chevy s10. I had it repainted white on top and black on the bottom. I had big fat tires on it. Looked cool but drove like crap with manual steering. I still enjoyed it. Then I went to Subarus and never went back.

 

[RhodyRams]

right now my wife is trying to decide if she wants to go with a Subaru Forester or Outback, or the Kia Optima.

She needs the 4WD for work, but she can hold onto her old 03 Chevy Tracker and go with the sedan, or just go with the Subaru

 

[LazyWinker]

@RhodyRams WRX!!!!!!! It would be cool.

 

[Yamahopper]

You guys and your fancy cars . I LOL .
Mine was a 1962 Plymouth Valiant, It was red like this one. I got it when I was 14, cause in the sticks 14 was kinda okay to drive if you stayed off the highways. I didn't buy it, I worked for a farmer loading and stacking straw in his barn for a summer. Over 5000 bales I had to handle 3 times. It was pretty clapped out when I got it. It had a 170 cu. six banger but it had a rod knocking a little but it was okay if I ran 50 weight oil. I soon swapped out the engine to a 225 slant six power house. I got some Western Auto tires, 650-13's highway tread on the front, snow tires on the rear since with all the dirt roads you just had to run mud grips all year round. $ 14.99 per tire . It had bucket seats, and I replaced the AM radio with a AM-FM 8 track. Couple speakers in the back deck to go with the one speaker in the dash. Yes, Tri - surround sound. But the absolute coolest thing thing about this car was that it was a push button automatic. Yep, on the left side of the dash it 5 buttons for the gears, Like driving a adding machine. I drove it for years. I wish I still had it.

 

[CodeMonkey]

My buddy's band, Blue Ice, recently put out a album titled "Legends in our Mind". This is the first track:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbqipjkUJ4Q