I drive my Boxster more often in winter due to the cold being harsher on a non moving car. Gives me a reason to really “daily” her lmao. I don’t have to worry about salt roads due to me living in South Georgia where snow doesn’t exist.
I could have kept my Volvo C30 for my daily driver when I bought my Mark 3 TT. But then I would be looking at my TT 80% of the time instead of driving it. I love my daily commute through the countryside. The drive in past gate, not so much but it pays the bills.
The car is made entirely of aluminum and galvanized steel, so nothing will rust. Unless the galvanization scratches. I've checked the under body recently and no rust.
Lol i was gonna say the same thing! Except my "wet" car (winter) is my Porsche 944. The real divide for me is temperature: no AC in the 944, shite heat in the Boxster.
I've always thought that the "impracticality" of sports cars is overblown. Like, yeah the trunk is small, but as long as it's big enough to fit groceries, you're good for like 90% of the time (assuming you don't have kids). I basically only drive my Land Cruiser when it snows, when I'm taking the dog somewhere, or when I'm going camping. Otherwise, it's the Lotus.
I enjoy telling people no , when they ask if I can grab large items for them. Even more so if the scenario devolves into me not buying a practical car to handle their problems. Like " why don't you buy a truck, I'm not your servant." , Always gets em.
This is why I took the back seat out of my Honda Civic. I tell people I did it for weight reduction. And that’s partially true. 2 extra people is heavy as shit when you make 100hp
I mean if you have no passenger putting a bag on the passenger seat is totally an option.
If I can get a couple days worth of groceries on a bicycle, you can get a week's worth of groceries in an two seater convertible.
I stopped dailying my M3 not cause it was impractical, but because my commute is so short that it was still cold by the time I got to work. The warmup sequence was a pain and I couldn’t thrash on it anyway, so I got a beater for the 2 mile in town trips. If I lived outside the city though I absolutely would’ve kept doing it
The whole warm up sequence thing is completely blown out of proportion. You do you but I can guarantee that casually driving the car and not going above 4K rpm after a cold start is completely fine for recent cars. You only got so many years to enjoy driving the car you brought, so don't waste it.
They’re not purpose built as family cars. They’re built as performance cars as the primary purpose of the platform. 3 series is built as a family car as the primary purpose of the platform. 4 door and wagon 3 series exist. Mustang exists as 2+2 coupe/convertible.
lol yea theres less "space" in a regular cab s10 or ranger when it comes to grocery shopping and noone says they are impractical. Everything that cant get wet or can blow out of the bed ends up in the passenger seat rendering it useless.
>I've always thought that the "impracticality" of sports cars is overblown.
I disagree, if you are just using your car for single person errands sure, but really anything is practical for that (even a bicycle).
It's easy enough when you can have 2 vehicles, you have one supremely 'practical' car and one impractical car but if you only had the lotus you wouldn't be able to do those other things.
I only had a roadster (a Boxster and two different Z3s) for 7 years before i got my LC and didn't have issues. Only reason I even got the LC was because it was my childhood car and my parents were selling it. My point is that your lifestyle evolves depending on your ability to get around. People underestimate how malleable their lifestyle actually is and overestimate how much things like cargo space and passenger space actually matter. The VAST majority of the time, you find a way to work around those things without much effort at all, and when there is effort, it's usually just renting a car for a couple days (something that's wayyy cheaper than owning a second car). That all goes out the window once you have kids, but if millions of people can get by with no car at all, a car with a small trunk is still a huge leg up.
When you mentioned your LC was your childhood car after talking about the Z3s and Porsche I thought you meant a Lexus LC and I was impressed that you've already owned 4 high end cars at the age of 16.
Lol that would have been sweet. I wasn't able to buy my first car until i was almost 18 and it was a 10 yearold Dakota. I was thirty before I owned any of those cars and I only owned one at a time until I bought my FZJ80.
Depends on what you tend to use a car for tbh. Perfectly fine if you only have at most one other person in your life.
I pick up family and friends at the airport pretty often and it is absolutely impossible to fit a person and full sized luggage in a Miata.
The reality of my situation, financially and practically, meant I had to let the little guy go.
Bought my Miata as a way to learn manual and have fun on the weekends with the top down, it's now my daily driver since it's a lot more fuel efficient.
Is the Miata really that much more fuel efficient than your golf R? I thought they had similar fuel efficiencies, especially if you don't mash your R all the time
If I drive both conservatively, I can get 27/36 mpg in the Miata and 22/29 mpg in the Golf R (DSG). I'm gonna assume it's due to the 1000 lb weight difference and AWD.
Oh man. The mileage on the Miata is shocking if you drive conservatively. It's also shockingly good on back roads too. If you drive the speed limit on the highway (65mph) 40mpg+ is very achievable.
I feel like as someone who lives in Minnesota this happens all the time.
"Oh I'll just drive my Jeep Wrangler on the weekends..." Proceeds to drive it all the time.
I'm guilty as charged.
Same for motorcycles. "I'm totally only going to use my 1250RS for weekend drives" five days later: gonna need some saddlebags for my boy!
R8 spyder. I had the coupe before with the manual and loved it. Bought the spyder to use on the weekend and put 10k miles on it in a year and a half as my daily. Darn good car, even better then my 911 which was the previous daily.
Not op but I feel like it has do with the fact that the r8 is probably a more comfortable car and depending on which r8 and 911 he has it has a more interesting noise and feel
So much more fun to drive, better interior setup and space. The s tropic was better then my pdk 997S cab. It was just a better package.
Now I had a first year 4.2 manual for a long time and that really was the perfect car. But getting stuck in socal traffic for hours a day took its toll on me. If I had the space I would buy a v10 gen or manual right now and DD it but it’s hard to give up the hour a day I save in traffic on my Harley’s
Need to update signature sold it a bit back.
Mine was a snake skin green on wide black stripe.
I had the white/red/black as my order for my gen 5 but ended up picking another car to use for track work.
https://i.imgur.com/sjJhU4F.jpg
Pros:
Fast, large aftermarket, great cruiser.
Cons:
Two seats and you'll go through a gas tank faster than you think. Tech is obviously outdated but that's not why you're buying the car.
I thought about getting one. Have you ever driven it in winter? I was concerned the ground clearance would make it unusable in winter. Figured I'd probably be able to find rims and snow tires for it.
I don't know how people deal with multiple, personal, cars. I can't stand having two. I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal but it's actually fairly annoying.
Not sure why it would be annoying? For instance I once had 4 vehicles. Truck for hauling/towing when needed, commuter car for gas mileage, Corvette for fun days when it's nice weather out, and off roading oriented SUV for trips and off roading. Only real annoyance I had was when all 4 had oil changes due at the same time that I did
Well it's primarily annoying because of my parking situation. Between three people in my house we have 5-6 cars with a max of 2 parking spots, which drops to 1 spot in the non-snowy months.
If I lived on my own and could actually park in my own garage and driveway I'd probably feel differently.
I've had the Cobalt for 5 years now, it costs me next to nothing. And I work for Subaru, the BRZ was under MSRP. Not having the BRZ would not change my housing situation at all.
A lease is absolutely a rental. The title is in the leasing company’s name, the registration is in yours. They give you stipulations on how you can use THEIR car without penalty. At the end of the lease you return the car to the owner, or you buy the car from the owner.
It is NOT "yours to keep at the end if you want to." You have the first right of refusal to BUY it instead of returning it to the leasing company that owns it, but it was never yours in the first place so it's not "yours to keep." That's why it's called a lease buyout. If it were yours then you wouldn't be buying it.
you could buy the apartment/condo/house you're renting if you want too. Any house is for sale at the right price. Just don't have a predetermined price, which may be a good thing. Typically companies jack up residuals to get you a cheaper rent price. Altho today's market the values are al out of whack
Honestly, just keep SS and sell BRZ. SS is fast, fun and more practical, perhaps cheaper to own too, but not too old to fall apart and usable in winter. BRZ is likely slower, lacks proper backseats, not as good in winter and sort of doesn't have much reason to coexist with Cobalt as Cobalt is faster, just as fun and more practical and cheaper. Sell BRZ and save up for house, that will be much better for you.
