What you used to drive (before eco-modding)
 

note: kind of off topic, and I'm not sure it'll go anywhere, but I'm curious, so I'll try anyway.

So I see a lot of people post about, or allude to, their old hot rods, sport compacts, etc, that they used to drive before they got hip to energy conservation.

The passion for increasing HP seems to transfer pretty well over to increasing mpgs... not quite the same thrill factor though, lol.

So what did you guys used to drive? I'm betting a lot of you have some pretty rad former rides to show off.

This was my last vehicle: 1990 Mistubishi Eclipse GS-T
A FWD turbocharged nightmare of torque-steer. No airbags, no ABS.... sometimes I'm surprised to have never killed myself.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...FrontAngle.jpg

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...ofsiderear.jpg

After upgrading all intake and exhaust piping I was actually beating the EPA estimates, even when driving like an absolute a$$hole at all times. Then I went from 250 HP to 90 when I bought my Jetta..... and moved into the right lane.

Your turn, let's see 'em!

58 VW
4-63 Valiants
65 Lincoln Continental
67 383 Formula S barracuda
59 Corvette 71 Z28 engine and transmission- bought for $2000
67 390 Mustang GT
71 BMW 2002
76 280z
84 Honda CRX 1.5 bought new serial number 1018
77 Accord
73 Alfa Romeo GTV
67 Dodge Dart GT
67 Barracuda convertible
2-59 Austun Healey sprites
57 Chevy-bought for $52 at abandoned car auction (first car)
5 Nissan Altimas 93-97
95 Buick Riveria supercharged
05 Scion XB
06 Corolla
99 F150
03 Tundra
93 Del Sol
Mazda RX2 (gas hog 12 MPG)
77 280Z rebuilt total with 325 miles on it when I bought it
74 F350 cab and chassis put a drive on grease rack on it to make it a car hauler
66 Chevy van first total repaired in 1973
74 Montego MX brougham
73 900 Kawasaki (not a car but soo fast)
Harley Davidson (just had to be cool once)
71 Datsun 510 2 dr with a 2 liter truck engine
37 Ford 5 window coupe all original 6 volt with mechanical brakes

I built over 100 total losses over a span of 25 years.

regards
Mech

I've had more than I can count, but all budget rides, I'm a car sl*t.

Most insane one I've heard of is Coyote Xs coyote
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...html#post50977
rear engined eldorado drivetrain in a 2000lb kit car with 500hp nitrous fogger, wheelies at 80 :)

Similarly, I drove for performance on a daily basis. The car that changed my outlook on driving was...

The 2003.5 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII
http://pic16.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../193338615.jpg

It turns out that you can't drive it on public roads (legally) as it was designed, it's inefficient, costly, and not practical. After that, I started to focus on FE.

History: I got my learner's permit at 15 in Kansas. At that time I drove one of my folks' vehicles:

1988 Plymouth Voyager SE V-6 (primary vehicle)
1984 Chevy K20 Silverado 350-V8
1985 Jeep Cherokee Pioneer 4-speed, 4-cylinder (leaned to drive stick on that one).
1988 Olds Cutlass Supreme Classic (RWD, V-8)

First Car:
1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham 4-door Colonnade 350-V8
http://pic16.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../193156707.jpg

Later...
1995 Chevy Beretta 3100 V-6, Level-II
1990 Chevy Beretta GTZ Quad-4, 5-speed
1997 Honda Civic DX Coupe, 5-speed
1999 Honda Civic Si Coupe, B16A2
2003 Mitsubishi Evo Turbo AWD
1999 Acura TL Base

Current:
2006 Acura TSX Base Automatic (Wife's Car)
took over her vehicle (original owner)...
1998 Acura Integra LS 3-Door Automatic (see garage)

...and scores of rental cars.

