The cars you have loved, or are in love with. Tell us your car history and what each one taught you

[andromedaaudio]

Is that one yours? Sweet machine

No its not .
Its for sale pretty close to where i live .

I dont have a garage.
May be next year when i have a garage i ll buy a Mclaren

 

[andromedaaudio]

The 600 LT is also a sick looking car .
I cant believe the prices they go for in the UK .
I know some of them had some issues but still .
I love the diffusors on the back and the high exhausts

 

[bonzo75]

Men with sports cars are compensating for something, says Greta Thurnberg and Daily Mail

Men with sports cars are compensating for something, study confirms

According to research from University College London (UCL), there is a correlation between owning a flashy vehicle and believing one's genitals are smaller than average.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[andromedaaudio]

Ah luckily .....if you re a broke bitcoin millionaire , there is always the possibility to go for a BIG wooden horn


Ps i ll be going to the autosalon in brussels tomorrow .
Hope to get some nice pics with the new camera of the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato

 

[Uk Paul]

Narrowing down a list to a single car is dead easy for me, but the top 3 are all unattainable certainly for me at least, and for most. I've had hands on experience with two of the 3, being at #1, Ford GT40 and #3 Auburn Boattail Speedster which was being restored next door around 10 years ago, early 1930's and of such size and grace it really was a thing of beauty, and all hand built of course. Pic of what I believe is actually a replica but it shows those lines niceley.. No 1 is undisputed king for me, the Le Mans entry by Ford, story well known, and still turns more heads than pretty much anything nearly 60 years later.. So #2? You'll notice a Sarthe theme creeping in, and for modern day cars the Praga Bohema which is by all accounts an LMP1 / Hypercar influenced road car from Czech, not even seen one in the flesh yet but maybe this year hopefully.. At 975kg and a comfortable 700bhp it should be pretty exhilarating on the track.

 

[Uk Paul]

Oh and on the theme of sound, being an audio forum afterall, during the 1980's, I spent a lot of time in Welsh forests, from which the sound of the Audi Quattro S1 E2 is permanently burned into my brain, you hear it's approach literally minutes before it comes past at such fearsome speed, it was hardly surprising the whole series was banned in 86, it just got far too dangerous.

 

[JackD201]

I've had many dream cars from the time I was a kid 'til today. That said my core passions have always been Audio and Golf and Golf is where my automotive story begins

Coming from a developing country with poor roads, supercars were always something for me to admire from afar. The fact that the only way to bring a golf set in one is to have it sit beside you in the passenger seat just a minor reason. Dad like american muscle a bit but got older and more chill with a string of used SLs and 123 body coupes at one point. He had some little projects like a VW Brazilia that he modded the heck out of. It was a drag car. He'd had the engine bored out, port and polished and stuck 38mm Webber down drafts in it. My brother Jim blew out the engine with a mis-shift a couple of months later. LOL. Well it is funny now. LOL

By the time I was a teen we had settled into a household of dependable automobiles. My first taste of good handling was when my Dad got me a VW Golf which his buddy was selling. It wasn't a GTi, just a plane jane GL and I absolutely LOVED it. I've always been good with a stick because I grew up riding motorcycles. No rev match, you in trouble!

The first car I ever bought for myself was a BMW 328i with the SMG transmission. Paddles were just getting popular and honestly I didn't like the SMG. I could time the shifts to make it run smooth easily but not having a clutch when starting on a steep incline at the mall parking garage was no fun as unlike automatics, these things would roll backwards. Still, I loved that car and dreamed of having an e46 M3 in Manual.

I did not pursue it though. Jim got a good deal on one, and I was happy being allowed to take it for a spin on occassion. Jim's wife however was not so enamored of the Imola Red cutie. I grabbed the opportunity. I later sold it to a friend and got a C63. It was a mistake. The C63 seemed to always want to kill me. I eventually sold the C63 and the garage bay remained empty. Eventually I got an e63 S for a good deal from the dealer because the paint and interior combination was not a popular one and the facelift versions were incoming.