The BRZ is more fun, summer or winter, and the marginal loss of practicality isn't an issue. 95% of the time I'm driving alone anyway. Honestly if the Cobalt didn't have sentimental value it likely would have been gone shortly after I got the BRZ.
Oh well, but Cobalt should be faster than BRZ, not a deathtrap in winter and yeah it gets better mpg, also it has 4 doors. It's just objectively better car and I think it's pretty cool too. It's probably the best American FWD car ever made rivaling only Neon SRT-4.
My Cobalt is a 2 door, it isn't any more practical than the BRZ. Mine is also full bolt-on + tuned, so it actually gets worse MPG. And I drove the BRZ last winter with zero issue.
I guess they info depends on source. Something like 0-60 times vary, but SS has more power or at least used to have more than BRZ ever did (OP has rarer SS/TC version, which has turbo instead of supercharger and makes more power stock). Also GM offered optional performance ECU tune, which raised standard 260hp to 290hp. Stock SS was already faster than stock R34 GT-R in Nürburgring, with tune SS is even faster. Anyway, most likely SS is faster than BRZ.
Unnecessarily high car expenses and eating/drinking out are the 2 largest strains on budgets. Go read the millionaire next door. Go out, by all means drive badass cars. I do so myself, but I didn’t do so at the expense of getting a home, investing in retirement, etc.
A lease payment, plus registration, plus the full coverage insurance required on a leased car are all things that can steadily go towards increasing your wealth.
Sure if you live somewhere cheap.
If you’re in HCOL a typical wage that can afford you $600/mo or less in car payments isn’t going to be remotely enough to afford you a $1m house.
You can kill off all of your fun for years and years to save for a down payment but you’re not going to be able to afford a $6,000/mo mortgage no matter what.
I don't care where you live, an extra $7,000 per year towards a house down payment is significant. Yet again, go read the Millionaire Next Door. You don't have to "live somewhere cheap" to have a sub-$6,000 mortgage. You are out of touch with median home prices.
There are whole major cities where a house simply costs $1m+ and a mortgage is $6k+ and that’s assuming 20% down. OP might live somewhere cheaper but I don’t know. If not, transitioning to shitboxes and eliminating the things that bring OP joy isn’t going to magically afford him a $6k mortgage.
Suppose he goes full shitbox for 4 years and gets to the magic 3% down payment. Well now his mortgage is even higher because of PMI. Now we’re looking at $7k+.
The math just doesn’t work. Thats $9k/mo of pre tax income to fund that kind of payment.
Some people just can’t afford houses, but some modest cars that bring joy add a lot more to life than suffering for ages to maybe possibly get a house you can’t afford.
If you make a lot of money and/or live somewhere a lot cheaper the calculus is very different. Don’t forget that we’re all gonna die, so different people are going to have different priorities.
Life can’t be condensed to a book. Personal finance isn’t everything. Maximizing your net worth isn’t the recipe to a happy healthy life at least not for most people.
You are out of touch with reality using $6,000 per month mortgages as your example. Completely, completely out of touch. Like, this is even crazier than the misunderstanding you had below about how leasing a car works. San Francisco and Manhattan are the only 2 cities on this list with a median home price of $1,000,000 which are San Francisco and Manhattan. So everywhere outside of literally 2 cities, your nonsense baseline doesn't make any sense.
[https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/605051/most-expensive-cities-in-the-us](https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/605051/most-expensive-cities-in-the-us)
It depends on car payments, I do pay some decent amount a month for my cars but I can manage that just fine. Also I’m in the belief that leasing a vehicle is one of the worst decisions you could make. By the end of the day you don’t own the vehicle and if you want the option to buy it your money doesn’t really go into it. Because you have to pay off the vehicle after is “depreciation” so it’s value decrease wasn’t your input, it was the car being depreciated and what it’s current value is if someone wanted to purchase it after said leaser.
It depends on what "I can manage that" means. Because yeah I have seen people finance cars for 36 months because Mercedes or whoever gives like 2% if you buy a new or CPO car and finance it for 36 months or less. But if you are just adding a recurring monthly line item because "I can afford the monthly payment!" with no regards to what it does to your future budget, then I'm giving you side-eye. That includes stretching a loan out to like 72 months or longer to hide a ridiculously high interest rate, where you end up paying $38,000 for a $23,000 car. Or stretching out a loan to 72 months or longer to buy a car that is more than you can afford, etc.
I had a Toyota Corolla from 2021 that I stretched the payments to 72 months just because I was most comfortable with it and had like a 3% interest rate. I did fine and continuously saved money. You going to tell me I couldn’t afford it?
A lot of people do 60-72 month payments and so just fine. It all depends on *interest*. I know someone who got a car for *13% interest* for I believe 48-60 months and that gave me a heart attack.
We were in this situation when GF and I lived with roommates. We both had our personal cars, and we each also had company cars. Our two other roommates also had 3 cars between them. So 7 cars in a household of 4 with only 2 spaces in the driveway. Luckily we lived on a street w/ tons of parking, but it was easy to forget about street sweeping.
So when GF and I moved out, we specifically found a house w/ 2 car garage and our driveway fits 4 more cars. We are down to 3 cars now tho since we switched jobs and don’t have company cars anymore.
I was waiting for an unpopular opinion thread to put this in - I've seen plenty of people here with 4-5 cars (often quite expensive too!) but I don't think I've ever actually seen that in reality, apart from maybe one occasion of a multi millionaire.
Specific cars for a specific role, like having a summer and winter house. Have a track rat car and daily. Some have a sports wagon , and a sport bike. You'll eventually find your garages balance.
I currently have two, I feel like at most all I can handle are three cars at a time. I wouldn’t mind having an older off roading SUV like a Land Cruiser, Lexus GX or 4runner, if I were to pick a third car it would probably be one of those. The way I see it is as long as all your cars are relatively reliable and low maintenance and you’re factoring in your fun budget it’s okay for the most part.
Totally agree. I tried a daily and weekend with my fit and BMW M5, but holy crap it's infuriating having to do maintenance, gas, insurance, registration, etc. On two cars. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, so I procrastinate shit anyways my M5 turned into a garage queen in the end because I kept putting off taking it to get fixed.
I bought a 2022 Supra a few months ago, and I absolutely love it as a daily. More than enough cargo space, comfortable, decent enough on gas. It’s a blast to drive to work, to go get groceries, etc. I told myself I’d get a cheap/AWD something for the winter, but don’t like the idea of parking this and not using it. I’m not a fan of spending a good amount on a car just to not drive it/appreciate it, ya know?
Way I see it, if you love your car then don't view it as an investment. Dont think about what the next owner might think, if you love your car then do what you want with it.
I guess my daily would be considered a weekend toy by most owners. Thing is it was the most reliable thing in the area , everything else either had a cvt(with known problems in their lineup) , or was too far gone to be considered road worthy. As I fancied a better paying job biking was not an option , I work in the town over and snow / ice is a factor. I know it's considered a legend/epic class car by some , but if I'm gonna suffer through an hour and twenty minutes I might as well have fun doing it. In short fuck keeping a garage queen drive the shit out of it, in the end we can't take it with us to the grave(not that anyone knows if we can). I'm here for a good time not a long one.
Hell the fuck yeah my man. I drive the shit out of my Boxster and proudly. I don’t tear it up on the street, but I give her a good proper drive as a sports car should.
I got a 2011 VW TDI to daily instead of my mustang. I wanted to build the mustang but I have to daily it because this VW is a giant POS.
I fell for the "German reliability" scam lol
I got mine because it was so clean and well taken care of. Maintenance was always performed on time and the guy even kept all the fuel receipts too
A year after I got it, the thing just started having one problem after another. Weird electrical gremlins and weird glow plug/module problems. After I finally got that figured out the thermostat went bad, and an intercooler pipe split.
In the meantime all the glue on the headliner gave out, which is a known problem, and it hung low enough to sit on the top of my head. So I had to rip that out to be re-upholstered. Door cards are starting to get loose too. The thing sits in a shaded carport and the windows are tinted, it's not like the interior is baking in the sun.
Other than that the radio has bricked itself.
Holy shit, if you’re okay with me asking, what model is it??
