Your "pre-Prius" car?

The last car I owned before the Prius was a 2002 Buick Rendezvous. For what it was, it was a very satisfactory car, although it had abysmal resale value. I sold it about a month before my Prius came, and for that month I rented a 2004 Chev Aveo from Enterprise. I have to say, I was certainly pleasantly surprised and amazed at the handling and performance of the Aveo. Nothing close to a Prius, of course, but for the price it seemed to me to be a terrific car. By contrast, last couple of days I've been without my Prius as it has leather installed, and being unable to rent an Aveo, I ended up renting a 2005 Chev Malibu. The Malibu doesn't come close to the Aveo in handling or performance, in my opinion, although it's about twice the price.

 

1979 Chevrolet Chevette – Decent fuel economy, marginal reliability.
1974 Dodge Dart – Very reliable, handled like a boulder on roller skates
1980 Pontiac Grand Prix – Ran great, when it DID run. Appalling reliability.
1984 Chevrolet G30 Cargo Van – Could haul more cargo than I ever needed to. Horrendous fuel economy.
1995 Dodge Intrepid – Nice highway car, marginal reliability.
1997 Plymouth Breeze – Surprisingly decent car with the exception of unshakable oil leak.

2004 Toyota Prius – Yes, I finally learned my lesson about American made cars.

 

Wow, I'm surprised there aren't more Saturn owners here... what with Saturn economy cars having had such a "cult" following, they're almost as bad as us Prius fans.

Me, I'm still driving a 2000 SL while I wait for my Prius. Before that, my wife's inherited 1993 SL1. And my first car? An '85 Toyota Tercel hatchback that was already ten years old when I got my license. Guess I'm sorta coming full circle in getting another Toyota hatchback.

 

I'll just list the cars and not vans or trucks, and go backwards, cause I can't
remember all: Nissan 300/Mitsu VR4/Nissan 300/Nissan 280/Nissan 260/
74 Thunderbird/72 Torino Wagon/Nissan 240/64 Cadillac/63 Corvette/56 Ford
55 Chevy/30 Ford.
Mr Mel. I liked them all.

 

1981 Chrysler Lebaron wagon - with plastic wood on the side. Fairly plush for a used car for college - it had a power front seat that the Prius doesn't have.

1992 Ford Escort wagon - affordable on a Peace Corps readjustment allowance in 2001. Managed ok until the head gasket blew last year. I'm pleased to have retired it to wherever tradeins go this past July for the Prius.

 

I currently drive a silver 1991 Toyota 4Runner (166k mi, 25 mpg, mint condition). I test drove a RAV4 Electric and tried to purchase one. Toyota canceled the RAV4 electric program in midstream stating "lack of consumer demand."

I value energy efficiency, "form follows function," the aerodynamic slipperyness of the Prius II and being able to model what I teach. The Prius teaches much, including low emissions, frugality, thinking long-term and good ergonomics and sound system.

I have a silver 2005 Prius on order . . . . any day now.

 

Ok this is going to be hard but here goes not including the ones my wife drove:
70 Fiat 124 Spider (Heathcliff)
76 VW Microbus Camper Conversion (Red)
79 SAAB 99 TURBO (Oscar)
85 Nissan Maxima
91 Ford Explorer
99 Ford Explorer (still have and drive with 100k on it aka The Beast )
04 Prius (Belle)

 

I have a 2002 Acura RSX. Trying to sell it before my Prius comes in sometime this month. Not having much luck.

 

I've only had one car so far, an 89 Dodge Colt (aka the Go Kart). It comes equipped with what we lovingly call a turbo button. When you turn the A/C off, you can actually accelerate to freeway speeds if you floor it. I bought it from my parents when I was 16 and now I'm waiting until next Saturday (25) to go trade it in for my new silver Prius. Actually, the car is great, only minor mechanical problems throughout its life, most of which my dad and I were able to repair on our own. It gets great mileage too since it has no power, I average between 28 and 32 mpg.

 

My car ownership started in 1956, initially British biased.
Most US people probably will not recognise most type names here.
The actual years are a bit fuzzy so I won't attempt to list that.
I bought my first car on hire-purchase and vowed never to do that again!

