Which of the cars you have owned do you look upon with affection & which if any did you loathe?

I totally loved my Nissan Maxima. I would get one again in a heartbeat.

I’ve only had two—a 92 Honda Accord that was my first, put something like 80k miles on it before selling it. My second was an 02 Nissan Xterra, which I also really enjoyed, didn’t put very many miles on it. Sold it when I moved across the country.

Now we just have my wife’s car, which is excellent as well =)

I love my current car – 09 Ford Escape Hybrid.

My first car – (96 Dodge Intrepid) was a horrendous POS.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities The teleportation thing didn’t quite work out eh Jeff. I have this curious vision of you typing with gloves on. Please don’t throw up on your food though~

My first car was an ‘84 Chevy Cavalier. My friend called it the ‘roid as in hemorroid because it was a small, red, pain in the ass. I loved that car, because I was mobile. I’ve had a lot of different cars, but my favorite was probably my ‘95 Lincoln Town Car. That damn beast was a huge, gas guzzler, but it was so comfy and fun to drive. It felt as if you were floating when you drove down the highway or if you went over bumps. I would still be driving that thing, but the electrical system went to pot and was very expensive to fix, so we traded it off. Now I have a Trailblazer, and I kind of like it too.

I drove an ‘87 Cadillac Coupe de Ville for a while. I hated that car. It was like a light brown, flesh color. It was a two door, hard to get my newborn daughter in and out of. The brakes were bad in it and it was loud. I was so glad when I got rid of that beast.

I have had a few cars that were great. 82 Honda Accord, 85 Suzuki SJ410, 87 RX7, 96 Honda Accord, 02 VW Jetta, and now an 03 Toyota Tacoma. Hell I even drove a 90 Chevy P/U with a diesel engine that was great. Take care of the car and do regular maintenance and most will last a long time.

I drive my sisters volkswagen Rabbit(2006) all the time and I DESPISE it. It’s honestly the worst car I have ever driven in my ENTIRE life. It’s horrible.

I LOVE my Mini Cooper. I have been indifferent to every other car I have ever had.

1970 Cougar XR7 Fast, furious and fun.
1976 Mercedes 300D Slow, elegant, fun.
1982 Renault 18i Enormous piece of French Crap
Best of the Bunch: 2002 Lincoln LSE

My very first car was a 1977 Volkswagen Beetle. It was a yellow convertible with a black rag top. I don’t have a picture of it on my computer, but it looked like this. I loved that car, but it wasn’t very reliable for a 16 year old, so my parents sold it and bought me the most horrendous red 1988 Chevrolet Beretta with tan interior. It looked like this. I hated that thing with a passion.

But I guess my favorite car of all time has been my little 2009 Toyota Yaris (Polly Pocket if you’re sassy). I get excellent gas mileage, the payments are super cheap, and I can park anywhere. I gave up my huge 2007 Dodge Nitro for this little girl, and have never looked back!

My first new car was a 1984 Chevy Z-28 Camaro. 305cubic inches, 5 speed 4 barrell carb . That was a rocket and I never had the tires break loose in any kind of cornering. Anyone smell testosterone?

Love: My ‘72 M-B 220D and ‘62 190D. Will love: the ‘49 170D whenever I finish restoring it. Detest: ‘61 TR3A, Opel Commodore and all other American shit-boxes that circumstances forced me to drive.
The most ridiculous thing I’ve ever driven was my parents ‘71 Oldsmobile 98 Vista cruiser (with the double windshield and fake wood trim). A 5000 pound monstrosity with a 455 cubic inch 300+ horsepower engine, just to go grocery shopping. It got about 8 mpg on premium gas. My ‘62 190D is every bit as comfortable and gets 36 mpg on B100 biodiesel.

Loathed the 1971 orange Ford Maverick which was my first car and was forever stranding me in places, especially if there was rain, freezing cold, searing heat or a lot of dirt around.

Loved my 2003 350Z. I waited 11mos. for my order to hit the states but was disappointed in any way once it landed. That’s a car I’d buy all over again, a lot of fun for the money.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land My father loved restoring old cars.He completely restored old Fords and Pontiacs. He had a 37, a 40 and about 10 more in that age.