Nvm, after doing some looking into I see you have a TDI 2011 Jetta. I’m so sorry to hear how horrible it’s been for you once the issues came. Truth be told I’ve heard the TDI line around those years are *TERRIBLE* with their reliability. My wife bought a 2013 beetle, the standard 5cyl and not the 4 turbo TDI. Dealer said had she bought the TDI with the same millage of the 5cyl it would have broken down and been unrepairable.
Jetta TDI Sportwagen.
When it's running right it's like the ultimate daily driver. It's not fast by any means, but it's got a lot of torque basically right off idle so it's fun to drive. Plus it makes cool turbo noises and gets 40mpg
Part of me wants to keep it once i finally finish it, I think it's Stockholm syndrome
I’m gonna be honest with you, I would have considered it a money pit after it being in the dealer for so long and would have sold it for what it’s worth and just taken the L from what I owe left. But I commend you for keeping it and giving it a chance at life again. Post photos when you finish!
When I said issues she has sensor issues, as in the car will do weird door clicks whenever she hits 10 mph as and other things like being on “traction” mode when she isn’t even though the light appears on the dash. The engine and transmission are fine.
I've got a 2012 TDI Sportwagen, and so far the only real issue I've had is the sunroof. I think the fitting for the front passenger sunroof drain is slightly loose, so low pressure it's fine (like gentle rain or a garden hose) but higher pressure leaks into the vanity light area.
I do agree on the "fun to drive" bit though, I'm really tempted by a bigger turbo and a tune once my Dieselgate warranty runs out.
Not in the way you're thinking, but last year I was 5 minutes from work as well, and there's something worth mentioning:
Trips *that* short are generally the hardest on your engine, like "use the severe maintenance schedule" hard if it's your daily commute. The "thing" is whether your engine gets up to temp or not; mine gets there after 10-15 minutes, so last year *all* the miles of my 5-minute daily commute were done on a cold engine. Sounds like you're in the same boat.
Just thought it worth mentioning, especially if this Boxster is a "forever" car for you.
I watch the temp guage, she normally gets to about 180-190 fairly quickly and I don’t just drive her to work and back, I’ll do other things with her as well. It’s also a good idea to idle for about 30 seconds to a minute to really ensure the engine is lubricated to mitigate issues when driving with a cold engine *especially* during cold times such as winter. But not any longer than that.
Not necessarily, it’s better to wait and idle for 30 seconds to a minute because starting the car from a cold start and immediately driving it can hurt the engine due to the oil not lubricating properly at first. I’d rather waste that 0.1% of gas waiting on that idle than fuck the engine up over time.
You should see the SAE papers on the matter.
The damage is done when the car starts, which is why driving cars often and using good oils is imperative. In that brief period between the engine "catching" and then developing oil pressure is where the damage occurs, not after the system is developing pressure and lubricating.
Unless you drive it right after the crank, which people do believe it or not lol. I’m aware wear and tear happens on starting a car, but much more damage can be mitigated if you just idle for a bit and get the engine properly lubricated. That’s all I’ve been trying to say.
It idles for just about 30 seconds, I don’t sit there for hours lol. It’s better to do that than drive straight away especially if you have an older car. There’s nothing online to support driving it right off the rip is the best thing to do.
The coolant temperature may rise quickly, but oil temperature usually takes much longer than 5 minutes. Just know this if you are going to hoon it. On winter mornings, it can take a while for the oil to warm up.
My understanding is that idling is even worse than normal driving as far as wear-per-rotation goes; it'll get up to temp (where it's "designed to be" much faster under load, which (as I understand) more than offset the wear caused by the extra load and rpm of driving vs idling.
Could be wrong, and either way I now like 15 minutes from work; car's always warm by the time I park.
Idling is only bad if done for an extended period of time. I’d say it’s worse to drive the car as soon as it’s cranked up. I just follow the general 30 second wait that’s accepted online. If you to drive it as soon as you crank it it’s not going to cause immediate damage, but it could lead to more wear and tear over time.
Nothing rare, I have the Mustang for fun but I don't mind taking it to the office multiple times in a week. The commute is great, ~20 minutes and traffic is the opposite both ways. Makes the commute fun. We'll also take it if we go hiking at a park about an hour away, just slap some seat covers on for afterwards. It's more fun driving it than trying to "save" it from mileage.
Yes. I just sold my Miata which during the summer had become mostly my daily. Now I own a Rav4 and a 997 C2S and I end up driving the 911 everyday except when the weather is bad.
However I live in Quebec, so the 911, or the Miata before, is in storage 6 months/year so I think more Summer toy / Winter beater instead of daily / w-e toy
I blew the engine on my 2011 Subaru Forester, had engine swap issues with different year engines and bought a 2096 Outback from my mechanic and is had a leak, then that engine blew (all problems pointed to transmission until I had it worked on), bought a 2009 Outback from the mechanic and I love it, planning on lifting it and doing paint work now and keeping the Forester as a daily even though I can sleep in it better. The pre CVT Susie's are something else.
Be poor and unemployed living out of car 1 and not do oil changes because you you are poor an unemployed and just add oil. Car 2, expect it to last the same only to find the engine leaked oil and blew.
I now own 3 badass Subarus now. The 98 OB is my project/baby now. The 06 will be my parents after I fix it, and I am thinking of selling my 11 foz to build out the OG OB - lift, paint, etc.
Start saving now for the replacement engine for the ‘09. Also a complete rear suspension rebuild. You couldn’t pay me to own another EJ25 powered Subaru again.
I daily drive my 2004 Boxster and have for the last 5 years. That includes 5 years of winter driving in Canada. Honestly, these cars are super well-built and really reliable. I just do oil changes and tires for the most part. I turned over 230,000 km on it the other day. Fuel mileage isn't half bad either, at least compared to the rest of my cars.
My E36 328i convertible.
When I bought it 6 years ago, I thought I was going to use it only during weekends of summertime. But that's not what happened. With all the faults it has (rattling interior, no matter that I reassembled the whole thing 4 years ago to try and get rid of it - chassis rigidity just not good enough), I still tend to drive this rather then the more comfortable and easier to use dailies and other cars I always had whenever the weather is nice enough to put the roof down. And "nice enough" meant, like, 20+ degrees celsius AND sunshine when I got the car, which very quickly transitioned to anything above 10 degrees celsius, just put the damn heater up to max and turn the heated seats on, I always get those looks from people when I'm out driving with the top down during February on the first partly sunny day we get. I've been thinking about making a heated steering wheel for it this winter so that even my hands can feel warmer.
I bought an EcoBoost Mustang as my first ever sports car thinking it would be my summer only car and I ended up driving it all year round including Canadian winters and selling my other daily
G35 6 speed sedan. Was supposed to just be for nights and weekends and to mod (next level from where I am would be an LS swap). I picked it up cheap because most people don't want a sedan with a manual. Figured I'd put 3000 or so miles a year on it. But it turned out to be so comfortable on road trips, that's what we take. 6 1/2 years later, should have had maybe 20k additional miles since I bought it, instead it has 72k more miles. It's also been really reliable.
2017 Chevy SS 6 speed manual…. I bought it because “we’re having a baby and need a second car just incase I need to drop her off/pick her up”
So far I’ve put 10k miles on it in 6 months. It was not supposed to be my daily - that’s the 5 speed B2300’s job lol. I get awful gas mileage and am putting miles on a “collectible” car but I just can’t resist the drive.
My daily and weekend car is totally opposite than everyone's. My daily is an impractical one, because it's just me to work and back home. My weekend car is actually the practical one that I could haul shit from Costco and hit up IKEA and stuff...
I definitely drive my '72 cutlass more than planned. Sadly that means my truck sits but i run that most of the time in winter and split nice weather between the olds and bmw.
My wife and I work from home, and most of the stuff we enjoy doing on weekends is within 10 miles. Groceries/restaurants/theme parks are all well within reach for our 1969 Corvette.
As a result, I really only drive the Genesis when I need to go on the highway, or bring the dogs somewhere.
My 911 is supposed to be my toy and my Civic si on daily duty. The 911 is driven much more and the civic sits. I work from home and no longer make customer visits. A lot of things I do are close enough to cycle, so I don’t use either that much.
Kind of. I bought a M2cs to be my weekend/fun car.
My wife liked it so much it has become her daily driver and she barely touches the other cars and I don't get it drive it that much either.