1956 Morris Minor 1000 (New)
Wolseley 1500 (New)
Austin Freeway (New)
Triumph 2000 (New)
Triumph 2500 PI (New)
Citroen GS (Used)
Datsun Patrol (Used)
Nissan Patrol Diesel (Used)
1991 Toyota Celica (New)

kenmac

 

Ok here goes:
68 Ford Country Sedan Wagon with a big V8 (was my Mom's)-red
76 Chevy Vega (took to University of Maryland) - red
79 Chevy Camaro Berlinetta (350 V8 4 speed) - red
75 Chevy Corvette(was my Dad's) - white
82 Datsun 280 ZX TURBO(got a good job right out of college) - blue
85 Dodge 600ES Convertible(loved the car ... hated the car) - black
87 Nissan Maxima (this was a great car) - white
89 Cadillac Fleetwood (this was an even better car) - black
97 Nissan Sentra (started a new job that was a long commute mistake) - green
99 Pontiac Grand Prix(very nice car) - black
01 VW Beetle(piece of $$it car as Adam Sandler says) - black
03 Honda Accord EX(traded in with 64000 miles and got a great deal) - silver
04 Suzuki Burgman 400cc Maxi scooter what a blast everyone should have one! 75 mpg! - blue
04 Toyota Prius(so far so good) avg 52 mpg - tideland pearl

Alan

 

ME...____________________________Wife...

1965 Chrysler Newport
1968 Ford Mustang_________________1969 Ford Mustang
1975 Honda Civic__________________1979 Ford Pinto
1979 Oldsmobile Sunfire GT__________1985 VW Jetta GLI
1984 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon*______1990 Pontiac Transport*
1995 Saturn SL2___________________2002 Honda Pilot*
1997 Pontiac Grand Prix GT*
2004 Prius BC*

* = Still own

 

My last vehicle was a 1995 4Runner. Great SUV. I miss the function quite a bit, but have been getting by with my Prius. I live around the snow belt in Cleveland Ohio, so I haven't experienced a winter in my Prius. I am sure the traction will ok.

 

My ride so far
In U.S
1987 VW Scirocco 16V (bought used in 1991 later it become my beater car)
1992 Chevy C/K 1/2ton 350c pick up truck trade it to
1993 Chevy Camaro Z28 T-top, 6speed manual tranny(Pre-own I drove only nice weekend only)
1993 Nissan Altima with all STILLEN mods parts added (was my daily driver) :mrgreen:
1995 VW GTi VR6
1998 VW Passat V6 - maual tranny (Drove 98k miles in 4yrs)
2004 VW GTi 1.8T
Move to Japan
my pre Prius loaner was 1990? Toyota MarkII Grande

 

My first car, in about 1973, was a 1956 Willys CJ-5 Jeep. I bought it after an incompetent mechanic okay'd it, and it threw a rod a week later and I had to have a rebuilt engine put into it. But it was junk, and a few years later I bought a brand new American Motors CJ-5 Jeep, which turned out to be as unreliable new as the Willy was at 17 years of age. I drove it for 12 miserable, unreliable years. Living out in the country I wanted 4WD, and I could not afford anything else.

In 1988 I bought a 1989 Honda Civic station wagon. With its front-wheel drive it was better on ice than the Jeep, and it had shoulder belts. It was the best car on the road: reliable, safe, economical. I had it for 15 years, until I bought my 2004 Prius in January of this year. I was as poor as a church mouse until fairly recently. But from now on I expect to be driving the latest technology, trading up each time there is a significant improvement.

 

• '71-'74 1971 Chevy Malibu 350 V8 2 door automatic - Mom's (therefore family) car. I remember she was appalled at the price - $3800.
• '73-'74 used Honda 175cc motorcycle - had to get to work
• '74-'78 1969 VW Squareback - Automatic - started college, needed something better for freeway driving than the little Honda. Bought from uncle who bought it at the factory in Germany.
• '78-'86 1978 Toyota Celica GT 2 door liftback 5 speed - drove from CA when I moved to VT - no air or cruise!
• '86-'95 1986 Mazda 626 GT Turbo 4 door sedan 5 speed - damn fine power for passing. I think it would take a professional driver to actually hit the 0-60 given all the front end torque oversteer! Air, cruise and POWER windows! I could get up to 35 mpg on an all highway trip.
• '95-'04 1995 Honda Odyssey LX - 6 passenger. Likes new rear brake rotors too often. air, cruise, power windows and ABS. Avg 20 mpg winter, 22 summer. can get 25 on an all highway trip. This, by the way, is over EPA. 0-60 is over 13 seconds, so I won't have a transition problem there. GREAT versatility, first minivan to have "fold into the floor" 3rd seat. Have carried 12' rough lumber INSIDE with the rear door CLOSED by removing middle row and shotgun captains seats. Going to miss this aspect when my Prius comes in next week.
  • 
    Wife's cars
    • '86-'97 Honda Civic Si 2 door 5 speed wagon (inherited with wife in '90) - sold when our body shop guy changed his tune from "cheaper to fix rust than buy a new car" to "$750 now, $750 in 3-6 months for the other side". Nice little car overall and especially for mileage, sucked BIG TIME for headroom, even in the front as it had a moon roof. The only way I could sit in the front was to slouch and lean slightly inboard. Still bopped my head on bumps. Not the best for shoving little kids in their car seats either. I wasn't sorry to see that one go!
    • '97-current 1997 Subaru Legacy LX 5 speed wagon. Headroom OK, but I don't like the 'most vertical' position of the driver's seat. Still too much backward tilt for me. She likes it so what the heck! I'm fine riding shotgun.