RH77

Deezler -

Beautiful Ecipse. I loved that design the day it came out. Here's my list :

1972 VW Karmann Ghia - Dad's - from about 80K miles to 120K miles
1973(?) Honda CB350F motorcycle - used - for maybe 10K or 20K miles total
1976(?) Datsun B210 Honeybee - Sister's hand me down - Umpteen miles, didn't look at odometer
1990 Honda CRX DX - First new car - 0 to 87K+ Miles
1997 Saturn SC2 - New - 0 to 98K Miles
1999 Saturn SW2 - Used - 36K to 183K miles and running

4-bangers one and all, never less than 25 MPG City. I've never felt comfortable in cars that weren't compacts.

CarloSW2

1990 GMC Suburban. I kind of did a 180 degree change. :D

http://www.edmunds.com/pictures/VEHI...43-300x189.jpg

I've owned these two vehicles over the last 11 years. I don't really go for the "new and shiny" thing. :p

Oh, lets see:
My high school/college beaters were -
83 Chevy cavalier station wagon (AKA Puff the Tragic Wagon)
81 Toyota Corolla (AKA the "General Lee" - as in it "generally" ran)
Work life cars
01 Olds Alero (too new/good to get a nickname)
95 Ford Taurus
01 Ford Ranger
02 Toyota Corolla

First car was an 89 Olds Cutlass Ciera wagon. Then came the 1999 Hyundai Elantra wagon. Now it's the 1999 Buick LeSabre hurriedly acquired.

I'm going back to a wagon or hatch when the Buick dies. That won't be for a while, though.

The same kind of cars I'm driving today.

90 VW Golf D
91 VW Jetta TD
99 VW Jetta TDI
00 VW Jetta TDI

And you can bet the next one on this list will also be a diesel.

One day I'll have a weekend car though. Something quick, but not necessarily with huge power.

From the start:
Parents' cars which I drove:
'70 SAAB 96, V4, 4-on-the-tree
'70 Opel GT, auto
'80 Chevy Citation
'86 Toyota Pickup (aka Hilux pretty much everywhere but NA)

My cars:
'78 Honda Civic, 2-speed Hondamatic. Great little car
'87 Toyota Pickup
'86 Hyundai Excel (die, die, die you rotten little f&@%er)
'91 Dodge Caravan
'98 Subaru Forester

Current rides:
The '87 Toyota PU. Owned it since new. Its age is starting to show
The Forester. It's nice enough.

Only two cars in my history of driving for the last 8 years...

1985 Mazda Rx-7 GLS

2002 Toyota Corolla S

The Rx-7 was fun to drive, but there was never any goal for economy, but still got around 20ish, never really checked. The Corolla on the other hand only started getting ecodriving about 4 years ago (wow, has it been that long?). I was getting the low 30s then, now I'm getting the low 40s. I loved my Rx-7, but I would have killed myself in it eventually.
Attachment 4262
This is exactly what I drove in the beginning

And my avatar is what I drive now. Love them both

I've got a pretty short history with cars, but I may as well chime in...

My parent's cars I used to drive:
1989 F150 extended cab, long box, V8 with a 3 speed auto (The Ghetto Cruiser... I've been tailgated by cops and passed by a 57' Beetle in that rolling roadblock) 9 MPG , top speed of 62 MPH.

2000 Chevy Van aka 'The Billboard' because my dad's name is plastered on the side in big green vinyl letters. Six tons of delivery van bliss... 12 MPG

My cars:

1998 Ford Taurus "Angila", aka "The Mafia Mobile"... You could fit four informants and a bag of cement in the trunk. This was my first car, bought for its weight in scrap. She's rusty, wheezy, dented, the paint's peeling, the rotors are warped, the windscreen is cracked, and none of the accessories work below 40º F (including the defroster o.0 ), but she [almost] always got me where I need to go, including 5 road trips. 25 MPG

2000 Saturn three door coupe "SCarlet" Bought for $20. She's sporty, slick looking, super fun to drive, and extraordinarily efficient with a five speed manual.