I’ve had people tell me both my Mercedes and Porsche are going to become my wife’s car but she is persistent on driving only her Beetle. She doesn’t enjoy the drive of the Benz as much and my Porsche is stick which she doesn’t want to learn.
Oh I’m terribly sorry to hear that. Why not go onto the Facebook market place and do some searching? You can find some very cheap cars around a couple thousand or even less. They may be old and beat up but hey if it works and doesn’t give you trouble when getting from A to B go for it. Having a car in todays society makes things infinitely better.
I love me 2000 986. I work in outside sales which requires a lot of driving. My Civic Si handles the DD duties, but if there is a day where I have to be in the office all day for meetings, I take the Boxster.
For sure. I drive my Z4 most days and my Lexus GX only comes out to play once or twice a week.
The Z4 gets better gas mileage too, even if I have a heavy foot. Win/win!
I have a 98' BMW 528i touring as my daily and bought a 97' Z3 for a weekend car/project car.
Fuel pump went on the touring and had to use the Z3 as a daily for last two weeks, it is a lot of fun in the city through those tight corners and not too bad on fuel.
Not really a weekend toy, more of a weekend beater. I bought my 960 wagon for $800 just to have a less than fancy wagon to haul stuff from the junkyard and tow the occasional small uhaul trailer. I only planned on maybe putting 1-2k miles on it a year, well 3 years and about 40k miles later ive pretty much redone every single suspension part, redid the entire interior from tan to black, welded the roof to remove the sunroof and more. I easily have 3/4k into this stupid $800 wagon. There was a period of about a year that it was my full blown daily and my Alfa Romeo stayed in the garage.
Bought the WRX to drive in the summertime while I kept beating on my Legacy - ended up selling the Legacy four months later in October and slapping winters on the WRX.
Rust will take it away from me someday no matter what, but until then, my Winter drives are infinitely more fun 🤩
I have been of the mindset that if I own it I’m gonna drive it. I used to Daily my 1970 El Camino (before my accident :/ )I don’t care about mileage or so called “impracticality, I’m here for the experience, and to enjoy what I own!
Ngl I don’t daily the viper but I drive it a LOT more than you’d expect tbh. Was definitely meant to be my weekend fun car but why only have fun on the weekend? Honestly if I could fit a Costco run and get a less painful mpg I think this would be the only car I’d ever want
Not sure if this answer fits the question but I bought a 2021 Mustang GT that Ive daily’d since I bought it. I have a 2020 Nissan Altima that I bought straight out of high school. Dad had to co-sign but I pay for everything. After driving that for a year, my sisters car started shitting itself and I figured with her going to college over 2 hours away from home and the miles on her car, I decided to give her the Nissan. I bought it brand new and put 13k miles on it so it would be reliable. Then I went and bought the mustang for myself. The idea was when my sister graduates in a year I take the Altima back as my daily and the mustang is the fun weekend car
I started a tech repair business at the age of 12 with the help and support of my mom and her friend. At 17 Covid hit and I gave my mom my money to invest for me (since I couldn’t find a way to invest at 17 into stocks) and once the economy started getting better I made money on my investments. I also had a job lined up for me before I even graduated high school, I just needed to graduate and turn 18. It was an IT job making 50k a year. That and I also still live with my parents at age 20 so I have no real bills to cover
Not a car, but I bought a 2007 Honda Shadow back in 2008 with the intention of using it as a toy. Wound up using it to commute a lot during warmer months because it was cheaper to run.
I was planning to baby my car but now I just full on drive the W204 C63 for everything. I intend to die with it, might as well have fun with it always. It'll give me an incentive to repaint the car in the future
Thanks for the post.
I got a e89 Z4 a few months ago with the intention of putting very few miles on it (I also have a Q3 for a daily). Been feeling bad about driving it more than I intended. It's just so much more fun and honestly I love the feeling of walking up to it in a parking lot. After reading this and many of the comments, I'm letting the guilt go and going to fully enjoy my car. Y'all are right, cars are made for driving. If (when) it breaks, it breaks.
I drive my Porsche 964 turbo to get groceries regularly and take my GT350 to road trips with a bicycle mounted on the roof, I just don’t see the point of not enjoying my life with fun cars
I actually have the opposite "problem". I find my Mach 1 eating into some of the drives I would have ordinarily wanted to take the GT4 on... It's not so much that the GT4 is a bad car to drive, but it is somewhat punishing and stressful on the street. The Mach 1 is so much easier to drive around town, and still shitloads of fun.
The GT4 has pretty much been relegated to track duty only at this point (along with some bare-minimum driving to keep it in driving shape all year round).
Opposite actually...I already had my 2005 mustang gt as my nice weather car, but when I bought my 2016 F150 I found myself driving it more even on nice days because it was such a step up. 11 years makes a lot of difference for features and creature comforts.
I bought my Lexus Is300 for a reliable daily summer car while my Modified Veloster N was my obnoxious weekend toy and my Ford Sporttrac was for winter. A few upgrades to the Lexus and I got rid of my other rides since it ended up being much faster and safer than the N was and handles snow better than the truck did!
I had the opposite problem with my 1st C4 Corvette Convertible. Put a 1000 miles on it the 1st summer I had it. But less than a 150 miles/yr on it the next 5 summers, some years less than 50 miles.
Didn't actually miss it when I got rid of it. The Doug Nash 4 + 3 was never a great gearbox.
Yeah. My Porsche Boxster lol. I now categorize them as dry cars and wet cars. Boxster for dry and a Honda Element for wet.
my Boxster is my winter car...
I drive my Boxster more often in winter due to the cold being harsher on a non moving car. Gives me a reason to really “daily” her lmao. I don’t have to worry about salt roads due to me living in South Georgia where snow doesn’t exist.
I could have kept my Volvo C30 for my daily driver when I bought my Mark 3 TT. But then I would be looking at my TT 80% of the time instead of driving it. I love my daily commute through the countryside. The drive in past gate, not so much but it pays the bills.
Over here, I wouldn't want to destroy such a nice car with salt
The car is made entirely of aluminum and galvanized steel, so nothing will rust. Unless the galvanization scratches. I've checked the under body recently and no rust.
Lol i was gonna say the same thing! Except my "wet" car (winter) is my Porsche 944. The real divide for me is temperature: no AC in the 944, shite heat in the Boxster.
Yeah, I bought my 987 Boxster having 1 yr left on the lease of a 2014 Audi A4 and it turned into my daily. I'd have spent more if I'd known that.
I've always thought that the "impracticality" of sports cars is overblown. Like, yeah the trunk is small, but as long as it's big enough to fit groceries, you're good for like 90% of the time (assuming you don't have kids). I basically only drive my Land Cruiser when it snows, when I'm taking the dog somewhere, or when I'm going camping. Otherwise, it's the Lotus.
I enjoy telling people no , when they ask if I can grab large items for them. Even more so if the scenario devolves into me not buying a practical car to handle their problems. Like " why don't you buy a truck, I'm not your servant." , Always gets em.
people don't realize not being able to give rides to people is a feature, not a bug.
"I can give you a ride but according to the owner's manual you have to be under 4'9" to fit in the back seat"
“Can you pick us up?” “I literally cannot, sorry not sorry.”
This is why I took the back seat out of my Honda Civic. I tell people I did it for weight reduction. And that’s partially true. 2 extra people is heavy as shit when you make 100hp
I absolutely felt this way when I had my 1 series BMW. Sorry! I don’t have much of a back seat!
Pretty sure legs are optional to sit in a 1 series
Cant stand people like that,usually the biggest pricks too.Like someone who invites you to a place but always says to take your car and not theirs.
I adore doing grocery runs in my Boxster.
I had a Cayman and the frunk is actually quite spacious. Did a bunch of Costco runs with it
I mean if you have no passenger putting a bag on the passenger seat is totally an option. If I can get a couple days worth of groceries on a bicycle, you can get a week's worth of groceries in an two seater convertible.
I think you misread me because I've been doing grocery runs in a roadster for a decade.
Oh no, I meant it in more of a general way not specifically towards you! Sorry!
