Just wondering, out of all the cars you've owned. What's your favorite and why?

[Texasgeezer]

Recently was thinking about how reliable the 95 E300D is and glad it is not very needy. Ended up sort of mentally reviewing the cars/trucks I've owned and what I liked or didn't like about them.

Favorite of all was the 99 Oldsmobile Aurora, even though it would pretty much be scrap iron about 200,000 miles. I wore out two, and had a teenage girl T-bone another.

I liked it best due to the:
smooth quiet ride
fairly good handling and performance
ease of cruising above 90 when on open freeways
nice interior and sound system.

As I recall my car sequence was:
49/50 Chyrsler Windsor Bought with hay hauling and cotton picking money, interior was plush with sofa type seats and lots of chrome and leather dash, 6 mpg
1934 Ford Cabriolet with 283 chevy and adapter to it's drivetrain fast but dangerous due to stock brakes, transmission, and rear axle
1932 Ford 5 window coupe lowered with 327 chevy, auto transmission, and ford rear fun to drive, but no heater, had to use my hands to melt ice off windshield
1966 Buick Riviera, bought new Couldn't resist buying it due to Motor Trend writeup
1971 BMW 2002, bought new fun to drive, smooth engine
1972 Chevy El Camino, bought new, last of new cars purchased
1971 BMW Bavaria favorite of the Bavaria models, smooth and fast
1973 BMW Bavaria
1974 BMW Bavaria
1971 Lotus Europa fun but had to use side mirrows to change lanes due to body design
1975 BMW 3.0 CS coupe
197X Chevy 1 ton van gas hog, about 8 mpg
1978 Renault Gordini money pit, normal brake job cost almost 800 dollars in the 80's
197X Oldsmobile Cutlass weak engine and drivetrain
1978 Mercedes 300 CD extremely reliable sold with over 300,000 miles
198X Honda CRX
198X Honda Prelude
1957 Olds 88 4 door
1971 Lincoln 4 door best boat trailer puller I ever owned, got 17 mpg after electronic ignition and H type exhaust
1989 Range Rover Classic county very reliable with the old style Buick type V8 put over 300,000 miles on it
1972 Chevy Chevelle 2 dr ht bought with 17,000 miles when 19 years old. Loaned to friend and never got it back
1979 Ford F150
1980 Ford Box Van
1995 Chevy Box Van
1994 Chevy Dump Truck
1989 Nissan Maxima fun and reliable car
1996 Infinity I30
1995 Oldmobile Aurora
1997 Olds Aurora
1995 VW Jetta diesel bought as fixer upper
1999 Chevy Suburban good power but lousy brakes
1999 Olds Aurora
1999 Olds Aurora
1999 Olds Aurora
2001 Olds Aurora
2004 Olds Aurora
1995 Mercedes E300D, I've owned it about 13 years

[Idle]

Porsche 914 for fun. Not the quickest and not good for hot days due to vapor locking, but it is the closest thing I can think of to an adult Go-Kart.

For long trips I had a 1992 300d I drove about two thousand miles a week for ten months. Pure comfort and 36 mpg.

[t walgamuth]

240 d stick. Not bad looking, excellent performance... handling, brakes, steering. Id buy a new one today if available.

[cmac2012]

I liked my 1967 Saab 96. Had a V4 and a weak transaxle. I wish I could’ve experienced one of the three cylinder two stroke models, but I never even heard one run let alone rode in or drove one.

But my favorite car has to have been my ‘87 BMW 325i E30. Bought it in ‘02, sold it in ‘18 to some kid who wanted to restore it. I had nursed it from 214K up to 450K approx. It had an electric gremlin that I couldn’t find. I had to get rid of it, I had too many vehicles (4) for my shop parking spaces.

I am pretty fond of my 300SDL however. It’s a different kind of exciting than the Bimmer.

[engatwork]

98 E300

[Stoney]

63 P1800 Volvo

[P.C.]

Probably my 2014 Ford Taurus SHO - The 365 hp twin-turbo V6 did a lot to put the bloom of youth into what was basically a late-90's Volvo sedan platform; it was exceedingly comfortable and had a cavernous trunk. With the AWD system, it was excellent in the snow, even with its V-rated all-season tires. Brakes were strong, and even though it was not light at approximately 4,400 lbs., the car was agile, once saving me from a head-on crash with a teenage girl in a Honda Accord who had better things to do at the moment than drive in her lane. I lost count on how many compliments I received on the car from other drivers, as it was an eye-catching car in metallic black with handsome five-spoke rims. One of the more entertaining parts of ownership was its resemblance to the plain-wrapper state and local Ford Taurus police cars in use at the time, causing other drivers to clear the passing lane as I approached. Once I was driving on an interstate and saw an orange late-model Corvette convertible approaching me from behind at a high rate of speed; suddenly he drops anchor and begins to approach me much more slowly. Curious, I watch him as he begins to pass me by, making eye contact. Suddenly, the driver waves to me and punches it, disappearing in a flash. I assume that he initially thought that I was a state policeman, then spied the discreet "SHO" badge on the front fender.

