First Vehicle & Best Vehicle?

Very nice. Ironically I was looking for a nice MR2 with a 4th gen 3SGTE swap when I bought the Datsun instead. I found one that was swapped by PRIME but the guy wanted too much money. Nice examples are getting hard to come by.

Yep. That is why I am thinking K24 swap. There are a lot more NA out there with good bodies, then there are with turbos. Also, finding a nice turbo one is pretty tough. Lots of them are ruined with ebay parts.

If I could find a clean turbo model, I would not motor swap it. I just figure I could afford the swap if I buy an NA model.

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My first car that I drove regularly was a 1989 cadillac fleetwood brougham. It. was. awesome. Lol. Keep in mind, this was around the year 2000. I was 16-17. It was my grandmotherā€™s car before I drove it, perfect condition. Drove like a goddamn boat.

Best is what I drive now, a 2019 murdered-out Laramie RAM. Black everything. Itā€™s got that crazy huge screen in the middle, fully decked out. Itā€™s such a badass truck, drives like a dream, plenty of power, and feels like a luxury car. The interior is really, really nice. I had a 2016 laramie RAM before this one, and the upgrades are a world of difference.

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1st was a 1980 Dodge Diplomat. Kind of a neat car. A drunk driver hit me head-on and totaled it while I was still 16 yoa.

The one that I wish I had back was a 1979 Plymouth Roadrunner (Volare).

Most dependable was a 2002 Ford Ranger Edge quad cab. 145,000 trouble free miles.

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1st was a stripped down 1994 for ranger. Only thing power was the brakes. Rwd, manual tranny, and a light rear end are fun for a 17 yr old.

Best is my current: 2004 4runner. Bought it with 40k on it in 2011, now have a few ticks under 200k on it. Reliable, with the right shoes it gets anywhere I could want to go, and there is something very freeing about having a beater you can beat the shit out of guilt free. Only thing Iā€™d change is getting leather or PU seats- much easier cleanup of mud, dirt, dog hair, etc.

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Beautiful.

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It was. This isnā€™t mine but it is very similar. Such a fun car to have in my late teens and early 20s. Lotta great memories!

image https://www.cars-on-line.com/photo/91600/83cad91621-1.jpg

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My first car also happens to be my best/favourite car: ā€˜09 Dodge Grand Caravan. Never needed a car living in Vancouver because the transit system was so robust. When my wife and I moved across the country, we needed a way to transport half our shit and our 2 dogs and 2 cats. Found a Grand Caravan, and man was it ever a good choice.

Hauled a massive U-Haul trailer with it, drive it through Ontarioā€™s crazy snow, stow-n-go seating is a dream, so much room for our dogs, highly dependable. Just a great vehicle.

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Thanks for sharing these stories guys! These are all great!

First car: 1983 Opel Kadett 1.6, which I got in 1988.
Best car: 2004 BMW X5. Fast, handled beautifully, bullet-proof reliability, great interior & fittings. I ā€œupgradedā€ to the X6 4 years ago - also fast and pretty, but itā€™s really prone to minor niggles (windscreen wiper breaks, wing mirror electrics fail etc etc).
Thinking of going for a Porsche Maccan next - probably go for about a 4-year-old model. I think slightly smaller (than the Cayenne/X5/Q7) will be a better bet for me, hoping it would be as sporty as the BMWs but less temperamental than the X6.

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I basically had the same thing. My first car was a 1985 Camaro with a V-6 and automatic. It was a total dog, but I got it for free (from my child-less aunt) so I didnā€™t complain. It did have T-tops, which I loved, and the automatic made it a lot easier to get ā€œoral affectionā€ while driving, so that was an unexpected benefit.

Best car: my current ride - 2016 Nissan Maxima Platinum in ā€œForged Bronze.ā€ My previous 3 cars were red Honda Accords ('95, '01, and '10) that I put over 150k miles on. The Maxima is such a huge leap forward in terms of speed, comfort, and technology that itā€™s really mind-blowing. The best part is I got it from a wholesaler for $18k with 43k miles on it.

Before I bought this, I was semi-seriously considering a Hellcat. In the end, the thought of plunking down that much money for a vehicle was just too nauseating to pull the trigger.

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I had a friend who almost got one. He was smart enough to get some insurance quotes before he bought the car. It was about $700/month for insurance. They are found in the ditch or wrapped around telephone poles a lot. It seems most people are not the best at handling the combo of 700 hp and RWD. Who would have thought.

My first car was quite fast. An automatic 93 ford escort wagon. These bad boys came stock with 88 hp.

image

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Thatā€™s a steal. Those are fine looking cars too.

I know what you mean. I like to buy my toys AFTER someone else has already taken the largest depreciation hit. I just bought a McLaren 12c Spider with only 8k miles for about 1/3 it original cost. Still expensive but likely not still dropping.

@mnben87. Sad to say I sold the Datsun my friend. The exotic was calling.

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Holy balls that is a nice car. The insurance must be brutal on that!

Doesnā€™t spider mean it is a convertible? Looks like a hard top?

Would be nice being a single man with a car like that.

I wouldnā€™t get BMW or Porsche if you care about reliability.

With a car like that I bet youā€™ve got a hell of a bathroom!

Wonder what some basic services are on that. I know alot of the more exotic cars, the cheapest part is buying them :joy:.

My first car was an ā€˜82 F100 short bed single cab.
Hard to say what was my favorite. I spent my days from age 15-20 buying and selling cars and have probably had over 100. I wanted to own all of them, but could only afford to own them one at a time lol.

Iā€™ve had some really cool stuff, but all on the cheaper side. Had some really fast turbo cars, big lifted trucks, lowered trucks, lots of jeeps and rock crawler type trucks. The funnest ones besides the turbo cars was a bagged S10 I had. Had a trailer ball under it and threw some awesome sparks at night. Everybody smiled hitting switches!

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My current and best car seems to be going up in value. I was just at the dealer getting serviced when I noticed no Tundras on the lot. Apparently thereā€™s a significant supply problem.

My KBB private sale value was $27,500, about three grand more than it was when I last checked it last year. More miles as well.

Not bad for a truck I only paid $31,500 for six years ago. Iā€™d probably sell it if Maine didnā€™t have such punitive excise taxes for buying vehicles.

As it stands Iā€™m probably keeping that truck for another decade. Cheap insurance, no payments and the 5.7 L is just getting broke in with 75k on it.

At some point Iā€™ll get a second car that will be something fast and fun. Iā€™d really like a Honda S2000 or something similar.

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I owned a mechanic shop for a bit and we built/helped build a couple sweet S2000ā€™s. One for the twistys and one for the 1320! Both streetable. One dynoed at 900 something HP. Talk about a wild ride.

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All McLaren Spiders are hard top convertibles not soft. The trunk area in front of the engine but behind the passenger area swallows the roof.

Lmao. Thatā€™s my daily an X5. Literally had the AC compressor fail in the first three days of ownership but itā€™s been golden since. She gets the outside treatment while my golf cart and McLaren get the garage lol (and the wifeā€™s minivan).

So true! I bought a full extended warranty on it because the parts and labor are atrocious. The annual service on the car is about $2500 so not horrible.

Yea not too bad. Does it have the same absolutely disgusting 30k and 60k mike services?$$$

Thatā€™s a well known thing with Ferrariā€™s and even Lambos to some degree. But the McLaren is just the annual as far as I know. Quite honestly I wonā€™t keep it near long enough to know. Iā€™ll put 2500 miles on her in a 1-2 year period and sell for something else.

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