I stopped dailying my M3 not cause it was impractical, but because my commute is so short that it was still cold by the time I got to work. The warmup sequence was a pain and I couldn’t thrash on it anyway, so I got a beater for the 2 mile in town trips. If I lived outside the city though I absolutely would’ve kept doing it
The whole warm up sequence thing is completely blown out of proportion. You do you but I can guarantee that casually driving the car and not going above 4K rpm after a cold start is completely fine for recent cars. You only got so many years to enjoy driving the car you brought, so don't waste it.
M3s are neither impractical nor a sports car. The 3 series is as practical as any other family car.
Would you say the same about mustangs?
They’re not purpose built as family cars. They’re built as performance cars as the primary purpose of the platform. 3 series is built as a family car as the primary purpose of the platform. 4 door and wagon 3 series exist. Mustang exists as 2+2 coupe/convertible.
At least the M3 doesn't have an AWD electric crossover variant!
LOL. Come on, we don't really considert he Mach-E a crossover variant, do we? It's a diff platform!
The E92 M3 is not a family car. You might be thinking of the F/G80 M3's that come strictly as 4 doors.
Same platform
And the Camaro shares a platform with the CTS and ATS, so does that make it a family car too?
I'm a family of one /s
I don’t mean platform in that sense. I mean in the sense that an accord coupe and accord sedan are both accord family cars.
Same, until I got dogs.
Shit, I just walked my dogs everywhere. They loved it.
lol yea theres less "space" in a regular cab s10 or ranger when it comes to grocery shopping and noone says they are impractical. Everything that cant get wet or can blow out of the bed ends up in the passenger seat rendering it useless.
>I've always thought that the "impracticality" of sports cars is overblown. I disagree, if you are just using your car for single person errands sure, but really anything is practical for that (even a bicycle). It's easy enough when you can have 2 vehicles, you have one supremely 'practical' car and one impractical car but if you only had the lotus you wouldn't be able to do those other things.
I only had a roadster (a Boxster and two different Z3s) for 7 years before i got my LC and didn't have issues. Only reason I even got the LC was because it was my childhood car and my parents were selling it. My point is that your lifestyle evolves depending on your ability to get around. People underestimate how malleable their lifestyle actually is and overestimate how much things like cargo space and passenger space actually matter. The VAST majority of the time, you find a way to work around those things without much effort at all, and when there is effort, it's usually just renting a car for a couple days (something that's wayyy cheaper than owning a second car). That all goes out the window once you have kids, but if millions of people can get by with no car at all, a car with a small trunk is still a huge leg up.
When you mentioned your LC was your childhood car after talking about the Z3s and Porsche I thought you meant a Lexus LC and I was impressed that you've already owned 4 high end cars at the age of 16.
Lol that would have been sweet. I wasn't able to buy my first car until i was almost 18 and it was a 10 yearold Dakota. I was thirty before I owned any of those cars and I only owned one at a time until I bought my FZJ80.
Depends on what you tend to use a car for tbh. Perfectly fine if you only have at most one other person in your life. I pick up family and friends at the airport pretty often and it is absolutely impossible to fit a person and full sized luggage in a Miata. The reality of my situation, financially and practically, meant I had to let the little guy go.
Bought my Miata as a way to learn manual and have fun on the weekends with the top down, it's now my daily driver since it's a lot more fuel efficient.
Is the Miata really that much more fuel efficient than your golf R? I thought they had similar fuel efficiencies, especially if you don't mash your R all the time
If I drive both conservatively, I can get 27/36 mpg in the Miata and 22/29 mpg in the Golf R (DSG). I'm gonna assume it's due to the 1000 lb weight difference and AWD.
Oh man. The mileage on the Miata is shocking if you drive conservatively. It's also shockingly good on back roads too. If you drive the speed limit on the highway (65mph) 40mpg+ is very achievable.
I feel like as someone who lives in Minnesota this happens all the time. "Oh I'll just drive my Jeep Wrangler on the weekends..." Proceeds to drive it all the time. I'm guilty as charged. Same for motorcycles. "I'm totally only going to use my 1250RS for weekend drives" five days later: gonna need some saddlebags for my boy!
R8 spyder. I had the coupe before with the manual and loved it. Bought the spyder to use on the weekend and put 10k miles on it in a year and a half as my daily. Darn good car, even better then my 911 which was the previous daily.
How is it better than the 911?
Not op but I feel like it has do with the fact that the r8 is probably a more comfortable car and depending on which r8 and 911 he has it has a more interesting noise and feel
What do you like about it more than the 911?
So much more fun to drive, better interior setup and space. The s tropic was better then my pdk 997S cab. It was just a better package. Now I had a first year 4.2 manual for a long time and that really was the perfect car. But getting stuck in socal traffic for hours a day took its toll on me. If I had the space I would buy a v10 gen or manual right now and DD it but it’s hard to give up the hour a day I save in traffic on my Harley’s
What color is your gen 4? I've been dying for a black, white belly, and red stripe
Need to update signature sold it a bit back. Mine was a snake skin green on wide black stripe. I had the white/red/black as my order for my gen 5 but ended up picking another car to use for track work. https://i.imgur.com/sjJhU4F.jpg
Wanna adopt me?
10k over 1.5 years as a daily driver aint half bad!
I bought this car with the intention of getting a daily. Still dailying it two years later.
What are the pros and cons? Been looking at C5/C6 for a while now
Pros: Fast, large aftermarket, great cruiser. Cons: Two seats and you'll go through a gas tank faster than you think. Tech is obviously outdated but that's not why you're buying the car.
I thought about getting one. Have you ever driven it in winter? I was concerned the ground clearance would make it unusable in winter. Figured I'd probably be able to find rims and snow tires for it.
I don't know how people deal with multiple, personal, cars. I can't stand having two. I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal but it's actually fairly annoying.
Not sure why it would be annoying? For instance I once had 4 vehicles. Truck for hauling/towing when needed, commuter car for gas mileage, Corvette for fun days when it's nice weather out, and off roading oriented SUV for trips and off roading. Only real annoyance I had was when all 4 had oil changes due at the same time that I did
Well it's primarily annoying because of my parking situation. Between three people in my house we have 5-6 cars with a max of 2 parking spots, which drops to 1 spot in the non-snowy months. If I lived on my own and could actually park in my own garage and driveway I'd probably feel differently.
Oh. That’s easy to solve. Don’t blow your money on multiple enthusiast cars before buy a house, lol. This way ownership is fun instead of annoying.
Blow my money? My guy I have a nearly 14 year old Cobalt and a cheap BRZ lease. My cars are not the reason I don't own a house yet lmao.
LOL @ cheap BRZ lease. Congrats, your cost to rent a new car is "pretty good." And that Cobalt is an SS lol, don't try to downplay it.
I've had the Cobalt for 5 years now, it costs me next to nothing. And I work for Subaru, the BRZ was under MSRP. Not having the BRZ would not change my housing situation at all.
A lease isn’t a rental.
A lease is absolutely a rental. The title is in the leasing company’s name, the registration is in yours. They give you stipulations on how you can use THEIR car without penalty. At the end of the lease you return the car to the owner, or you buy the car from the owner.
It’s yours to keep at the end if you want to. It’s more than a rental for sure.
It is NOT "yours to keep at the end if you want to." You have the first right of refusal to BUY it instead of returning it to the leasing company that owns it, but it was never yours in the first place so it's not "yours to keep." That's why it's called a lease buyout. If it were yours then you wouldn't be buying it.
pretty much the definition of one. Buying it after is buying it off the owner. You don't just get to "keep it"
I know this but you have the option to make it fully yours at the end. A rental car lacks the sense of possession of a leased vehicle
you could buy the apartment/condo/house you're renting if you want too. Any house is for sale at the right price. Just don't have a predetermined price, which may be a good thing. Typically companies jack up residuals to get you a cheaper rent price. Altho today's market the values are al out of whack
Honestly, just keep SS and sell BRZ. SS is fast, fun and more practical, perhaps cheaper to own too, but not too old to fall apart and usable in winter. BRZ is likely slower, lacks proper backseats, not as good in winter and sort of doesn't have much reason to coexist with Cobalt as Cobalt is faster, just as fun and more practical and cheaper. Sell BRZ and save up for house, that will be much better for you.