I'm back to the old Mafia Mobile because SCarlet's got some electrical problems... Oh well, for $20, I can't complain :)

69 440 Charger R/T
66 chev truck
71 340 Demon
67 442 Olds
70 340 Cuda
68 GMC truck
82 VW Scirocco
83 VW turbo rabbit 1.8L
94 Honda Civic Si 1.6 SOHC turbo
87 Mazda Tubo II RX7
93 DSM Talon 2.0L turbo

Just started HM'ing this year
Bought this in 2001 stock it got about 25 with reasonable driving. As pictured it averaged 10 to 15 :eek:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/DSCI0029.jpg

Before My 89 F150 I had
90 2wd ranger 5 spd best was 22mpg Bet I could top 30 now:(
2 88 Bronco II's
2 87 Bronco II's
86 celebrity
85 Bronco II
85 LTD midsize
85 corrolla
85 Dodge D50
89 taurus
72 Dodge D250
70 Dodge Dart

Wow! Some of you guys are car wh*res, haha.

Interesting to see some of the guzzlers too, but I was kind of asking to see the SPORTS cars that some of us used to drive. You know, who modified their car for increased power before they got into modifying their car (and driving style) for efficiency?

RH77, why did the Evo change your outlook on driving? I was dead set on getting one to replace my DSM, and pined over them for a couple years, waiting for the price of a used one to get down to where I could afford it. By the time I almost could, I lost some of my need for speed and chose efficiency instead. Getting 20 mpg around town just kept me away.... sigh. What could have been.

Coastrider, the Bronco looks like fun though. Living in central PA pretty much requires a trail rig, I'd suppose.

It's really the story of how I got into EcoDriving, oddly enough.

I really enjoyed that car, but here's the deal...

I bought it new and it was one of the first NA market Evos, which had lots of problems. The transaxle was mis-aligned, which caused grinding of shifts at high RPMs, in first to second. It was in the shop a LOT. They had to have a technician from Mitsu Japan come in to attempt to repair it. It was never really fixed properly (and honestly showed how poorly their dealers treated owners). I replaced the rubber clutch line with a braided steel hose, which helped a bit, but it never shifted right.

In cold weather starts, I had to sit in the vehicle with the clutch depressed until the transmission warmed-up (at least 5 cold minutes), or it would stall from the thickness of the fluid while in Neutral. Then getting it to shift even after 5-minutes was a chore. it also had random CELs from a glitch in the A/F ratio at moderate boost. The car was a lemon from the get-go.

Ah, but what fun to drive every day! It truly was a budget supercar. In the Winter, I put on some snow treads and went everywhere a 4x4 could (with much more stability). People who knew what it was, knew not not to race ;) The pull in second gear at 18psi was phenomenal. Which brings me to more consequences...

Speeding tickets (a few of them). Add that to the 12-18 MPG of Premium fuel and it was expensive. Full throttle launches would burn-out the clutch early, which is another big cost. Insurance was through the roof. I finally had enough of it when the warranty ran out, so I dumped it on a used TL and started saving money.

Since my Wife was driving loads of miles every day, I we essentially switched cars: TL for Integra, and I had a revelation: it's fun to drive fast once in a while, but for the rest of the time, how can I really save on fuel -- might as well, right? Helps the environment, budget -- everybody wins. So about 3-4 years ago, I did some digging around the 'Net, joined some forums, met some of the great people here today, and the rest is history.

I still participate as a Medical volunteer in the National Rally Championship and will be the first to admit that sometimes acceleration and twisty roads can be fun once in a while...

RH77

1970 1/2 Z/28 350ci/350HP
1967 Buick Riviera GS 430Ci / 360 HP
1965 Pontiac GTO convertible with 389ci Tri-Power 4 speed 360 hp.