In the interim Charlie, a very close friend and one time Audio Research distributor purchased Ultra 11s from me. As I walked him out I saw his 2012 e92 M3. It ended up as part of the deal. Shortly after my e46 buddy sold it back to me so now had the last NA V6 and the only production NA V8. He had restored some bits here and there and I completed the restoration shortly after. Figuring that the e46 would become collectible eventually, I kept the original wheels in storage and installed BBS CHs since ebay prices for original wheels were already climbing on ebay. I have been slowly restoring the e92 but when Charlie passed away suddenly I decided it would now be a keeper and began doing modest modifications on it, resale value be damned.

Now I've gotten older. My eyesight and reflexes are far from what they were just 10 years ago. I get more than enough thrills from the 2 M3s and the e63s feels more like a plane than a car. I missed having a small, light car like that first Golf. The Delta Integrale was one of my hero cars and here, now, was an opportunity to get a spiritual successor from who else, a Golf teammate who owns a number of Toyota dealerships. The unit was earmarked for another teammate. I called him up and told him GR Yaris' are not for guys with 1000bhp GTRs. He knew that was bull but it made him laugh so hard that he gave me his allocation. Mine was the first unit to be released out into the wild by Toyota Philippines in August of 2021 albeit a handful had come in earlier via the gray market.

I love this car. It's perfect for our roads although it is actually quite wide. It's rear end is wider than the e92s in fact. It's fast yes but not so much that you can actually use 3rd gear LOL It felt like I got the ultimate Toyota Starlet. I'm so happy that there are fellow GR lovers here in Cristoph and Bob. I opted to keep the useless rear seats but have them permanently folded down. In this configuration, it is the Golf getaway car for me and my youngest. Fits two staff bags and a couple of days worth of clothes. Not many people know what the car is so it's great to weave through the crowded city as though you were invisible. I think the shifter is just perfect in feel and throw. Heel and Toe is tough in the tight pedal box and tiny gas pedal so thankfully there is automatic rev matching for casual driving. More than anything, the nostalgia and all around wonderful usability ultimately made me feel younger and fool me into thinking I am a better driver than I am LOL I'm done buying cars for myself for a long time I think

 

[rob]

I've had many dream cars from the time I was a kid 'til today. That said my core passions have always been Audio and Golf and Golf is where my automotive story begins

Coming from a developing country with poor roads, supercars were always something for me to admire from afar. The fact that the only way to bring a golf set in one is to have it sit beside you in the passenger seat just a minor reason. Dad like american muscle a bit but got older and more chill with a string of used SLs and 123 body coupes at one point. He had some little projects like a VW Brazilia that he modded the heck out of. It was a drag car. He'd had the engine bored out, port and polished and stuck 38mm Webber down drafts in it. My brother Jim blew out the engine with a mis-shift a couple of months later. LOL. Well it is funny now. LOL

By the time I was a teen we had settled into a household of dependable automobiles. My first taste of good handling was when my Dad got me a VW Golf which his buddy was selling. It wasn't a GTi, just a plane jane GL and I absolutely LOVED it. I've always been good with a stick because I grew up riding motorcycles. No rev match, you in trouble!

The first car I ever bought for myself was a BMW 328i with the SMG transmission. Paddles were just getting popular and honestly I didn't like the SMG. I could time the shifts to make it run smooth easily but not having a clutch when starting on a steep incline at the mall parking garage was no fun as unlike automatics, these things would roll backwards. Still, I loved that car and dreamed of having an e46 M3 in Manual.

I did not pursue it though. Jim got a good deal on one, and I was happy being allowed to take it for a spin on occassion. Jim's wife however was not so enamored of the Imola Red cutie. I grabbed the opportunity. I later sold it to a friend and got a C63. It was a mistake. The C63 seemed to always want to kill me. I eventually sold the C63 and the garage bay remained empty. Eventually I got an e63 S for a good deal from the dealer because the paint and interior combination was not a popular one and the facelift versions were incoming.