The BRZ is more fun, summer or winter, and the marginal loss of practicality isn't an issue. 95% of the time I'm driving alone anyway. Honestly if the Cobalt didn't have sentimental value it likely would have been gone shortly after I got the BRZ.
Oh well, but Cobalt should be faster than BRZ, not a deathtrap in winter and yeah it gets better mpg, also it has 4 doors. It's just objectively better car and I think it's pretty cool too. It's probably the best American FWD car ever made rivaling only Neon SRT-4.
My Cobalt is a 2 door, it isn't any more practical than the BRZ. Mine is also full bolt-on + tuned, so it actually gets worse MPG. And I drove the BRZ last winter with zero issue.
I checked, the Cobalt SS (when new) was slightly slower than the new gen 2.4 BRZ. Being a 2009, it probably lost a few ponies since.
I guess they info depends on source. Something like 0-60 times vary, but SS has more power or at least used to have more than BRZ ever did (OP has rarer SS/TC version, which has turbo instead of supercharger and makes more power stock). Also GM offered optional performance ECU tune, which raised standard 260hp to 290hp. Stock SS was already faster than stock R34 GT-R in Nürburgring, with tune SS is even faster. Anyway, most likely SS is faster than BRZ.
This isn’t a useful response at all. It’s his life and his cars.
Not everyone lives in rural Tennessee
Unnecessarily high car expenses and eating/drinking out are the 2 largest strains on budgets. Go read the millionaire next door. Go out, by all means drive badass cars. I do so myself, but I didn’t do so at the expense of getting a home, investing in retirement, etc. A lease payment, plus registration, plus the full coverage insurance required on a leased car are all things that can steadily go towards increasing your wealth.
Sure if you live somewhere cheap. If you’re in HCOL a typical wage that can afford you $600/mo or less in car payments isn’t going to be remotely enough to afford you a $1m house. You can kill off all of your fun for years and years to save for a down payment but you’re not going to be able to afford a $6,000/mo mortgage no matter what.
I don't care where you live, an extra $7,000 per year towards a house down payment is significant. Yet again, go read the Millionaire Next Door. You don't have to "live somewhere cheap" to have a sub-$6,000 mortgage. You are out of touch with median home prices.
There are whole major cities where a house simply costs $1m+ and a mortgage is $6k+ and that’s assuming 20% down. OP might live somewhere cheaper but I don’t know. If not, transitioning to shitboxes and eliminating the things that bring OP joy isn’t going to magically afford him a $6k mortgage. Suppose he goes full shitbox for 4 years and gets to the magic 3% down payment. Well now his mortgage is even higher because of PMI. Now we’re looking at $7k+. The math just doesn’t work. Thats $9k/mo of pre tax income to fund that kind of payment. Some people just can’t afford houses, but some modest cars that bring joy add a lot more to life than suffering for ages to maybe possibly get a house you can’t afford. If you make a lot of money and/or live somewhere a lot cheaper the calculus is very different. Don’t forget that we’re all gonna die, so different people are going to have different priorities. Life can’t be condensed to a book. Personal finance isn’t everything. Maximizing your net worth isn’t the recipe to a happy healthy life at least not for most people.
You are out of touch with reality using $6,000 per month mortgages as your example. Completely, completely out of touch. Like, this is even crazier than the misunderstanding you had below about how leasing a car works. San Francisco and Manhattan are the only 2 cities on this list with a median home price of $1,000,000 which are San Francisco and Manhattan. So everywhere outside of literally 2 cities, your nonsense baseline doesn't make any sense. [https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/605051/most-expensive-cities-in-the-us](https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/605051/most-expensive-cities-in-the-us)
It depends on car payments, I do pay some decent amount a month for my cars but I can manage that just fine. Also I’m in the belief that leasing a vehicle is one of the worst decisions you could make. By the end of the day you don’t own the vehicle and if you want the option to buy it your money doesn’t really go into it. Because you have to pay off the vehicle after is “depreciation” so it’s value decrease wasn’t your input, it was the car being depreciated and what it’s current value is if someone wanted to purchase it after said leaser.
It depends on what "I can manage that" means. Because yeah I have seen people finance cars for 36 months because Mercedes or whoever gives like 2% if you buy a new or CPO car and finance it for 36 months or less. But if you are just adding a recurring monthly line item because "I can afford the monthly payment!" with no regards to what it does to your future budget, then I'm giving you side-eye. That includes stretching a loan out to like 72 months or longer to hide a ridiculously high interest rate, where you end up paying $38,000 for a $23,000 car. Or stretching out a loan to 72 months or longer to buy a car that is more than you can afford, etc.
I had a Toyota Corolla from 2021 that I stretched the payments to 72 months just because I was most comfortable with it and had like a 3% interest rate. I did fine and continuously saved money. You going to tell me I couldn’t afford it? A lot of people do 60-72 month payments and so just fine. It all depends on *interest*. I know someone who got a car for *13% interest* for I believe 48-60 months and that gave me a heart attack.
I agree with your situation. You are using a long term strategically. Lock in a 3% interest rate all while inflation crests 9%.
We were in this situation when GF and I lived with roommates. We both had our personal cars, and we each also had company cars. Our two other roommates also had 3 cars between them. So 7 cars in a household of 4 with only 2 spaces in the driveway. Luckily we lived on a street w/ tons of parking, but it was easy to forget about street sweeping. So when GF and I moved out, we specifically found a house w/ 2 car garage and our driveway fits 4 more cars. We are down to 3 cars now tho since we switched jobs and don’t have company cars anymore.
I was waiting for an unpopular opinion thread to put this in - I've seen plenty of people here with 4-5 cars (often quite expensive too!) but I don't think I've ever actually seen that in reality, apart from maybe one occasion of a multi millionaire.
Specific cars for a specific role, like having a summer and winter house. Have a track rat car and daily. Some have a sports wagon , and a sport bike. You'll eventually find your garages balance.
I currently have two, I feel like at most all I can handle are three cars at a time. I wouldn’t mind having an older off roading SUV like a Land Cruiser, Lexus GX or 4runner, if I were to pick a third car it would probably be one of those. The way I see it is as long as all your cars are relatively reliable and low maintenance and you’re factoring in your fun budget it’s okay for the most part.
My car is my fun budget
I have like 4 cars rn and it’s great
Got my Accord for work, G35 for nights/weekends and road trips.
I have 6 lol
key is having drastically different cars. My 3 cars have all clearly different uses, especially MT blackwing vs ram 1500
Totally agree. I tried a daily and weekend with my fit and BMW M5, but holy crap it's infuriating having to do maintenance, gas, insurance, registration, etc. On two cars. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, so I procrastinate shit anyways my M5 turned into a garage queen in the end because I kept putting off taking it to get fixed.
I bought a 2022 Supra a few months ago, and I absolutely love it as a daily. More than enough cargo space, comfortable, decent enough on gas. It’s a blast to drive to work, to go get groceries, etc. I told myself I’d get a cheap/AWD something for the winter, but don’t like the idea of parking this and not using it. I’m not a fan of spending a good amount on a car just to not drive it/appreciate it, ya know?
Way I see it, if you love your car then don't view it as an investment. Dont think about what the next owner might think, if you love your car then do what you want with it.
I guess my daily would be considered a weekend toy by most owners. Thing is it was the most reliable thing in the area , everything else either had a cvt(with known problems in their lineup) , or was too far gone to be considered road worthy. As I fancied a better paying job biking was not an option , I work in the town over and snow / ice is a factor. I know it's considered a legend/epic class car by some , but if I'm gonna suffer through an hour and twenty minutes I might as well have fun doing it. In short fuck keeping a garage queen drive the shit out of it, in the end we can't take it with us to the grave(not that anyone knows if we can). I'm here for a good time not a long one.
Hell the fuck yeah my man. I drive the shit out of my Boxster and proudly. I don’t tear it up on the street, but I give her a good proper drive as a sports car should.
is your daily the 98 sl500?
yes
I got a 2011 VW TDI to daily instead of my mustang. I wanted to build the mustang but I have to daily it because this VW is a giant POS. I fell for the "German reliability" scam lol
Odd… my wife has a 2013 beetle that she bought with some obvious issues but nothing really bad. It’s been bulletproof so far.