@Adirondackwannabe My father was into Packards that same way. The ‘49 M-B is finished in chassis and drive train, but needs a new (wood) body frame, many body panels and a lot of loving care in the interior wood and leather. It’ll be a beauty when finished. My ‘62 is a real charmer, unrestored but beautiful. I’ll probably dispose of the ‘72 once the ‘49 is restored. It’s done its job well, but almost 700k on the clock and I’m losing the rust battle.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I saw the most magnificent car ever, It was I believe a 46 Packard,beautifully restored. The selling price when it was made was the equivalent of $1.1 million in todays currency. I have never seen a piece of equipment like that.

In 66 years, i have owned many automobiles. nothing i have ever owned compares with my 2000 Toyota Solara. it has 238,000 miles on it and i am on my 5th set of tires, changed the timing belt once and installed a new radiator, thats it! i have gotten my moneys worth from this automobile. i would buy a brand new one, but Toyota decided to discontinue the Solara in 2008. they stated that people wanted a 4-door car and not a 2-door. my Solara is a 4-cylinder engine with a 5 speed overdrive transmission. 31 mpg on the interstate and 29 mpg in town. it practically drives itself on the open road. it has a Lexus 300 suspension and hugs the road in comfort. real leather seats, moon roof and all the extras are in my Solara. if only they still manufactured the Solara, i would buy a new one right this minute. how can you not love a car thats been this faithful?

I loved my VW Passat… it got stolen recently. Now I’m going to try out the Xterra.

@Adirondackwannabe The coachbuilt Packards pre-48 were things of great beauty. My grandfather owned a ‘37 Twelve Dietrich Touring Sedan (bought it new). The craftsmanship that went into that car was amazing!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I just went to the website and I think that car may still be in the museum. Its the Northeast Classic Car Musuem, in upstate NY. Google that and it will take you to one of the nicest collection of cars around.

@essieness Hard to believe that an 88 Chevy was considered reliable while a VW Beetle wasn’t. I had a 72 convertible Super Beetle that was great! Very fun car to drive!

Here’s my first car and also my favorite.

This is what my ‘49 170D will look like when restored. Dark blue with maroon leather.

sorry, I screwed up the link somehow. I’m an idiot

I have always loved my S-class Benzes, beginning with the W126 (‘83 380SEL), W140 (‘94 S500) and currently W220 (‘05 S430 4matic).

I also like my Audis (5000s, 100 Quattro, A6) which I had/have concurrent with the Benzes, that I use as an alternate ride.

There was a time when I traded my 380SEL for a 92 Lincoln Continental, which I dispised. It was underpowered FWD, and the airbag suspension gave me problems all the time. . . I traded that right away for the S500.
Other than that, I have been pretty lucky with my choices and acquisitions. I have ran the gamut of sports cars to sedans to 4×4 and conversion vans. Among my favorites: ‘85 Toyota Celica GT, ‘96 Toyota Previa (currently at 225K miles and still running strong)

No problem. The website for the museum is classiccarmuseum.org

I loved my 95 Nissan Altima.. it had close to 200k miles on it and ran great. I never had a problem with it, and I loved the way it felt to drive it. When someone else totaled it, I was horrified. In desperation, I bought the first car within my price range that I could find, and ended up with a 2001 Chevy Cavalier. I’ve been replacing parts on that thing left and right, and it doesn’t feel secure when I’m driving it. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about how much I miss my Altima… as soon as the Cavalier breaks down (I really must stop putting fresh oil in that thing), I’m going out and getting another Altima.

I adore the car I have now – a 2001 Toyota Camry. It has never failed me at any time, in any weather, in any circumstance. It even nudged out the 2002 Corolla that we traded in when my husband bought his truck. I was sure I could love no car more than the Corolla. How wrong I was! I will weep copious tears when I have to give up this car.

The most horrible car I ever had was a 1988 Ford Tempo. There are not enough bad things to say about that car. It completely turned me off from Fords. I had an 85 Escort before that which wasn’t too bad, except for catching fire (never did find out why) on a very busy street while transporting the little girl I used to nanny for. I had an 83 Escort that, once we fixed the cracked carburetor cap and the timing belt, was a decent car. (The carburetor cap made it so the car took about 15 minutes to start when it rained. Great for when I was student teaching. The timing belt gave out on I-77 as I was moving to Georgia. Spectacular timing, eh?)