In the interim Charlie, a very close friend and one time Audio Research distributor purchased Ultra 11s from me. As I walked him out I saw his 2012 e92 M3. It ended up as part of the deal. Shortly after my e46 buddy sold it back to me so now had the last NA V6 and the only production NA V8. He had restored some bits here and there and I completed the restoration shortly after. Figuring that the e46 would become collectible eventually, I kept the original wheels in storage and installed BBS CHs since ebay prices for original wheels were already climbing on ebay. I have been slowly restoring the e92 but when Charlie passed away suddenly I decided it would now be a keeper and began doing modest modifications on it, resale value be damned.

Now I've gotten older. My eyesight and reflexes are far from what they were just 10 years ago. I get more than enough thrills from the 2 M3s and the e63s feels more like a plane than a car. I missed having a small, light car like that first Golf. The Delta Integrale was one of my hero cars and here, now, was an opportunity to get a spiritual successor from who else, a Golf teammate who owns a number of Toyota dealerships. The unit was earmarked for another teammate. I called him up and told him GR Yaris' are not for guys with 1000bhp GTRs. He knew that was bull but it made him laugh so hard that he gave me his allocation. Mine was the first unit to be released out into the wild by Toyota Philippines in August of 2021 albeit a handful had come in earlier via the gray market.

I love this car. It's perfect for our roads although it is actually quite wide. It's rear end is wider than the e92s in fact. It's fast yes but not so much that you can actually use 3rd gear LOL It felt like I got the ultimate Toyota Starlet. I'm so happy that there are fellow GR lovers here in Cristoph and Bob. I opted to keep the useless rear seats but have them permanently folded down. In this configuration, it is the Golf getaway car for me and my youngest. Fits two staff bags and a couple of days worth of clothes. Not many people know what the car is so it's great to weave through the crowded city as though you were invisible. I think the shifter is just perfect in feel and throw. Heel and Toe is tough in the tight pedal box and tiny gas pedal so thankfully there is automatic rev matching for casual driving. More than anything, the nostalgia and all around wonderful usability ultimately made me feel younger and fool me into thinking I am a better driver than I am LOL I'm done buying cars for myself for a long time I think

Great cars story Jack, e46 M3 in manual is another great car.
I live in a mountain area in Victoria with lots of tight twisty roads. For my driving enjoyment the GR Yaris is just the perfect car.
So much fun to drive that i bought 2, one to enjoy now and one to keep for later.

 

[JackD201]

I wish I could have gotten 2 too! Come to think of it, this is the only car I've ever had that appreciated when it left the dealer LOL

 

[christoph]

The Delta Integrale was one of my hero cars and here, now, was an opportunity to get a spiritual successor from who else, a Golf teammate who owns a number of Toyota dealerships. The unit was earmarked for another teammate. I called him up and told him GR Yaris' are not for guys with 1000bhp GTRs. He knew that was bull but it made him laugh so hard that he gave me his allocation. Mine was the first unit to be released out into the wild by Toyota Philippines in August of 2021 albeit a handful had come in earlier via the gray market.

Same here.
The Delta HF Integrale EVO 3 was my young adolescent wet dream but completely unattainable for a poor young sod like me back then.

The Yaris GR is a more than worthy grandson of the Integrale and I really love mine.

What color did you get your's?
Mine is black...

 

[christoph]

So much fun to drive that i bought 2, one to enjoy now and one to keep for later.

Excellent idea

 

[JackD201]

Same here.
The Delta HF Integrale EVO 3 was my young adolescent wet dream but completely unattainable for a poor young sod like me back then.

The Yaris GR is a more than worthy grandson of the Integrale and I really love mine.

What color did you get your's?
Mine is black...

