Beaters and Daily Drivers

my beater, and most day driver. 88 GMC S15. blazer interior, ZQ8 sways and shocks, Belltech 2/3 drop, decent stereo. grand total invested: little less than 900. soon to have tubular upper control arms, tall ball joints, poly bushings, and 17's. currently running the wonderful 2.8 automatic combo, and digging for a 350/5 speed, or a TPI 305 auto setup for cheap. will be at the 2009 challenge.

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others in the driveway are a 2003 Mazdar Protege5, big brakes, big sway bars, corksport motor mouunts, etc 1996 Saturn SL1, for sale 1998 Camry, paid 800 for it a couple of weeks ago. its the wifes car, she likes it better than her old saturn. 1970 plymouth duster, not stock, not daily drivren. hell, its hardly even bi-monthly driven.

Michael

Lots of good sub $1k beaters in this bunch. I myself had a rusted 2wd Ranger for a while and I think small pickups are perfect vehicles to pick up on the cheap. They're all over the junk yards plus they come in handy to haul crap or move from one apartment to the next.

Hehehe. My daily driver, the $7500 '98 740iL that had 143k on it when I got it in December '06. It now has 162k miles on it, has cost very little in repairs and maintenance, though it just cost me a bunch in mods and updates... ;)

Here it is with its new (as of today) 19x8.5/19x9.5 wheels and P Zero tires (used tires, $25 each on ebay. Another nod to being grassroots with this car), and new LED taillights.

27-30 mpg highway, comfortable, fast, and excellent handling, and actually quite easy and cheap to maintain and repair as a DIY car. Shooting for 250-300k miles on it before looking for another.

Wow. I'm surprised at how that car really swallows a set of 19's. It wouldn't blink at 20's.

Looks really nice. Very classy. Beautiful shape for its age and mileage.

My beater is a 1985 Rx7 S with 225k miles.

Chris, you have expensive and good taste in cars especially if that Range Rover's in the family too :) but I like the grassroots thinking. $7500 for a car that cost $70k a few years ago is what grassroots is all about!

And all you pickup truck guys are my heros...ever since aquiring my first truck recently (on page 2) I've been into pickup trucks - must be the early 30s age thing? I just love the fact that with one truck I can haul family, furniture, cars and everything in between. So theoretically I could have one truck and one track/fun car and take back the garage and driveway space from the other "clutter"...naaaah

'99 Escort Stationwagon. All power, criuse, and cold AC. Bought it for $2500 with 70k on it. Now at 93k and has only needed front wheel bearings, a trans mount, and regular maintanence. Last two tanks have been 36mpg, and 39mpg. Works great for hauling my two 90lb dogs around. Added a rear sway bar from a 2nd gen Escort GT to make it alittle more fun.

Amazing that Ford doesn't make something like this at the moment.

Hey Ford execs--he bought the car because it's efficient and utilitarian.

Granted, a car w/ 70k on it that fetches a mere $2500 speaks volumes about Ford resale (a similar Civic would easily fetch $4-5k), but that doesn't change the fact that they need to be building cars like this.

Don't they make a Focus wagon still? Pretty similar concept and execution, just refined a bit.

dculberson wrote: Don't they make a Focus wagon still? Pretty similar concept and execution, just refined a bit.

Negatory. The Focus line is down to a two door coupe and a four door sedan. No wagons, no hatches.

:monkey: to Ford.

gamby wrote: Amazing that Ford doesn't make something like this at the moment. Hey Ford execs--he bought the car because it's efficient and utilitarian.

Screw that. Have you even seen the multitude of options available for the Edge crossover SUV. Power liftgate, voice-activated navigation system, 20-inch chrome clad wheels, Sync and four new exterior colors...premium red seating surfaces and contrast stitching.

People want 20s and contrast stitching, not efficiency and utilitarianism. But if the Edge doesn't do it for you, there's a bunch of similar SUV's to chose from.

Of course we have the Flex to offer too! Its like a family sized scion xB with somewhere around half the mileage when you drive like your grandma does! Don't forget about our huge glass roof too.

A lot of nice cars in this thread!

Here is mine - '88 Ford Tempo L I bought for $50. 363K kms and running strong still. 5spd at least.

I travel a lot for work so this is what i drive these days. I had to upgrade the suspension and wheels as the stock setup was nearly a death trap. Now at least it's only a mild death trap. Regularly gets 38 to 42 MPG.