 

so this as changed to the History Ch..


First car 1962 Chevy II 1975-1977 (a tank)
. 1972 Pontiac Les Manns 1977-1980
. Mom's 1972 Toyota Conora 1980-1985
. First car I got new Olds Clutless 1985 - 1988 bad trannies :cussing:
. Olds Clutless Sp 1988 - 1990 two door
. Olds Clutless sp 1990 - 2001 four door (good car)
. 2002 Toyota Prius classic 2001 - 2003 (with nav, cc)
. 2004 Toyota Prisus 2003 - present (pkg 3, BC)

 

My list of vehicles between then and now:

First car: 1965 Pontiac Bonneville - BIG floaty boat built when GM actually knew how to build cars. I'd love to have another one in the garage someday.

Traded in for: 1981 Mazda B2000 - Ugly brown rickety POS of a pickup that was nicknamed the "turd."

Got sold for a: 1986 Hyundai Excel GLS 4 door sedan. Call Hyundai what you want. I loved this car. Sadly it was totalled.

Replace by a: 1976 Datsun Pickup. It was a red beat up rustbucket that my Dad got from a co worker for next to nothing. I hated it.

Returned to my folks when I bought a: 1989 Ford Festiva LX. I had lots of fun with this one as well. It was black, and I did the limo tint, and ruined my hearing with the "big booming stereo system" that I installed in it. Not surprisingly, the big ol' stereo was stolen, and ended up being worth more than the car. Thusly it was totalled by the insurance company.

It was replaced with a: 1988.5 Suzuki Samurai convertible. We had three of these in the family for a while - my red one, my Dad's white one, and my Mom's blue one. :mrgreen: Fun vehicle, HORRIBLE daily driver. Commuting to and from work was ruining my back, so I ended up selling to my Dad after 9 months.

Replaced it with a: 1990 Hyundai Sonata GLS V6. Fully loaded, and TONS of power. This car was my pride and joy untill I entered into a lenghty stretch of hard times. GMAC ended up getting it back.

For a while we got around in my then girlfriends: 1975 Toyota Corolla. It just up and died at 250,000 miles.

A friend of my GF loaned us his old and severely beaten up 1983 Mazda B2000. He actually wanted to sell us this thing, but wanted $1500 for an oil burning clunker that didn't have a straight piece of sheetmetal on the entire vehicle.

In this time frame, my old high school buddy went overseas for sea duty with the Navy, and also loaned us his 1989 Hyundai Excel to drive while he was gone.

I turned down the offer to buy the truck and bought: A pair of Hyundai Excels. One was an 86, the other an 87. Both were white. We took good parts off of the 86, and put them on the 87, including many body parts. After all of this work, the car wouldn't pass emissions, and was going to require enormous amounts of money to fix it. We sold it for what we paid for the two cars together (since it ran now...)

It was replaced with a: 1988 Hyundai Excel. The clutch went south on it about a month into owning it, followed by the head gasket, which started dumping oil out on one side of the engine. It was torn down to be repaired, but never got finished. When the GF and I split up, she was supposed to take this car. She never did, and it ended up in a tow yard.

We finally caught a break, and was able to buy dirt cheap a: 1994 Chevy C1500 W/T. I had every maintenance record for this vehicle to boot. Great truck for about a year, when the infamous GM electrical maladies started to surface, and even worse, body welds began failing.

I dumped it off at the Dodge dealership and bought a: 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 WS. It was another ultra base model "fleet spec" type of truck. Nice truck overall, but was severely underpowered, and wouldn't even look at 20 mpg, where the old Chevy got 25. Eventually my hauling needs were beginning to exceed the safe hauling limits of this truck, so it had to go with only 20k miles on the odometer.

In the meantime, my folks decided to sell my Mom's blue: 1988.5 Samurai. I bought it, and once again enjoyed having a 4x4 playtoy, that this time didn't have to serve as a daily driver.