The standard white not the pearl. I would have loved the pearl

 

[gds7368]

Daily driver evolution:
1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R (first car)
2000 Audi A6 (totaled in an accident where hit by drunk driver making an illegal left turn across my lane while his light was red; he was taken straight to jail)
2003 Jaguar S-type R
2005 Range Rover HSE (getting a filling by my dentist who said "the dealer is trying to give me $50k for my $75k six month old Range Rover with 4k miles, what a ***, if you'd give me $52 it's yours" and I went home and drove back with a check)
2014 Range Rover Sport v8
2022 Tesla Model S Plaid (current)

Sports car evolution:
2002 Lotus Esprit v8 (also purchased from my dentist!)
2008 Carrera S manual
2010 Audi R8 v8 manual with 2008 AMG c63 Black Series
2012 Audi R8 v10 manual with 2007 Ferrari 430
2012 McLaren 12c
2011 Ferrari 458
2015 Ferrari F12 (current)

Lessons learned:
Both regular cars and sports cars are getting heavier and more complicated, which make them safer but not necessarily any more fun to drive. I never asked for an iPad to be grafted to the center dash of any car, yet here we are. Sports cars that are designed for a track but too stiff everywhere else will impress your friends and get lots of pictures and questions at the gas station ... but aren't much fun except on the smoothest of roads and don't last long in my garage. A fast, comfortable sports car that can also drive to the gym, Starbucks and around on the weekend (with a couple track days per year) is definitely my preference. I can own a well-designed car and just look at in the garage and be in a good mood (the engineering that went in to the AMG c63 Black Series, for example, is epic). In the end it's the driver engagement that makes cars so involving to me.

It has been a privilege to be part of ICE ownership. Yes it is convenient to charge my EV in the garage at night, and to avoid gas stations in Ohio winter. My father's undergraduate degree is in automotive engineering, and growing up holding the light at night while he changed his own oil in the driveway ("I do it myself to see if anything else needs to be fixed while I'm there") was a bonding I wouldn't trade for all of the electrons in our auto-parking, auto-lane changing, instant-torque EV future.

All IMHO.

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

My 1961 Lincoln Continental. Favorite car I've owned. Paid $800 for it in 1968. Owned until 1980, when I had to let it go. No garage to keep it.

 

[infinitely baffled]

The size of that thing....contemporary garages must have been equally huge.
I bet you could fit a monster sound system in one of those?
Very cool

 

[tdh888]

I was into sports car
My first car was given to me in 1987 a
1974 FIAT 124 Spider we sold it in 1995. My second car I had was acquired in 1995 just before I got married . A 1973 Mercedes Benz 450 SL
My third car was a 1984 BMW 635 CSI Euro model acquired it in the year 2000 my wife and I just started practicing fresh from our specialty training . Had a great time having both the 450SL and the 635 CSI . My wife & I enjoyed long drives w/ me in the 450SL and my wife driving the 635CSI . The BMW felt more sporty than the 2 seater Mercedes Benz . I sold the Mercedes in 2008 and acquired an 89 Porsche 911 Turbo . That car is beast , it was fun and dangerous all at the same time. It had a reputation of being a “ Widow Maker “ . In 2017 my Dad handed down to me his 1988 Ferrari Mondial 3.2 Cabriolet . That car is fun and the engine sound is to die for specially when your near the red line . There’s nothing like a Ferrari . Then in Jan of 2021 I decided to sell my BMW 635 CSI after 21 years of ownership . Got myself a preowned 2018 Mazda MX 5 ND w/ a manual gearbox .I had no regret selling the BMW and Im enjoying the MX 5 immensely . Such a fun car . A real sports car .
Aside from the Sports cars , I had daily driver cars that’s use as a Family car and daily drivers .
What I learned in owning these sportscar is you have to drive and maintain them regularly . And you really have to be an Sports car enthusiast to own them and its not for being flashy .

 

[DetroitVinylRob]

i nominate the 2023 Honda Civic Type R 2.0 turbo as the best 2.0 turbo. 315hp, 310 lb-ft of torque. it's a beast. for a front wheel drive production car, it's the pinnacle point....as it's not just a stout motor, it's the whole package.

here is the one "now" on our showroom floor.

View attachment 99992

thought seriously about giving it to myself as a retirement present. but my 16' 991 CS2 i had 5 years ago would still be better. but twice the dollars even used right now.

