The other day I was thinking about how trouble free my car has been. Wondering about what others have found to be their dependable daily driver.
If you can, post your daily driver info & photos.
I'll start with mine.
My daily driver, besides the Fiero is a 2010 Hyundai Elantra GLS, which was my mothers car. When we bought the car for her, it was a used 1 year "executive driven" vehicle (what ever that means).
It's what I would call a non descript car, not particularly great looking, just a good car. It came well optioned, sunroof, premium sound, sat radio. Is a very quiet car, the AC is nice and cold. Gets 34 mpg
[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 02-24-2021).]
My "daily driver" (if you can call it that) is a 2019 Honda CR-V. Not the fanciest car by any means but it's reliable. I'm leasing it. I like where I live and like my job. About (2) years ago, the rumor was that my job was going to be moving to another location about (60) miles (each way). I had a (10) year old Buick Enclave (which I loved) that had a little over 200k miles on it and got a whopping 18 mpg on the highway. Figured I'd better get something new(er) and better on gas. Fast forward to the pandemic. Work decided that we weren't going to move afterall and then allowed us to work from home. That's where I've been the past year. (That's also the reason why I added the quotation marks and parenthises above.) I now have a grand total of 3k miles on the Honda. I drive her once a week to the grocery store and/or pharmacy. (I've got all sorts of medical issues.) Once my lease is out, I'm going to give the car back to Honda and buy an older and larger mid size or full size SUV (i.e. Enclave, Tahoe, Suburban or similar). I don't care about the gas mileage. It probably won't have all the tech I have in my Honda but I like bigger SUVs. (Maybe a full size, crew cab pick 'em up truck.) I've seen some pretty good examples for $12k or under but I'm still looking.
I have a 2017 Hyundai Tucson. I bought it new and the dealer has free oil changes which he does every six months using synthetic oil. It came with Bluetooth, Sirrus radio, 6 speed auto, and many standard features. I get an average 29 mpg and this has been mostly around town with all the current travel restrictions.
My daily driver is a Chevy Cobalt..... Not really exciting but at 250K miles it still drives like new. Very easy to work on; neatest and cleanest oil change ever. Last year I replaced the injectors which probably took a half hour tops. I probably could have done it faster if I was in a hurry.
Unfortunately, salt will kill it one of these years.
This is my daily driver…. 94 Toyota Pickup with the 22re & 5 speed, Approx 440,000 miles so far and it doesn’t burn oil. I have to admit though, it is ready for a timing chain. Runs great, good gas mileage, easy to work on too. When you look up “reliable engine” in the dictionary you see this….. Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 11-28-2021).]
2001 Saturn SL-1, reliable as a stone bridge & 35+ mpg. My other is a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer with the 4.2 inline 6. I love it to death. Both cars are well above 200K & use no oil, run like new. My wife has a 2016 Equinox with 140K on it, never a dime in repair, just oil changes & recent brake pads. Stuff I consider normal. We previously had the GM sister version, the Terrain. Same story.
2001 Saturn SL-1, reliable as a stone bridge & 35+ mpg. My other is a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer with the 4.2 inline 6. I love it to death. Both cars are well above 200K & use no oil, run like new. My wife has a 2016 Equinox with 140K on it, never a dime in repair, just oil changes & recent brake pads. Stuff I consider normal. We previously had the GM sister version, the Terrain. Same story.
Wow, that's great that the SL-1 is still going strong. Continued success with both.
[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 12-23-2021).]
I have a 2019 Ram 1500 4x4, and a 2010 Pontiac G6 GT. Since I telework, I'll have to put "daily driver" in quotes, too.
I usually drive the truck because we're always picking up something for the house or farm. Even tow a trailer from time to time. It's got 30K on the odo, and has been as reliable as an anvil. All that's been replaced have been the rear tires (Gotta love the Hemi torque, although I don't do burnouts or other stuff.) and the front differential lock harness. (Chewed by a critter. Replaced it myself. $24. Took less than a half hour. Big deal.)
The G6 has been one of the better cars I've ever owned. ~120K on the odo. Free of squeaks and rattles. All that's gone wrong is a broken wire for the IAT sensor, a front wheel bearing, and a bad front door latch. (THAT was a bunch of fun to replace.) Also a couple of tire pressure sensors, but I don't even count those. I'm also not counting the couple of brake jobs. Just the cost of doing business, and driving in Atlanta traffic. We can't drive, but it doesn't stop us from doing it at 80 MPH.
I drove a 2002 Saturn SL1, 35 mpg, for years until one of my daughters got in a serious bind for wheels. It was perfectly dependable, she still drives it. I now drive a 2007 Trailblazer with the 4200 Atlas inline 6. I think it may be the finest engine I've ever owned.
My Charger turned 10 the other week. 135k, amazingly comfortable for road trips, gobs of power when necessary, reasonable fuel economy when I behave myself. Puked a water pump last year and has some age-related nuisances, but otherwise has never left me stranded and is reasonably easy to work on.