The 1/2 ton truck was traded for a: 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Club Cab with the Cummins Turbodiesel. Again, I wanted fleet basic, and got it. THIS truck is awesome!! I have gotten a high figure of 23.7 mpg out of a 6,000 pound truck that doesn't know the concept of uphill, and can pull your house off of its foundation if you wanted it to. It has also served as a test mule for my experimenting with homebrew biodiesel. It soldiers on as a current ride with 105k miles on the odometer, and still runs as sweet as the day I drove it home.

My old high school buddy bought a new truck, and put his old Hyundai up for sale.

I bought his old 1989 Hyundai Excel. I used and abused this car mercilessly as an around town beater untill 5th gear went out. I then sold it to a high school student with 157K on the odometer, and only four working forward gears.

A co-worker gave me his old: 1976 AMC Hornet. This old beast was a blast. Blowing 1/3 of its compression pas the rings, and very hard starting, this thing would still light up it's tires at will. I had plans to restore it, but you know how "those" always turn out.

My interests were turning more into diesels by this time, and I bought a: 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit Turbodiesel. It was a rare beast, and represents the vehicle that ran for the shortest amount of time of any car I've ever bought - one day. The timing belt snapped, frying that engine. Pistons alone were going to be $400 each. Needless to say, it became a "charitable donation" to the local high school, along with the aforementioned hornet.

After paying off the truck I bought a: 2002 Saturn SC2. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this car. I didn't fit, had a horrible time getting into and out of it, and it was the first vehicle that I ever bought that wouldn't meet or beat the EPA sticker. A back injury sustained while dealing with the leftovers from making biodiesel for the truck, literally left me unable to drive this car.

The coupe also ended up in the shop twice early on in its time with me. Frustrated, I bought a: 1981 Mercedes 240D. Freshly rebuilt engine, and in cosmetically awesome condition, it still used oil at the rate of a quart every 100 miles. Once I was convinced that I was going to be looking at another megabux engine rebuild, I cut my losses, and sold it.

Still wanting a diesel Benz, I bought a 1975 240D. It was in rough shape, but ran beautifully. I spent several months trying to get the electrical system up and functional, before finally moving on to other projects - like the house.

I came across another: 1981 Mercedes 240D. I was using this as a daily commuter to keep the high miles off of the Saturn, not to mention it was alot more comfortable, and easier to get in and out of. This car died catastrophicallly by puking it's harmonic balancer. :cussing:

Due to the back injury mentioned before, I ended up selling the Samurai, as well as a diesel engine conversion kit that I had bought for it, to cover the negative equity on the coupe.

I then traded the coupe in on a: 2003 Saturn Vue AWD with the CVT tranny. Leave it to GM to foul up yet another simple transmission design. I loved the vehicle, and could get 30mpg with VERY careful driving. However 6 times in the shop, was too much to deal with.

In the Mercedes forums a fellow member pointed me to a: 1984 Mercedes 240D "grey market" European import. This car was too awesome. Manual everyting, including sunroof, and a rare - even for Europe - 5 speed manual tranny. It had issues, but nothing insurmountable. I loved this car.

I also picked up a: 1959 Mercedes 190D. WOW, what a time capsule. Words escape the feelings that one gets, driving such an old car. Unfortunately, its requirements to be road worthy again, far exceeded my skills - another awesome car got away.

Still wanting something more appropriate for commuting, I found on Ebay a: 2000 Daewoo Lanos SX. It was fully loaded, had only 3K miles on the odometer, and I only paid $4500 for it. It was crude, but perfromed mule commuter duty without so much as a whimper. It's another car that will be missed.

The Eurospec 204D, and the Daewoo, were paired up with the lemon Saturn Vue, to once again, cover negative equity.

They all were traded for the: 2003 Toyota Prius. As I near 30K miles, it only can be compared to my 3/4 ton Dodge truck in ownership satisfaction.

Last spring got me interested in other forms of transportation as well - motorcycles.

Last March I bought a: 1983 Yamaha Virago 920. I taught myself how to shift a motorcycle tranny on this thing. Unfortunately, it is about as reliable as a Yugo, so it currently resides in the carport, untill I can get it's issues sorted out.

I intended to replace it with a: 1984 Honda GL1200 Goldwing Aspencade. This is one sweet motorcycle. Digital displays, adjustable front and rear air ride suspension, stereo, luggage space, and TONS of power. Unfortunately, it was also a constant repair nightmare.

I traded it in for my: 2004 Honda GL1800 Goldwing. It's not as fancy as the old Aspy was, but I haven't looked back yet after already putting over 5,000 miles on the odometer. I can now ride, instead of constantly repair motorcycles.

My most recent acquisition is a: 1981 Mercedes 300D. What can I say. I absolutely love these old MB's, and missed having one in the driveway. Of course, it needs work, and it'll come along as I get the free time to play with it.

Whew!! That's it.