View attachment 99989

Realizing that many of you have had the remarkable pleasure of owning far higher performance exotica, still… I’ll put my money on Honda anytime. Worked in design on a number of their product development projects over the years and have a great deal of respect for their very thorough engineering at every phase of a project. Incredibly sensitive to detail. For a rather high volume consumer product, simply hard to beat. And then their is the Mugen influence and NSX in their history. Had a number of beloved tuner CRX Si and a first year Prelude Si VTEC. Variable timing cam shafts was a bit of a game changer to an already remarkable normally aspirated powerplant. And all that in a highly reliable daily driver. Drove each until the wheels fell off.

 

[DetroitVinylRob]

Also a big car guy, past industry engineer and future industry entrepreneur.

First car I fell in love with was a Honda S2000. It was the summer of 2000 and the car had just been launched. I was driving on (ironically) La Honda road just north of Palo Alto. It's a fantastic winding road that starts in a forest of massive redwoods, then winds through open plains, and ends up on route 1 and the Pacific. Absolutely amazing, and probably the S2000 was (and still is!) the best car for that road.
View attachment 101013

I am not a fan of what Porsche is doing with the 911. It can be a great car, but VW is really milking that platform for profits, which is a massive turn-off. There are better cars for enthusiasts than the 992 911.

Not a fan of Tesla. I "should be", but I think it's an appliance that gets you from A to B in a nice high-tech package. And that's great, for non-enthusiasts. There is also a misconception that a Tesla (or any EV) will last "forever". Not at all. The battery has a finite lifespan - there isn't enough data to know how long, but probably at around 100K km or 5-8 years, it will need to be replaced. At that point, the cost of the battery will likely be greater than the cost of the car (even with a new battery), so it will not make sense to replace it. At that point, you have a very expensive "paper weight" in your driveway. There is also a complicated cooling and heating system to keep the battery operating, not to mention a ton of electronics -- all of which can, and will, fail. So it's a misnomer to think that because there are no oil changes, you have a car that costs $0 to keep running.

I think battery powered EVs are a stepping stone to the next generation, which will likely use hydrogen, or some yet undiscovered energy storage material.

It's sad that R&D for gas engines is declining -- if you look at how efficient and F1 car is (it's several times more efficient than consumer car), there's a lot of untapped potential. And last I checked, "Dinosaur juice" is a lot more "green" than all the chemicals and minerals used to make LiOn batteries.

Currently driving an AMG GTC and G550 (both 2019) and they are awesome. I think Mercedes is nailing it these days.

Had one on order, a dark graphite metallic with a red leather interior. Problem is, I’m 6’2” with a 36” inseam. So guess what happened? I did not fit comfortably in it. Couldn’t get a full leg extension off the pedals. For long drives, with little adjustment room, it would’ve been like sitting on a park bench. So after a test drive, I even spoke to a sports car collision guy on the phone who had done seat rack mods for a number of professional basketball players in Detroit. There was no room to move the mounts and seat back. Honda had even locally thinned the acoustic insulation behind the carpet/seats. You were right up against the unibody steel structure. It was impossible, so I surrendered the car keys to a guy standing there waiting, who by the way was about 5’5”, well into the 80th percentile envelope. Broke my heart to loose her to a short guy. Do you know what I mean? Ouch!

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

It was impossible, so I surrendered the car keys to a guy standing there waiting, who by the way was about 5’5”, well into the 80th percentile envelope. Broke my heart to loose her to a short guy. Do you know what I mean? Ouch!

LOL all day every day! 6'3" here and I run a shop and also my wife is five foot zero. 99% of every car I get in I move the seat before entry. One of the very few cars I had to move the seat forward in was Luke Walton's S Class, actually the only car I ever got in where I couldn't reach the pedals.

 

[Golum]

Men with sports cars are compensating for something, says Greta Thurnberg and Daily Mail

Men with sports cars are compensating for something, study confirms

According to research from University College London (UCL), there is a correlation between owning a flashy vehicle and believing one's genitals are smaller than average.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Like she would know anything about sports cars or that other thing…