Then got the Gas mileage bug in College

1981 Volvo 242 Turbo 2.1L 5 speed
1986 Volvo 740 Turbo 2.3L 5 speed
Gave it's life for me hit by drunk driver.
1987 Volvo 745 Turbo 2.3L wagon
1997 Volvo 960 24V 2.9L I6 Highway car.
2010 Toyota Prius.

The 87 Volvo got lowered, roof rack removed, Auto box replaced
with 5 speed and rear gears dropped to 3.31's. Highway tank mileage went from 325-340 miles to 400-425 miles.

1997 Volvo got some custom under carriage aero metal work. Highway range increased from 500-515 to 550-575 miles.

I'm sorry this thread died before it had a chance to get interesting, so I'm resurrecting it. Here are my last two vehicles prior to my getting smart:

http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/...it/Viper23.jpg

No one needs a 500-horsepower truck, but it was fun--in a "holy s%@#!" kind of way. Before that:

http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/...t/Viper104.jpg

1995 ford explorer brakes went out at 208,000 miles - sold
1996 ford Taurus oil pump died sold 118,000 miles
2000 Oldsmobile intrigue current 170,000 miles

My lowest MPG vehicles were
1. 1968 Chevy Chevelle SS 396, with lots of go fast goodies, 5-12mpg. Got Religon and started racing sports cars:thumbup:
2. 1970 Ford F100 360cid, 11-12 mpg. Sold when we moved on to a boat.
3. 1986 Mazda RX-7 15-32mpg. Seals shot if left sitting for two days restart took forever.

Highest
Tomos moped, MPG so high who cares. Filled every few weeks:D

I still own all my cars. The other two are

81 Rabbit- lowered, short shifter, cat delete, A/C delete, '79 Westy front end.
Usually 27-28mpg while hammering on it.
On the old wheels:
http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1402/5...05cbde51_z.jpg

65 Ford F100- stock with low miles on the 352 V8 and three on the tree. Red interior with vinyl bench seat!
I daily drove this last summer for a couple months and got 14-15mpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3285/5...43eb5e4f_z.jpg

'74 mustang II - It was the mach 1 version :rolleyes: 4 speed solid lifter v-6. an utter POS. not one of ford's better ideas.

'78 fiesta - awesome little car. a blast to drive and it was the sport edition with a racing stripe and a pop out sunroof. loved that car.

83 honda nighthawk 550 - my first new vehicle. had a great time on that thing. should have kept it, but with winter coming I traded it on a ...

'80 fiesta - this one ran a little stronger than the first, but, it was a POS. bought from a shiester used car dealer. had damage from a previous accident and electrical gremlins that probably were related to the crash.

'79 toyota supra - i thought this thing was the cat's ass when i bought it. a buddy ran it low on coolant a few weeks after i bought it and it developed a rod knock. that's when i got to learn how to rebuild an engine....twice. never, ever put main bearings in with the oil passages blocked. they're kinda important!

'80 f-150 - aka, the beverly hillbillies truck. prior owner put a very stout wood bed on it with pickup side tool boxes for side rails. it was so ugly, it was cool. bought it for 500 bucks, ran it about 4 years and sold it for 550!!! awesome truck. dirt cheap to work on.

84 accord hatchback - awesome car other than the worlds most complicated carb with approximately 27 miles of vac hose. when it ran right, it was awesome. when it didn't, the cat glowed so hot, i thought it would melt the car.

'86 taurus wagon - got lucky as it was one of 12 made with a decent auto tranny. served us well for over 100K miles. saw it a few years later being driven by the woman who bought it from us. it just wouldn't die.

'86 taurus wagon - first was so good, i bought another....with the biggest POS engine ever made, the ford 3.8 v-6. a little more torquey than the trusty 3.slow, but, it was a POS.

'85 dodge d-150 - last of the indestructible slant sixes. loved that truck. ran perfectly. then the smog plumbing pipe rotted out. i pulled the smog pump, it still passed emissions. so, i chucked the smog system. next year, it failed. couldn't get it to pass, didn't want to put money into it so i sold it. should have just parked it for a few year until it was exempt from emissions. i am certain that thing would have outlasted me.