From Cars

E30

Dawes

The DD...at least once I swap the t-belt and water pump...and get the head back on (photo is from the craigslist ad:)

The beat-R, or "The Mexi-Express," or "The first D in 'DD' stands for something else," or "The silt-fence remover:"

The $1100 318is. My daily driver for about a year now. ... and the 1990 VW Fox. At $300, I probably paid too much.

School bus 229. sigh

Age limits on licenses are bad.

internetautomart wrote: My DD is: I paid a whopping $300 for it 2 months ago (a little more than 2 months actually). It has helped us vacate the location we were in, it runs all over town picking up and delivering whatever we ask of it. the front suspension clunks, I'm pretty sure it needs an axle. It has no power windows or locks. It does however have a power tailgate release, ABS, Airbags, A/C (works), AM/FM Stereo cassette, Seating for 7, and the 3.3 V6. It also is getting me 18+ MPG around town. and the most important thing, the trans does NOT slip, I have records of it being serviced every 25k or so since brand new! Yes I have all the records since new. Hopefully, once we get a new shop most of the crapola will be fixed. If not I can drive it until it dies and feel no remorse. this was supposed to be my DD: But the dang thing doesn't like to go over 2k without bucking. it's up for sale because I don't want to spend the time putting ing the KS and o2 that the codes came up for. For now it stays parked most of the time with only backup duty when absolutely needed, like today

well, believe it or not 2 days after this post (it was a thursday).
The van was totalled (wife rear ended someone) and I sold the max for $1500.
the next monday night I bought
it is the single most expensive car I have bought strictly for myself. it cost me $1650! if you can't tell it's a 98 I30t. Only options lacking are CD changer and Cell phone.

Tommy Suddard wrote: School bus 229. sigh Age limits on licenses are bad.

I think there definately should be age limits, but you are talking about age requirements aren't you.

Obtain fixie like mine and you won't need a car. Florida is flat anyways, it will be easy!

This has been my DD since July 29:

It's a '91 MR-2 N/A that I bought on eBay for $1425. I've put nearly 3k miles on it, bringing chassis mileage to 246k. The engine and clutch were replaced not long before I bought it, but I have no clue how many miles are on the engine. Aside from the regular 5SFE blue puff at startup, it runs exactly as it should. I average 31.5-34.5mpg on my ~60 mile daily commute. All that I've done to it so far is replace the cheesy 17s that were on it with stock '95 MR-2 wheels that I sprayed graphite and wrapped in new Ziex 912s- 225/50 rear and 205/50 front.

It may end up with a 3SGE sometime next year, as we're getting ready to pull one out of my friend's car to install a V6. I'd like to have it repainted and have various dents fixed, but I doubt it'll happen anytime soon.

Thats a really good deal for an MR2. I wanted one, but even a nasty one with a blown engine was over twice that much.

Travis_K wrote: Thats a really good deal for an MR2. I wanted one, but even a nasty one with a blown engine was over twice that much.

That's why I couldn't pass it up. It needs struts and some general resto, but it has been a great DD. I have Tokicos and TRD springs at home waiting to go on it. Maybe I'll tackle that this weekend.

Tommy Suddard wrote: School bus 229. sigh Age limits on licenses are bad.

i got my license at 17(ok like 1 week before i turned) and drove everywhere and had a lot of fun. then i drove to school. once. took the bus everyday after that. besides, you save gas, money and headaches, because the high school population of drivers are show offs and stupid to boot. my freinds cars got dented alot. more then a couple times some kid in a camaro or mustang layed rubber right into a curb. i was bus 94, and if the bus came to my subdivision i would ride it. oh yeah i drive this, 88(same as me!) toyota corolla alltrac wagon.

loads of fun. sentra ser wheels on all 4 corners now.its a 5 speed, but that doesnt matter because its slow. but its fun slow, because the engine isn't slow revving, its a responsive motor. durable to boot. cargo space and carrying capacity have exceeded my friends trucks short wheel base and it being under sprung and under damped means weight transfer is fun and easy and understeer is cured with out drama. i love this car.

tuffburn wrote: 88(same as me!) toyota corolla alltrac wagon.

Was it on this board where I saw a B18 swap into one of those Altrac Wagons?

Nice DD.

*edit, now that I think about it, it may have been a 4WD honda that had the swap.