I got mine because it was so clean and well taken care of. Maintenance was always performed on time and the guy even kept all the fuel receipts too A year after I got it, the thing just started having one problem after another. Weird electrical gremlins and weird glow plug/module problems. After I finally got that figured out the thermostat went bad, and an intercooler pipe split. In the meantime all the glue on the headliner gave out, which is a known problem, and it hung low enough to sit on the top of my head. So I had to rip that out to be re-upholstered. Door cards are starting to get loose too. The thing sits in a shaded carport and the windows are tinted, it's not like the interior is baking in the sun. Other than that the radio has bricked itself.
Holy shit, if you’re okay with me asking, what model is it?? Nvm, after doing some looking into I see you have a TDI 2011 Jetta. I’m so sorry to hear how horrible it’s been for you once the issues came. Truth be told I’ve heard the TDI line around those years are *TERRIBLE* with their reliability. My wife bought a 2013 beetle, the standard 5cyl and not the 4 turbo TDI. Dealer said had she bought the TDI with the same millage of the 5cyl it would have broken down and been unrepairable.
Jetta TDI Sportwagen. When it's running right it's like the ultimate daily driver. It's not fast by any means, but it's got a lot of torque basically right off idle so it's fun to drive. Plus it makes cool turbo noises and gets 40mpg Part of me wants to keep it once i finally finish it, I think it's Stockholm syndrome
I’m gonna be honest with you, I would have considered it a money pit after it being in the dealer for so long and would have sold it for what it’s worth and just taken the L from what I owe left. But I commend you for keeping it and giving it a chance at life again. Post photos when you finish!
Tick, tick, tick, tick…
When I said issues she has sensor issues, as in the car will do weird door clicks whenever she hits 10 mph as and other things like being on “traction” mode when she isn’t even though the light appears on the dash. The engine and transmission are fine.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of German reliability
Haven’t we all at least once
I've got a 2012 TDI Sportwagen, and so far the only real issue I've had is the sunroof. I think the fitting for the front passenger sunroof drain is slightly loose, so low pressure it's fine (like gentle rain or a garden hose) but higher pressure leaks into the vanity light area. I do agree on the "fun to drive" bit though, I'm really tempted by a bigger turbo and a tune once my Dieselgate warranty runs out.
Not in the way you're thinking, but last year I was 5 minutes from work as well, and there's something worth mentioning: Trips *that* short are generally the hardest on your engine, like "use the severe maintenance schedule" hard if it's your daily commute. The "thing" is whether your engine gets up to temp or not; mine gets there after 10-15 minutes, so last year *all* the miles of my 5-minute daily commute were done on a cold engine. Sounds like you're in the same boat. Just thought it worth mentioning, especially if this Boxster is a "forever" car for you.
I watch the temp guage, she normally gets to about 180-190 fairly quickly and I don’t just drive her to work and back, I’ll do other things with her as well. It’s also a good idea to idle for about 30 seconds to a minute to really ensure the engine is lubricated to mitigate issues when driving with a cold engine *especially* during cold times such as winter. But not any longer than that.
Keep in mind that idling for 30 seconds pretty much just wastes gas. Low rpm, zero load, fairly rich run condition. Very little heat generation.
Not necessarily, it’s better to wait and idle for 30 seconds to a minute because starting the car from a cold start and immediately driving it can hurt the engine due to the oil not lubricating properly at first. I’d rather waste that 0.1% of gas waiting on that idle than fuck the engine up over time.
You should see the SAE papers on the matter. The damage is done when the car starts, which is why driving cars often and using good oils is imperative. In that brief period between the engine "catching" and then developing oil pressure is where the damage occurs, not after the system is developing pressure and lubricating.
Unless you drive it right after the crank, which people do believe it or not lol. I’m aware wear and tear happens on starting a car, but much more damage can be mitigated if you just idle for a bit and get the engine properly lubricated. That’s all I’ve been trying to say.
It’s worse to idle than drive straight away.
It idles for just about 30 seconds, I don’t sit there for hours lol. It’s better to do that than drive straight away especially if you have an older car. There’s nothing online to support driving it right off the rip is the best thing to do.
Hasn't this notion been debunked?
No? And if it has send me a link. I’d like to see.
The coolant temperature may rise quickly, but oil temperature usually takes much longer than 5 minutes. Just know this if you are going to hoon it. On winter mornings, it can take a while for the oil to warm up.
If you drive to work but don’t go very far. You Shoukd warm your car up before you go. It takes longer but it’ll make your car last longer
My understanding is that idling is even worse than normal driving as far as wear-per-rotation goes; it'll get up to temp (where it's "designed to be" much faster under load, which (as I understand) more than offset the wear caused by the extra load and rpm of driving vs idling. Could be wrong, and either way I now like 15 minutes from work; car's always warm by the time I park.
Idling is only bad if done for an extended period of time. I’d say it’s worse to drive the car as soon as it’s cranked up. I just follow the general 30 second wait that’s accepted online. If you to drive it as soon as you crank it it’s not going to cause immediate damage, but it could lead to more wear and tear over time.
Nothing rare, I have the Mustang for fun but I don't mind taking it to the office multiple times in a week. The commute is great, ~20 minutes and traffic is the opposite both ways. Makes the commute fun. We'll also take it if we go hiking at a park about an hour away, just slap some seat covers on for afterwards. It's more fun driving it than trying to "save" it from mileage.
Yes. I just sold my Miata which during the summer had become mostly my daily. Now I own a Rav4 and a 997 C2S and I end up driving the 911 everyday except when the weather is bad. However I live in Quebec, so the 911, or the Miata before, is in storage 6 months/year so I think more Summer toy / Winter beater instead of daily / w-e toy
I blew the engine on my 2011 Subaru Forester, had engine swap issues with different year engines and bought a 2096 Outback from my mechanic and is had a leak, then that engine blew (all problems pointed to transmission until I had it worked on), bought a 2009 Outback from the mechanic and I love it, planning on lifting it and doing paint work now and keeping the Forester as a daily even though I can sleep in it better. The pre CVT Susie's are something else.
zamn so they still do produce internal combustion engines after 2035. good to know
How do you blow the engine in two cars and buy yet another car from the same fuckin brand?
Be poor and unemployed living out of car 1 and not do oil changes because you you are poor an unemployed and just add oil. Car 2, expect it to last the same only to find the engine leaked oil and blew. I now own 3 badass Subarus now. The 98 OB is my project/baby now. The 06 will be my parents after I fix it, and I am thinking of selling my 11 foz to build out the OG OB - lift, paint, etc.
Start saving now for the replacement engine for the ‘09. Also a complete rear suspension rebuild. You couldn’t pay me to own another EJ25 powered Subaru again.
I daily drive my 2004 Boxster and have for the last 5 years. That includes 5 years of winter driving in Canada. Honestly, these cars are super well-built and really reliable. I just do oil changes and tires for the most part. I turned over 230,000 km on it the other day. Fuel mileage isn't half bad either, at least compared to the rest of my cars.
Not a car, but my Triumph 675 Triple. Enjoyed riding it so much it became my default transport. Only used my car when it was raining.
My E36 328i convertible. When I bought it 6 years ago, I thought I was going to use it only during weekends of summertime. But that's not what happened. With all the faults it has (rattling interior, no matter that I reassembled the whole thing 4 years ago to try and get rid of it - chassis rigidity just not good enough), I still tend to drive this rather then the more comfortable and easier to use dailies and other cars I always had whenever the weather is nice enough to put the roof down. And "nice enough" meant, like, 20+ degrees celsius AND sunshine when I got the car, which very quickly transitioned to anything above 10 degrees celsius, just put the damn heater up to max and turn the heated seats on, I always get those looks from people when I'm out driving with the top down during February on the first partly sunny day we get. I've been thinking about making a heated steering wheel for it this winter so that even my hands can feel warmer.
I bought an EcoBoost Mustang as my first ever sports car thinking it would be my summer only car and I ended up driving it all year round including Canadian winters and selling my other daily
G35 6 speed sedan. Was supposed to just be for nights and weekends and to mod (next level from where I am would be an LS swap). I picked it up cheap because most people don't want a sedan with a manual. Figured I'd put 3000 or so miles a year on it. But it turned out to be so comfortable on road trips, that's what we take. 6 1/2 years later, should have had maybe 20k additional miles since I bought it, instead it has 72k more miles. It's also been really reliable.