'97 mercury villager - best car i ever owned. daughter wadded it up a week after she got her license. put over 100K on it without a bit of trouble.

'91 accord - great car. more fun to drive than new sonata. unfortunately it had those ridiculous motorized seat belts that started acting up. that, a cracked windshield and a few other things and i sold it. shouldn't have.

'09 sonata - only new car ever bought. great car. probably won't buy another new one though.

'02 grand caravan - i got lucky on this one. tranny still shifted like new after 120K. probably the single best example of the AOD transaxle mopar ever made. sold because we just didn't need a minivan anymore and my daughter was going broke feeding it.

'97 ranger. great truck if a bit nutless. looked good till a suicidal buck tried to run through my radiator last fall.

'97 saturn SW2 - awesome little car so far. daughter likes it.





'

Drove a '99 Ford Taurus in high school. Never once did I calculate my FE - or pay for gas on a regular basis. Too bad. That could've been a lot of fun.

I would gladly give up the fun of paying my own fuel bill and trying to figure out how to lower it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP063...eature=related

This was my first ride, looked almost exactly like this one, in fact, maybe this was my old car? :) Got 12mpg

This was my first car I bought myself, identical to this one, but my car was a four speed instead of automatic. My first mod was making the bucket seats fully recline, this was not common in car until many years later.
Let's see, after the engine rebuild and 780 carb, it got about 10mpg..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJdst...eature=related


Jack

not really Taurus during that generation were not that great on FE and tended to have low 20s mpg. i had a 96 Taurus which was literally falling apart at 118k i traded it in for a car with more power and better FE

Forgot the other taurus I had. 93 SHO. That thing was a blast and had it been vailable as a stripped down taurus, it would have been a great car. The yamaha DOHC V-6 just begged to be run to it's 7400 rpm rev limiter. Driven conservatively (if you could), good running ones could get close to 30 mpg. I suspect an agressive hypermiler might squeeze 35 out of it. Unfortunately, they all came loaded which meant all that fancy stuff stopped working like power seats, climate control system variable speed fan and leaky sunroof.

I finally sold this for the same reason as the dodge. failed emissions and i didn't want to sink the money into it to get it to pass.

1968 Dodge Polara
1973 Ford Capri
1973 Pontiac Firebird
1977 Chevrolet Camaro
1986 Toyota Celica (NEW)
1978 Ford F150
1987 Toyota 4X4 (NEW)
1985 Toyota 4Runner
1979 Pontiac TransAm
1981 Toyota Corolla
1980 Chrysler Lebaron
1987 Toyota MR2
1985 Toyota Pickup
1994 Honda Civic EX (NEW)
1995 Toyota T100
1987 Honda Civic CRX
1997 Honda Civic LX (NEW)
1998 Audi A4 Quattro
1994 Honda Accord LX
1998 Acura Integra GSR
1994 BMW 318ic
1995 Volvo 850 Turbo
1993 Audi S4 Turbo Quattro
1998 Chevrolet Prizm LSI
2004 Acura TL
2005 Nissan Altima
1993 Acura Legend
2007 Mazda 3 Grand Touring Hatchback (NEW)
2005 Hyundai Elantra GT
2004 Honda Civic Si
2007 VW Rail Buggy

Had:
'75 Toyota Hi-Lux lowrider -seafoam green, chrome nose, fiberglass visor, tint, color-matched Ranger wheels

'89 Mirage sedan - midnight blue, limo tint, 15" Starion wheels w/195/60/15s (had 175/70/13). Chopped off the ugly muffler and tossed a glasspack behind the cat with a 4 1/2" tip dropped over the rear axle. Awesomely slow with a 3spd auto and 1.5 single cam.

'85 Nissan 4x4. Standard cab, short bed. White. No bumpers, black roll bar. Navy 626 seats, Sentra sunroof. Harley Screamin Eagle 2 into 1 chrome muffler with second inlet open. Actually sounded good and always had good back pressure.