My daily is a 2010 Acura MDX with the Tech/Entertainment package. 176,000 miles, runs great, the only thing is that it has developed a clunk in the front end going over bumps that I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Mine is a 2005 Hyundai Tiburon, 2.0, 5 speed purchased new. It currently has 223,000 reliable miles, Eaton supercharger, Koni struts, poly bushings and a few other mods. It's easy to work on and gets good gas mileage, I use non ethanol. It's the most fun daily driver I have had, like a go kart with a roof and AC. We have driven it all over the US and will continue to do so.
2009 Ford Explorer Sport ... nothing particularly fancy about it. Just the standard 4L V6, sunroof, AC, towing package, and power package (door locks, mirrors, windows) are the only options. All the other stuff is basic... which is just how I like it. It looks good, and runs really well. I think it has around 70k miles on it right now, which is really nothing. I donated my 2002 Ford Explorer with 186k miles on it a few years ago, and this replaced it.
I think color combination, and the wheels are what really make the car... drives well too...
Kind of bragging here but there are few vehicles in the same league as my 94 Toyota pickup. 450K and still going strong. When you look up “reliable engine” in the dictionary, you see this:
Oops! I didn’t realize I posted a while back. Sorry! Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 07-08-2022).]
If you want a car to do anything with and beat the absolute crap out of...
I tow regularly with this, I do thousands of miles through the snow and rough mountain roads every year, smash through snowbanks, drift it in every snowy parking lot I can, I rip it off road, 4 wheel slide on every empty offramp in the dry, and I hit redline multiple times every single day. It is running 19lbs of boost and dynos around 240hp at the wheels, tuning done myself on the stock ECU with free opensource software.
It is NOT perfect. The trans is not the strongest, it likes to melt exhaust valves (at around 170k miles), it burns some oil, and it loves to rust.
But my original trans lasted 304,000 miles, I just never dump the clutch except in the snow.
After doing the exhaust valves and setting the clearances to the higher amounts recommended on the forums, no more issues.
Boxer motors burn oil, and this one has a ton of miles and gets beat on, especially sustaining high Gs. I just top it off every 500-1000 miles. Usually right in between the dots.
If I never drove it in the salty snow it would not rust, but it has to have almost 100k miles in salty weather. If I had been more proactive with rust proofing, it would have held up better, but definitely sub par compared to today's cars. It is just a matter of paint or lack thereof.
These EJ205 motors are much more robust than the 2.5L motors IMO. I also have it tuned to limit boost below 3000rpms. These motors break with too much cylinder pressure at low RPMs, the teeny bearings can't handle it. The 2.5 motors do not help this, JDM STI motors are all 2.0L, rev to 8K, and much better.
The only time it ever left me stranded was soon after I bought it in 2014 because the previous owner lied the timing belt was just done and it broke.
Of course it needs regular maintenance items, hoses, belts, bearings, CV joint re-greasing, timing belts, bushings, mounts, etc. Luckily it is one of the easiest cars to work on and parts are cheap.
I have 308,000 HARD miles on this car. I don't think there are many other cars that I could drive this hard for this long that would take it like this thing does. It was truly designed to go rally racing. If you want an exciting daily that can do everything and can be fixed with basic tools and cheap parts with tons of aftermarket, it is a great candidate.
Things I would do immediately if I got another one: Spray thick oil all over the underside and in all the cracks and crevices. Pull the motor out --> STI oil pan and pickup, equal length headers and the Grimmspeed up-pipe, replace the turbo inlet, re-shim the valves for extra clearance on the exhaust side, new timing belt and idlers. Done. ~ $1000 for all that and it will be pretty bulletproof with regular maintenance and checking the oil level.
Also this is very geared towards places with a snowy climate and pot-hole filled roads, and to people that like to travel to remote places. If you don't need the ability to go anywhere in any conditions, then there are probably better choices. But if you want to drive it like a rally car and fix it with ease for cheap, I don't think anything else comes close. Buyer beware that most previous owners do not take care of these, and that IMO is mainly where they get a bad rap from.
[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 02-02-2023).]
Oh, how things change in 2.5 years since my previous post. I had a bunch of equity in my Honda (thank you, pandemic car buying trends) so I traded it in about 6 weeks ago on a new Hyundai Sonata Limited. It's not the fastest or the best handling (although it's not bad in either of those respects) but it's fun to drive and it's got a great bumper to bumper warranty. (I thought black looked cool. Bad idea w/no garage in NC.)
In 2003 I had my first child. Sold my last "sports car" ('98 Integra Type-R with Jackson racing Supercharger). And since then I put 200K+ miles on a 2003 Camrey and 2013 Hyundia Elantra.
Still have the Hyundai, but got a new "daily driver" when my mom stopped driving her 2013 Impala. It has the 300HP 3.5. Pulls hard and gets 25+ MPG in a 3600 lb car. No way I can use it as a donor car because it looks like new and just has 102K miles.
I also have a 2002 GMG SIerra 4 wheel drive that I use around the farm.
I have had 3 Nissan Muranos. I had a 2007 I bought new and then traded in 2021 for a 2019. This winter a car ran a stop sign and it was totalled. Now I have a 2020 Murano Platinum AWD. It’s comfortable and well optioned. All 3 were/are metallic red.
[This message has been edited by JJFieroFan (edited 09-12-2023).]