[tbomachines]

Hard question -- I really liked my Dodge Stealth. It was Fiji blue (very rare color) and quite a looker. I would still have it if it didnt get hit in a snowstorm. Right now I am still smitten with my saturn sky after 8 years...with all of my mods somewhere around 330hp/350tq, maybe more and in a small 3000lb roadster. Its a lot of fun!

My Delica was pretty awesome too, but I think I had my fun with it and sold it after a few years.

[cmac2012]

I recall reading about how fast they were. I had a surprising experience with Fords in the late 90s. I’ve always gotten a kick out of driving cab, you learn a new city pretty quickly as a fringe benefit. I had driven for a while in Oakland, whenever I dropped someone off in San Francisco I would usually get flagged down like crazy. Once or twice I picked someone up, it was risky, major fine if you got caught. You can drop off in a town you are not licensed in but not pick up.

Later I got on with Yellow Cab of SF. I wanted to check out that big tourist money. It was the most deluxe cab operation I was ever a part of. They would commonly buy new Crown Victorias. I drove several with under 10,000 miles. I don’t think they were the police model but they were plenty fast and really agile for a car that size. I had long had an attitude about Detroit cars, it was an eye-opener.

[engatwork]

I'm of the opinion that the Crown Vic is probably one of the best cars Ford has ever built. Mom has one that just turned over 202k miles with only routine service on it. It has been through a couple of alternators though.

[Texasgeezer]

Originally Posted by P.C.

Probably my 2014 Ford Taurus SHO - The 365 hp twin-turbo V6 did a lot to put the bloom of youth into what was basically a late-90's Volvo sedan platform;

I didn't know about that Ford Taurus SHO. Did a little research and can see how it could be a good family cruiser plus fun to drive.

https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/taurus/specs/2014/ford_taurus_ford-taurus-sho_2014

https://www.thecarmagazine.com/2014/01/01/2014-ford-taurus-sho-road-test-review/

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by engatwork

I'm of the opinion that the Crown Vic is probably one of the best cars Ford has ever built. Mom has one that just turned over 202k miles with only routine service on it. It has been through a couple of alternators though.

My experience is not gigantic, but I have to agree. I probably drive five or six full-size Ford models from the early 70s up to the late 90s Crown Vics. I have not driven a Taurus, I take all of those reports on faith.

Not sure how scientific my opinion is, but prior to encountering the Crown Vics with yellow cab SF, I preferred the large Chevys to the large Fords.

I owned a cab as sort of a lark in the late 70s. I bought a Plymouth satellite with a 318, I had driven several of those, and liked them. Now that was a fast car for an almost full size Detroit item. Jeez I used to bomb around Seattle in that thing - it was not uncommon to do more than 200 miles in a night. It’s hard to explain, I’m sort of a hippie back to the lander but I do get a kick out of playing the speed racer sometimes.

I’ve read that Ford offered a long wheelbase version of the Crown Vic in the oh ohs, 6 inches longer than the other models, including the police interceptor. Not for public consumption, but available for fleet sales. No idea if that’s the variety I drove. I didn’t know about that back then, I wouldn’t have known what to look for.

[Idle]

Originally Posted by cmac2012

I liked my 1967 Saab 96. Had a V4 and a weak transaxle. I wish I could’ve experienced one of the three cylinder two stroke models, but I never even heard one run let alone rode in or drove one.

But my favorite car has to have been my ‘87 BMW 325i E30. Bought it in ‘02, sold it in ‘18 to some kid who wanted to restore it. I had nursed it from 214K up to 450K approx. It had an electric gremlin that I couldn’t find. I had to get rid of it, I had too many vehicles (4) for my shop parking spaces.

I am pretty fond of my 300SDL however. It’s a different kind of exciting than the Bimmer.

For what it's worth.....

I used to help a guy install after market A/Cs in cars in 1967. We got to where we could put in an entire unit in less than two hours. He got paid $40 per installation and I just got to help out.

To put that in perspective if you made $20 for an eight hour shift you were doing well. He was pulling in about $120 a day on average, but he only worked (mostly) during the summer when people were buying A/C units.

Anyway, we did a lot of SAABs. The first Sonnets had the three cylinder two stroke and it got killed by emissions and had to go to a V-4 from Ford. At least the ones were worked on did.

I drove a numer of the two strokes from the dealer to the shop and then later the four stroke. I never noticed any difference in performance but then I was always taking it easy since these were customers cars and not mine.

[davidmash]

The '77 240D my dad gave me as a first car. Power blue over tobacco MBtex. Loved that car because it was my first. It got stolen and stripped in '91.

The 1987 16v was my favorite. I remember reading about it in Car and Driver and thinking it was another exotic that I will only dream of. Mine was a euro 4spd automatic. I would have loved to have it with a 5sp dog leg but that was not in the cards. The car just spoke to me. Even younger kids I worked with admired it and the car was older than most of them. The engine wore out at 200k miles and at the time I just did not have the cash to sink into to rebuilding it.

The cars I have now are.just cars. They are better in every way than the 240 and 16v but they both pale in comparison. The former had a soul, the latter are just forms of transportation.

[merc lover]

first, none of us "own" a car, truck or SUV IF it is "registered". So....with that in mind, the best overall to me is the 1982 - 1985 - Merc 300D turbo. Not the most comfortable on a long trip, however super RELIABLE and that counts for something.......