'93 Nissan Altima - Tan. Only car I never messed with. Totalled by a Super Duty by way of an Explorer (plus I hit a Subaru in front of me)

'93 Chevy C1500 longbed - Victory Red - Supremes w/stock size skinny whitewalls. 4.5 front drop/5.5 rear. Scratch-built long-tube 4.3 headers, dual 2" exhaust about 6 feet long, no cats, no mufflers, chrome turn-downs.

'79 Yamaha XS750 Triple

Currently:
'99 Saturn SL2
'99 Olds Alero
'99 Tahoe
'94 GMC C3500 Crew Cab Dually
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/y...yo/Dually1.jpg

'71 Super Beetle(first car - still in the back of the garage)too many mods to list
'71 Z-28
'80 Suzuki GS750 bobber
'88 Isuzu Trooper- the beater - 33x10.50 Boggers, home-made lift
More pics may come, but Photobucket uploader is fighting me

may 1975:
1966 Mustang: coupe, 200ci straight 6, baby blue. Got summer 1975 Drove all thru college. Replaced tranny 2 times. Rebuilt head, Repainted Med Blue from baby blue. Lowered front end to Shelby Specs, rear sway bar, nylon bushings front & Back, Clifford Headers 3-2-1, split uot to GT exhaust tips. Pioneer indash AM/FM CB. Custom Cruise Control. Had an led mpg trip gauge that I got at sears.
1973 Mustang coupe 351c 4bbl, automatic. Very fast.
1979 Mustang Pace Car 2.2Liter Turbo, Recaro Seats, Michelin TRX wheels & tires. Paid $4k sold for $5.5k (smoked the engine twice under 36k warrantee)
1979 Mazda RX7- Street also raced in SCCA SOLOII
1982 Chevy Cavalier- Loaded.
1986 Pontiac 6000 STE Very cool car. Loaded. Everything. Suede Grey leather interior, HO V6 etc
19?? Audi Coupe Red/blck interior
1984 Volkswagen Passat Wolfsburg edition 2.2liter/5speed from the Audi 5000s power everything.
1981 Audi Coupe
1985 Audi 5000s
1987 Mercedes 300td
1966 mustang 6 cylinder
1986 cutlass fwd
199? Lincoln Mark VII LCS with hotrod package(????? Forgot what it was called) recaro type leather fully adjustable seats, Mustang HO 5 Liter
1997 Toyota Avalon
1999 Jaguar Vanden Plas
2002 !Infiniti Q45 Sport
2007 Kia Sportage

93 toyota tacoma standard tranny 3 liters of pure fuel eating monster, it got 17 to 18 mpg. Had a great a/c though traded it for my recent ride 93 accord swagon

This is an excellent photograph !
The lighting and composition are professional quality.
I especially love the lines in the cement which draw the eye to the subject .

1975 Fiat 126p
1983 Fiat 125p
1965 UAZ 469b
1978 VW Scirocco (1st gen)
1978 VW Scirocco GT (1st gen)
1981 VW Scirocco GTi (2nd gen)
1982 VW Scirocco GT (2nd gen)
1989 VW Corrado G60
1988 Jeep Cherokee Limited
1996 Dodge Grand Caravan SE
1999 VW Polo
2000 Mercedes Benz A-class W168 (still in the family)
1995 Toyota Previa
1997 BMW 318tds (new to the family)

77 Sedan deVille
84 K Car sedan
89 Accord sedan
Red ****box sedan (Mazda?)
Red Nissan Minima sedan
96 Suzuki Esteem sedan
89 Accord sedan (yes, a second one.)
05 LGT wagon

The Subaru was my first hot car and is now my first HMing car. I pine for the Esteem that I ditched because I was getting 40-42 mpg while driving the wheels off of it.

