Re: can you name all the cars you ever owned? no politics!!!!!

ImThCat@xxxxxxx wrote:
On Apr 29, 8:48?pm, "ropey...@xxxxxxxxx" <ropey...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
1963 Rambler Station wagon. Painted green. With a
brush...everywhere...wheels, body, dashboard. 3-on-the-tree. Vacuum
powered windshield wipers that slowed down when you pressed the clutch.
Plywood covered the rusted out portion of the left rear passenger seat
floorboard. Blew it's engine at the Rt 9/18 intersection on my way back
from freshman orientation at Rutgers. $100.

1966 Pontiac Catalina. 3-on-the-tree. No radio. Giant, monster enginee
(408??) engine...drove far faster than the retreads I could afford then
could stand up to. Totaled on a winding country road during an Ocean
County snowstorm. $200.

1972 Buick Skylark. Bought in California for $1000 in 1978. Drove it to
NJ, and back to Texas. Sold it for $750 in West Texas before moving
overseas.

1971 Nissan Sunny (Japanese version of a Datsun B210). Left hand drive
*after* Okinawa had reverted to left-side driving...A true motoring
adventure.
$350.

1972 Toyota pickup (model unknown...little bed, little motor. When you
have a pickup in your 20s, you end up helping all your friends move). $500.

1981 AMC Spirit. My first new car. Ordered overseas, and picked it up on
US 130 in Cinamminson. Drove it cross country to California, back to the
east coast, to west Texas and back to California. Shipped it to Hawaii,
drove it there for four years, shipped in back to California, and drove
it to the east coast. 6 cyl. 5 speed. No A/C. Overweight, overpowered,
lousy on gas, but I got over 140K miles on a car I paid $6000 for.

1988 Honda Civic. Wonderful car. My first car with A/C. A little too
drifty on wet roads though. The last new car I bought for less than $10000.

1985 VW Scirocco: married into it with 25K miles on it. We sold it 10
years later with 185K miles on it, and saw it still on the road just 3
years ago.

1992 VW Passat. First model year for this car in the US. VWs largest
passenger car sold at that time. Bought it new, drove it 12
years....donated to charity, still running with 240K miles on it.

1994 Ford Mustang. Convertible. 4-cylinder. Underpowered, but great fun.
Terrible in the snow. Bought it with 14K miles on it, traded it with
140K miles on it 5 years later.

1998 VW New Beetle. Surprise for my wife (one of only two real major
league surprises I've ever pulled off). Bought in 1999 with 11K miles on
it (traded the Mustang...). Still her daily driver with 130K miles.
Amazing headroom and front passenger legroom. I secretly love this car,
but ya know....it is a total chick ride.

2000 VW Passat. V6. The first automatic I had since the 72 Skylark. A
little stealthy rocket. Great car for the price, wonderful interior, and
cruises at 100 mph without missing a beat. Unfortunately totaled (but
fortunately nobody was hurt, and it was at the peak of its resale value).

2004 VW Passat. V6. Auto. A trim level up. Used premium gas for the
improved 6-cyl powerplant. Traded at 10K for my current daily driver
when I discovered a diesel in the showroom during an oil change.

2004 VW Passat TDI (yes, it's a diesel). 36+ lifetime MPG in a mid-size
sedan (75K miles) Not your 70s/80s diesel powerplant...no smellt smoke,
no clatter. Same excellent Passat interior.

1994 Volvo 960. My kid's daily driver, but --as I love reminding her--
registered in my name. A/C hasn't worked since we test drove it. You can
land an F-14 on the hood. It's a big white box that resembles a
refrigerator. Our neighbor across the street said it looked like a
"Kelvinator"..it's the only car we've ever named: "Kelvin".


And your experiences make me lean toward the Passat even more...thanks
for posting that.

Garry



Just like with computer hardware: anybody can sell you a lemon.

We've enjoyed tremendous service out of our VWs (generally for 22 years) and 4 different versions of the Passat (for 16 years).

VWs have taken some bad press for quality issues in recent years (and based on our *early* experience with the New Beetle, they may be partially deserved...but it's long since got past those).

Since I'm not mechanically inclined --at all-- the key to long VW ownership seems to be finding a good VW/european import specialist mechanic for after the warranty expires.

I'm biased, since one literally saved my life. Probably any airbag/crumple zone/seatbelt interial locking sedan would have.

.

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