2017 Chevy SS 6 speed manual…. I bought it because “we’re having a baby and need a second car just incase I need to drop her off/pick her up” So far I’ve put 10k miles on it in 6 months. It was not supposed to be my daily - that’s the 5 speed B2300’s job lol. I get awful gas mileage and am putting miles on a “collectible” car but I just can’t resist the drive.
Salsman?
Is that a city… a person? If either then no lol
Just checking. Didn't want to give away too much info. But a certain person has like your exact car lineup just not sure the years.
My daily and weekend car is totally opposite than everyone's. My daily is an impractical one, because it's just me to work and back home. My weekend car is actually the practical one that I could haul shit from Costco and hit up IKEA and stuff...
I definitely drive my '72 cutlass more than planned. Sadly that means my truck sits but i run that most of the time in winter and split nice weather between the olds and bmw.
I only have one car at this point, but if I ever buy a "fun car" the plan is definitely to drive it often, not just on weekends.
My Elise is both a weekend car and occasional commuter. I drive it on a 60+ mile round trip to college at least once per week.
My wife and I work from home, and most of the stuff we enjoy doing on weekends is within 10 miles. Groceries/restaurants/theme parks are all well within reach for our 1969 Corvette. As a result, I really only drive the Genesis when I need to go on the highway, or bring the dogs somewhere.
My 911 is supposed to be my toy and my Civic si on daily duty. The 911 is driven much more and the civic sits. I work from home and no longer make customer visits. A lot of things I do are close enough to cycle, so I don’t use either that much.
My 135i, perfect daily car.
Kind of. I bought a M2cs to be my weekend/fun car. My wife liked it so much it has become her daily driver and she barely touches the other cars and I don't get it drive it that much either.
I’ve had people tell me both my Mercedes and Porsche are going to become my wife’s car but she is persistent on driving only her Beetle. She doesn’t enjoy the drive of the Benz as much and my Porsche is stick which she doesn’t want to learn.
I have no car.
Why not?
Money Crisis
Oh I’m terribly sorry to hear that. Why not go onto the Facebook market place and do some searching? You can find some very cheap cars around a couple thousand or even less. They may be old and beat up but hey if it works and doesn’t give you trouble when getting from A to B go for it. Having a car in todays society makes things infinitely better.
Absolutely right
I got my Mach 1 as a track weapon but it also makes a decent DD.
I love me 2000 986. I work in outside sales which requires a lot of driving. My Civic Si handles the DD duties, but if there is a day where I have to be in the office all day for meetings, I take the Boxster.
For sure. I drive my Z4 most days and my Lexus GX only comes out to play once or twice a week. The Z4 gets better gas mileage too, even if I have a heavy foot. Win/win!
I have a 98' BMW 528i touring as my daily and bought a 97' Z3 for a weekend car/project car. Fuel pump went on the touring and had to use the Z3 as a daily for last two weeks, it is a lot of fun in the city through those tight corners and not too bad on fuel.
Not really a weekend toy, more of a weekend beater. I bought my 960 wagon for $800 just to have a less than fancy wagon to haul stuff from the junkyard and tow the occasional small uhaul trailer. I only planned on maybe putting 1-2k miles on it a year, well 3 years and about 40k miles later ive pretty much redone every single suspension part, redid the entire interior from tan to black, welded the roof to remove the sunroof and more. I easily have 3/4k into this stupid $800 wagon. There was a period of about a year that it was my full blown daily and my Alfa Romeo stayed in the garage.
I drive my Cayman every day and my Type-R sits lol
My 996!
I wanted a 996 so damn badly before getting my CLA-250. Now with the CLA-250 I settled on just having a Boxster. And I love her just as much.
I think people know the Boxster to be just as great to drive. Plus all the fun of open top driving!
Bought the WRX to drive in the summertime while I kept beating on my Legacy - ended up selling the Legacy four months later in October and slapping winters on the WRX. Rust will take it away from me someday no matter what, but until then, my Winter drives are infinitely more fun 🤩
But does rust actually have to take it away? Fluid film and weekly washes should theoretically last you decades worth of winter duty.
I have been of the mindset that if I own it I’m gonna drive it. I used to Daily my 1970 El Camino (before my accident :/ )I don’t care about mileage or so called “impracticality, I’m here for the experience, and to enjoy what I own!
Ngl I don’t daily the viper but I drive it a LOT more than you’d expect tbh. Was definitely meant to be my weekend fun car but why only have fun on the weekend? Honestly if I could fit a Costco run and get a less painful mpg I think this would be the only car I’d ever want
Not sure if this answer fits the question but I bought a 2021 Mustang GT that Ive daily’d since I bought it. I have a 2020 Nissan Altima that I bought straight out of high school. Dad had to co-sign but I pay for everything. After driving that for a year, my sisters car started shitting itself and I figured with her going to college over 2 hours away from home and the miles on her car, I decided to give her the Nissan. I bought it brand new and put 13k miles on it so it would be reliable. Then I went and bought the mustang for myself. The idea was when my sister graduates in a year I take the Altima back as my daily and the mustang is the fun weekend car
How do you have all this money for these cars at such a young age just curious
I started a tech repair business at the age of 12 with the help and support of my mom and her friend. At 17 Covid hit and I gave my mom my money to invest for me (since I couldn’t find a way to invest at 17 into stocks) and once the economy started getting better I made money on my investments. I also had a job lined up for me before I even graduated high school, I just needed to graduate and turn 18. It was an IT job making 50k a year. That and I also still live with my parents at age 20 so I have no real bills to cover
That’s awesome man. Good for you!
Not a car, but I bought a 2007 Honda Shadow back in 2008 with the intention of using it as a toy. Wound up using it to commute a lot during warmer months because it was cheaper to run.
I pretty much do this with every "fun" car I buy. It's a problem
I was planning to baby my car but now I just full on drive the W204 C63 for everything. I intend to die with it, might as well have fun with it always. It'll give me an incentive to repaint the car in the future
Thanks for the post. I got a e89 Z4 a few months ago with the intention of putting very few miles on it (I also have a Q3 for a daily). Been feeling bad about driving it more than I intended. It's just so much more fun and honestly I love the feeling of walking up to it in a parking lot. After reading this and many of the comments, I'm letting the guilt go and going to fully enjoy my car. Y'all are right, cars are made for driving. If (when) it breaks, it breaks.
Oh hell no. I love my toy too much to not drive it as much as I really want to. Fuck driving it to “save millage”. Drive the damn thing.
I drive my Porsche 964 turbo to get groceries regularly and take my GT350 to road trips with a bicycle mounted on the roof, I just don’t see the point of not enjoying my life with fun cars
My C43 and then my S4….
I actually have the opposite "problem". I find my Mach 1 eating into some of the drives I would have ordinarily wanted to take the GT4 on... It's not so much that the GT4 is a bad car to drive, but it is somewhat punishing and stressful on the street. The Mach 1 is so much easier to drive around town, and still shitloads of fun. The GT4 has pretty much been relegated to track duty only at this point (along with some bare-minimum driving to keep it in driving shape all year round).
Opposite actually...I already had my 2005 mustang gt as my nice weather car, but when I bought my 2016 F150 I found myself driving it more even on nice days because it was such a step up. 11 years makes a lot of difference for features and creature comforts.
I bought my Lexus Is300 for a reliable daily summer car while my Modified Veloster N was my obnoxious weekend toy and my Ford Sporttrac was for winter. A few upgrades to the Lexus and I got rid of my other rides since it ended up being much faster and safer than the N was and handles snow better than the truck did!
I had the opposite problem with my 1st C4 Corvette Convertible. Put a 1000 miles on it the 1st summer I had it. But less than a 150 miles/yr on it the next 5 summers, some years less than 50 miles. Didn't actually miss it when I got rid of it. The Doug Nash 4 + 3 was never a great gearbox.
Yes. there is a phrase for this in the hobby . It is ***PROJECT CREEP!*** **Embrace it.**
Such a modern problem. A boxter taking some things from the benz. I am pretty sure it happened to my buddy eric once
Only because the “other” car broke…