Cars are… shall we say, Replete in my history.

Car 1: 1983 Malibu Sedan. Black.

I was born in 1983, so when I was 16… so was it. It was my grandmas old car, and she got it used long before it was mine. The car was my grandmas, then it was my older cousins in college, then I got it. I hated that car at the time. I did my best to beat the shit out of it. I really did try. Several of the things I did probably would have made @john65pennington arrest me! (I was a minor!)

I’d go off roading through farmers fields at 70 mph, I would rev the engine as hard as it would go in neutral then pop it into gear to make the wheels spin, I drag raced it. One of those very drag races ended with me in someone front yard suffering from shell shock. At over 100 miles an hour I lost control of the car and landed in someones front yard, completely destroying one of their flower pots!

It got rear ended by a semi!
I used it to attempt jumping a 5 foot tall pile pf gravel!!!!

None of these actually killed the car. I sold it to a bald guy named Courtney for $500. It had only 77k miles on it. I was 17 and so was the car. I have never seen a car on the road exactly like it before or since.

It is however, the same kind of car that Mr. Pink Stole in Reservoir Dogs, only mine was black and had different headlights.

Oh, and the headliner had been ripped out, and everyone that got in my car wrote there name in the asbestos looking material in the ceiling. I hated that car at the time but if I saw one now I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Car #2:
1990 Buick Riviera

Good car, very comfortable. Bought it with my own money and loved the hell out of it. However, the road did not look fondly upon this car. I got T boned by a drunk driver. But it was still drivable! He was in a Chevy s-10 and used my hood as a ramp. Did a couple of flips.

A week after that I got rear ended at a red light. I had been sitting there for a full minute before I got hit. The guy was a retard and rear ended me. My parents would then not allow me to buy a car for college.

Car #3
1986 Mercury Cougar

Great car. Terrible in the snow. It was in the snow where I had my first accident with it… I ran it into a concrete wall in a huge snow storm. Some white celica was speeding along like a jack ass, cut me off, and I hit a wall.

It was still drivable. A few weeks later, when I was getting off of the expressway, I lost my power steering. Then, when I was trying with all of my might to turn the car, the steering came back. Wall: 2 Mowens: 0

Car #4
1998 Buick Century

This car was great. I bought it for 4k with 150k miles on it. I traded it in when I graduated college. It had 250k miles on it. Never had a problem.

Car #5
2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse

Had it for a year, but it was designed for a short person. Put 22k miles on it, and traded it in after a 5 hour drive to Chicago. The car looked slick though…

Car #6
2006 Mercury Milan

I loved this car. It was comfortable, quick, and reliable. However, one night when I was at a bar, some drunk girl hit it with her BMW X5 and did $11,000 worth of damage to it. It never felt right after that. The car had 10k miles on it when it got hit, it was really sad. So yes, I was drunk when my car got hit. But, I was nowhere near it, and had no intention of driving it. :) Never drink and drive kids.

Car #7
2006 Cadillac STS-V

AMAZING CAR. Love it. Too expensive though… not worth the 600 a month car payment. Very fun to drive though… I miss it daily. I sold it to my dad.

Car #8
1998 Mercury Mountaineer

I like it, haven’t had it long enough to say much about it. I bought it so I can tow a sailboat when I get one. :)

@mowens If the situation should come up with me hitchhiking or car pooling, remind me who you are before I get in the car. Three accidents that weren’t my fault, five or six accidents while screwing around, racing, etc Ah the good old days.

I haven’t had an accident since I made the important realization that I was mortal. :)

I’ve never had even the slightest accident, and neither had Meg until a logging truck with bad brakes crushed her cute little TR3A and her young and wonderful life with it.

While I was working my way through college I bought a navy blue ‘67 Chevy Sidestep for my window washing business. I’ve given him to a friend to use until my kids become driving age. I love this truck. Best $500 I ever spent!