1986 VW GTI with a 1996 GTI ABA motor - up to 30mpg when really nice to it.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...r/GTIjump2.jpg

and all the horrible things we did to that car:

MKII VW GTI getting thrashed - YouTube Playlist

1995 Nissan Maxima V6 auto
1996 VW Passat VR6 5 speed
2001 Honda Accord V6 auto

Current: 1992 Honda Civic VX 8-D

2003 Ford Ranger with manual transmission and 4.0 liters of IDGAF about FE, courtesy of Ford's American division.
Yep, here in the U.S. of A, American manufacturers don't offer the more fuel-efficient diesels they make for all the other countries. Would have bought diesel were it offered. Same torque, 30% better MPG
EDIT: My Ranger averaged 16 MPG

My previous sports car was a 1995 Milano Red Acura Integra GSR. It was 170 screaming horsepower from a tiny 1.8 liter VTEC engine. I loved that car to death. It was a horrible purchase in most regards. I had to buy it not only used but salvaged because I was a teenager with zero funds. The place I bought it from was owned by my sister's fiance. With no credit of my own, he let me finance it over 2 years.

It was loud and obnoxious. I averaged 25 mpg in the city and sometimes got up to 30 mpg on the highway. The tiny 10 gallon tank meant I had to refuel every 250 miles which is very often when you are a teenager with a red sports car and a lot of scrub friends.

I added the standard cold air intake and ceramic header for more power. I upgraded the tires to 205/55/15 from 195/55/15 stock for more grip. A new exhaust would have been next if the car wasn't rear ended by a 68 year old man in a late model chevy pickup. I still remember how the engine bay was crumpled sitting underneath an SUV whos tires were staring me in the face. The trunk also crumpled up allowing the passenger compartment to be mostly intact. It was like my car suddently turned into a Beetle. There was red liquid splattered all over the front of my white T-shirt. I went hysterical looking for a wound on my face and body. There were none. Just then I noticed I was sucking on a red candy and spit it out.

I was fine except for a concussion and a slightly dislocated large intestine caused by the seatbelt. The car had saved my life. I loved that car to death. I replaced her with an economical 36 mpg Toyota Corolla.

mmmodem, thanks for the laugh thinking of the red candy. I've had similar 'what the?' experiences, just never behind the wheel *knock on fake wood-grain desk*

I'm a Saab nut, they've been most cars I've owned in my ~15 years of vehicle ownership (dang, 15 already?)

The list:
'87 GMC Jimmy S-15 (2-door Blazer) 0-60 took 22 seconds by the time I bought it with 150k on the odo, perfect first car for a teenager
'95 Saab 900SE - learned how to drive a stick on this one, after I bought it :) 28MPG average
'00 Sable/Taurus - wife's car when we got married, only needed 1 car, ditched the Saab 23MPG average
'90 Saab 900SPG - old turtle-back. Commuter car, bad/cold weather only (otherwise biked). Accordingly got horrible gas mileage due to 3 mile commute, engine wasn't warm yet when I arrived at work, 19MPG average (~4k miles in 3 years). Then got new job, 17 miles from home, and I didn't have confidence either this old Saab or my bike could make it that far.
Current
'97 Saab 900SE - 30+MPG when I'm nice, 25MPG when I'm enjoying how it pulls hard to the red line in 3rd on the highway - merging is easy when they're all behind you :) 50:50 City/Hwy, almost all rush-hour.
'06 Yukon XL (Suburban) - new vehicle for the Mrs., and the reason I'm on the forum. This was actually an economical choice for us given family size and needs - we'll drive it with 8 people about ~50% of the miles, including 4-5 Adults, so minivans weren't an option. I joined here to figure out how to tweak it to improve MPG, aside from just the nut behind the wheel. So far 17MPG doing 70 on highway with 5-6people, 15 around town.

hoopty yo's '94 GMC C3500 Crew Cab Dually
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/y...yo/Dually1.jpg

I like it ! in fact i love it.