Shamelessly stolen from /r/askreddit.
My first!
A 1974 Layland Mini with a Cooper S engine my uncle and I rebuilt together, a carbie big enough to suck in a cat, disc brakes, big fat tyres, faired arches, monster stereo and a muffler big enough that everyone knew I was coming…
I miss that little beast, it was quicker off the line than most of mates V8s, wish I’d never sold it.
25yrs later, on my 8th car, and it’s still the one I think about the most. I drive a family friendly 3L diesel 4x4 now, which I also love, but that Mini will always be king.
So far this has been my only car I owned. Have driven plenty of rentals and still none hold a light to my 34 year old Opel Corsa. This is a picture i took in the hills of Georgia near the Turkish border.
On a similar vein, my first car was an Opel Astra G (2004) (Vauxhall for UK people.) I loved it. It was incredibly reliable. I knew when we went onto a 4000 km roadtrip that all I will have to do is pumping gas into it.
Very nice and very true. Where did you go on this trip?
Italy. From Hungary. We were there for about a week going through major cities, like Rome, Naples etc. It was a very intense week. I never walked and drove so much before or even since then.
Very nice my man. The roads leading there are great, also driving the narrow streets of those cities must have been great.
I’ve never owned a car and likely never will, and honestly, that fact holds a special place in my heart
I can relate, before I got my own car, I prided myself on not needing it.
But having a car has enabled me to do way more than before, I am a hobby photographer, and being able to get to the airport for some planespotting in 40 min is way, way better than needing 2h with public transport.
Let’s just say I’ve raised a child who is now an adult, all without a car. By now, I know the inconveniences and opportunities it costs me well, but for me, they’re just not enough of a reason.
My 2004 BMW Z4, I use it almost every day and every drive feels like a special event.
Worked for my brothers custom fuel injection company. They had a late 80s CRX that was used for testing drive by wire systems.
I ended up buying it as one of my first cars. Got over 40 mpg when you drove like grandma, and turned into a wild cat when you put your foot down.
It’s pretty close between the CRX and my 84 Fiero. Just something special about a 2 seater with manual transmittion and no bells and whistles. Though I did prefer the real wheel drive and mid engine on the Fiero.
Now days I drive an Impreza wagon, which comes close, but just isn’t the same. Sure it’s more comfortable, the heater works, and I don’t have to have a triple A card in my pocket to drive farther than the corner store, but where is the excitement in that?
A Lada Niva
The one I won’t need to buy once my local council has decided to create a really walkable and cyclable city
Walkable cities are fantastic, I would never commute to my office with my car, I live in the suburbs and take the bus and metro to the office, it is awesome, I lived alone for nine years without needing a car, to be frank, I don’t need a car in my day to day life.
But I have missed a lot of opportunities by not having a car for the weekends/vacations.
Opportunities to get new furniture, opportunities to find a castle ruin, opportunities to connect with friends easier, opportunities to go places where I would not have been able to in a resonable timeframe using just public transport and walking.
It might be selfish, I don’t deny that, but it has done wonders for my mental health.
I got a car that can fit five, that runs on electricity for most tasks, it was used, so no new car was produced specificly for me.
I believe it was the least bad car I could have gotten
Eery bit is helping. No need to feel guilty about enjoying life. I hope one day my local council will provide shared cars for those special times when I really need one. They have them in bigger cities but not here.
I have thought about only keeping my car for a few years so I get more experience and then selling it and getting on the app leasing deal, but so far that is not on the horizon for me, but who knows…
2011 Honda Fit/Jazz. That thing was like the god damn Tardis. Seats folded any which way you could think of so it could haul pretty much anything and paired with a roof rack you were invincible. It was small and nimble and was capable of anything. Snow? Sure. Camping down some semi rough tracks? Why not. Haul all your friends l? You got it boss.
I wish I still had it as I probably would have turned it into a battle car by now but sold it when I moved country’s.
Yoooo I have a 2015 Honda Fit. First car I ever bought and never had a single regret
Exact same for me. Bought a used 2013 Fit as my first car and just finished paying it off, this thing is a force of nature and is probably my favourite car of all time.
Small exterior, but big interior, and the manual transmission is rock solid, you definitely shouldn’t slam it into reverse while rolling forward but it’s good to know you can if you have to lol. Surprisingly good at drifting on gravel corners or through snowdrifts, and you can make it crazy far up a washed out logging road with a 14’ canoe strapped to the top. 10/10 no regrets
I’ve owned idk how many cars, they’ve always been a hobby of mine. But the one I miss the most was my 1959 Chevrolet pickup truck. I bought it for next to nothing, it was rusty and beat up, but 100% original. I fixed all the broken and worn stuff on it and slapped a turbocharger on the factory engine and daily drove it for a year or two. Even with the turbo it was dreadfully slow, but it was a riot to drive. It turned a lot of heads and got smiles everywhere I went. Really wish I’d never sold it.
I had a '56 chevy pickup that I got running in high school and had to sell when moving away to college. It was a quilt of parts that would fit (still the original 235 under the hood) but there was no way I was going to move to a big city with no AC, no power steering, three on the tree and all the safety features of a midcentury crumple zone with tires. I miss it tho.
My mom had a 90s f150 Thing was a tank and had two gas tanks.
We called it the magic button. Would be on empty and watching it switch from empty to full was satisfying.
What was not satisfying was filling up 2 tanks after procrastinating.
My 1981 Toyota pickup. It never ran 100% but it always ran. That thing lived in a perpetual state of almost broken. Oh and it was the ugliest mustard yellow color it was always so easy to find in a parking lot.
After the engine shat all its oil I sold the thing the guy rebuilt it then road tripped on a 6000 mile road trip.
Now that’s a car!
The best part is it had a steel flat bed and no exhaust. I could merge instantly in the heaviest traffic. People would dive out of my way because they had no idea if I cared one bit about hitting them.
My 2002 Chrysler Neon was pretty special to me. I was driving it until 2 years ago where it really started getting bad.
I inherited from my grandfather when he could no longer safely drive. And I just associate the car so closely with him.
He passed away a couple of years ago. So it was even more special to me because of that.
1998 Saturn SL1
Often shat upon, but it was incredibly reliable until I overworked the little 4 cylinder engine. It handled like I imagined a go cart would, it had good gas mileage, and it survived hitting 2 deer and only needed cosmetic fixes afterwards.
None of them. I’ve resented the need for every single car I’ve driven.