Loved my 1956 White Cadillac El Camino Sedan
Loved my 1954 Plymouth Belvedere, flathead 6
Loved my 1949 Chevrolet Bel-Aire
Loved my 1959 Jaguar 2.2 Litre Sedan
Feel ambivalent about my 1998 Volvo V70R – years of good service, but it is starting to need repairs (180,000 miles) and i can’t afford to buy a car now, so I’m stuck keeping it running.

I had a Fiat Spyder for a few years that actually made it fun to go to work.
Other than that, I’ve had a few Fiat wagons and a Honda Accord – all serviceable but not thrilling.
I’ve had two Volvo wagons, the one I drive now is a 2000 V70 XCountry, It kept me unharmed in a pretty horrific car accident so I have a lot of loyalty to the brand.

My 1985 Honda CRX. I bought it in San Fransisco. I loved it. It ran all the way until 2004 when I lost track of the guy I sold it to in 2001

I loved my 1994 Honda Accord station wagon. It had ~183,000 miles on it when a Toyota Tundra did an illegal u-turn into it a week after I had gotten a new car in 2005. Both airbags still deployed, and it still ran fine. I’d buy another Accord wagon if they still made them.

My current car is a 2005 Civic EX named Agnes that I got new and have put 93,000 miles on it in 5 years. It’s nice, but it’s a coupe, which has limited my transporting abilities, especially with moving 6 times in 3 years.

I’ve had 3 cars and all but one I hated. My first was a 1995 Chevy Corsica which truly was a POS. No air conditioning, interior was a total wreck, exterior was pretty rough, and it just didn’t run very well. But hey who can really complain when something was given to you? My second vehicle was a 1997 Pontiac Sunfire Convertible. It started out ok and then it started to give me problems about a month or two after I purchased it. Terrible gas mileage, no air conditioning, convertible top didn’t work properly, and I was constantly having to replace parts on it almost every week. Finally the thing just gave out on me. And my current car is a 2007 KIA Spectra and I adore this little car. Fantastic gas mileage and just runs great.

I consider my cars like people that I have relationships with. I’ve had two cars, both beaters and have loved them equally and I shun people who don’t give their cars names!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I am so sorry you lost Meg. I’ve picked up a few comments that you lost her, I just did not know the circumstances. That sucks so much. I’ve lost family members and just wanted the world to go away so I could curl up and die. I can’t even begin to feel how much pain you endured. Maybe some kid will see this and slow down a little or some businessman will think to take a little better care of his trucks so he doesn’t cause this to happen to someone else. That’s the only positive thing I can come up with. Losing someone you love will be with you forever. I’m sorry.

@Adirondackwannabe Thanks. The paper comapny that owned that truck is going to pay through the nose. I’ve turned down a settlement and my lawyers are going to drag them through the mud in court. Whatever money comes from it I’ll never touch, I’ll found a scholarship in her name for girls who had a rough childhood like she did.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I’m sorry your in this position, but it’s a damn good thing you can make the cock******* feel a little pain. Any business that puts a log truck on the road with bad brakes should be held accountable. Saving a few bucks on a brake job versus a lifetime of what your going thru? I hope you break the bastards.

@Adirondackwannabe At least they’ll be held publicly accountable and some girls will get a first-rate education out of this.

If it’s too painful don’t reply. I was wonderinfg how old she was, not that it makes any difference in how you feel.

@Adirondackwannabe She was 32, 20 years younger than I. She was on the threshold of a career as a psychologist.

Jesus, you must have a mountian sized hole in your heart. I wish I had the words to help. Its been a while since I lost my father, and I can look back now and remember the good things, but it took a lot of time. He was 35 at the time, he’d be 71 now. It sucks, thats the best my feeble vocabulary can come up with.

@Adirondackwannabe a hole big enough to drive a logging truck through. I appreciate the thoughts my friend

I just realized, some guys are going to think:cool, a car question and come across our thoughts and want to kick us out of the he-man club. On the positive side, when you feel up to it in the future, maybe you and I can go after some chicks. We can show them men do talk about our feelings and get a little action.

@Adirondackwannabe I’m sworn off the chicks, maybe for life. I’ll match my Unimog off-road with anything they can think of. It eats Humvees for breakfast, but is really a farm vehicle.