Modern Buddy

Who own those really thirsty vehicles??

Just curious after that other thread what kind of vehicles new scooter owners are taking off the road.

My Buddy ( 80 MPH) has nearly replaced my 98 Saab 900SE (17/27 MPH) as my WARM WEATHER vehicle.

I also own a Toyota Sienna and a Nissan Sentra.

I own a 1993 Infiniti J30 with 221k on it. I bought it for $200 not running, a new engine for $1200, and misc. maintenance and other stuff for a total of maaaaybe $3k, and that's including having someone do the swap for me. The engine has maybe 80k miles or so, and I get 18/26 mpg roughly. I really don't like filling the tank, but it's a pretty nice ride for what it is.

2008 Toyota Yaris, pretty good gas mileage.

'08 Volvo C30, 19/27. I used a scooter as my primary commuter vehicle for a couple years, but knew I'd get a car at some point. My commute changed and I was working on a product launch which meant a lot of very long days and late hours. The scooter wasn't practical anymore, so after much research and test drives of several cars, I got the Volvo. Of course, a couple months later I started working from home. The Volvo doesn't get driven every day, that's for sure. It's pretty much our weekend vehicle when not on the scoots.

98 Astro van with two really low tires. It has not moved from the driveway since getting home from BSA summer camp two months ago. 16mpg in town, about the same on the road if loaded with scouts and camping gear. Maybe 18-19. Its my workhorse.
04 CRV. My wife loves it. Its full of kid stuff. You know, books, mags, a baseball or two, the occasional french fry. Great little kinda truck.

I've got a '99 Honda Accord 4Dr; the wife has an '08 Honda Fit. I would highly
recommend the Fit. Gas efficient, for a non-hybrid, and all the seats fold completely flat for maximum storage in a hatchback.

DennisD wrote:98 Astro van with two really low tires.

My '91 Cabriolet sat and deteriorated in my driveway with a broken clutch. I eventually had to donate it to the local public radio station just to get rid of it. Sad and a little shameful.

ericalm wrote:I eventually had to donate it to the local public radio station just to get rid of it. Sad and a little shameful.

An NPR dude! YEA! I have donated 3 to my local Public Radio station.

Sorry, not on point...

2000 Nissan Maxima SE. Average 25 MPG most of the time. My scot is replacing it for commuting to work except during bad weather. I also use the scoot whenever I do not have to carry any family with me.

skullmechanic wrote:

ericalm wrote:I eventually had to donate it to the local public radio station just to get rid of it. Sad and a little shameful.

An NPR dude! YEA! I have donated 3 to my local Public Radio station.

Sorry, not on point...

Yeah, but hey auction it for $500 and can't even give me a membership and, a Car Talk coffee mug or a signed David Sedaris book?

ericalm wrote:Yeah, but hey auction it for $500 and can't even give me a membership and, a Car Talk coffee mug or a signed David Sedaris book?

Really?! I asked and got a membership and a year of Newsweek. But most of all, I got that warm fuzzy feeling and good karma.

My other car is a 2002 WRX. I average about 18mpg. But 100 spg (smiles per gallon)
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/racenut/WRX ... 6562"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/racenut/SKMmvCQZp7 ... 29_shp.jpg" /></a>

Honda Ridgeline Truck. I'm averaging 18mpg combined.

2001 Toyota Camry. 22/28 MPG. Part of that has to do with the way I drive.

1999 Toyota Camry, I love the car. I get about 32/35 mpg.

ericalm wrote:

skullmechanic wrote:

ericalm wrote:I eventually had to donate it to the local public radio station just to get rid of it. Sad and a little shameful.

An NPR dude! YEA! I have donated 3 to my local Public Radio station.

Sorry, not on point...

Yeah, but hey auction it for $500 and can't even give me a membership and, a Car Talk coffee mug or a signed David Sedaris book?

Yea, but you got that warm fuzzy feeling and good karma. No? You probably already have a coffee cup and can catch up on the magazines in the doctor's office waiting the 90 minutes after your appointment time for your annual physical.

Sorry, its Sunday and I just paid $4.49 for a gallon of milk.

Talk about not on point...

03' Subaru Baja. I love her just as much as Stella!
'82 Scamp 13'. More fun than Stella and Subaru combined!

I normally drive a 2007 Lexus IS250, which gets surprisingly good gas mileage. On the freeway I got it up to 38 MPG on a 80 mile drive, but that was with one person, no air cond, and driving the speed limit Normally I get around 30 MPG on the freeway (California) driving around 78. Around town it plummets to a respectable 22 mpg. Car average since mile 1 is around 27 mpg (according to the car's computer).

And it's fast when you take it out of auto mode and go to the paddle shifters. Very responsive and fun to drive.

A gold/tan 2000 ford focus 4 door. It gets me places.. and thats about it I dont do much highway driving but I think it gets about 29 on the highway.. I do short in town trips so i get pretty crappy city mileage.. about 16-18 city

I have an 05 BRG Mini Cooper s.

I have an '03 Accord, gets 32mpg combined...
I am looking for a new car though...

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1039 ... 002jn6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>

my partner and myself went from 2 cars to zero car for the past 2 years and finally had to get something because it was no longer possible to be w/o a car (try carrying film equipments using the bus ) so this may i went and looked for the most economical little big car i could find and so now we have a 1st gen Scion xB and average about 40mpg.

Just a note on MPGs… When using the mileage provided by the car manufacturer, keep in mind that the EPA changed the way this was calculated for the '08 models to better reflect "real world" driving conditions, so they're going to be lower than the '07s and previous. Some cars appeared to be less fuel efficient in '08 (or roughly the same as previous years) when they were actually better.

yep. this is with me doing the calculations myself at each gas fill-up. i've been doing this for my cars for a while now so it's a true 40mpg that i'm getting.

I didn't know that mpg reporting was different. Thanks! I reported personal experience with mpg. above.

I drive a 1989 Acura Legend with 220K on the odometer. Will get 26 on the highway if I don't goose it too much. Wife drives a 2001 Mazda with a 2.0 four banger, 110K, that gets about the same. Just got a 2000 Cavalier with a 2.2 that gets 30 mpg on the highway that I got for the daughter that gets 30 mpg on the highway and has only 101K on the odo. Paid $1000 from a neighbor....such a deal. Still want a 57 Chevy Bel-Air with a 283, Power Pack, and Wonderbar radio....yeah, that's gonna happen!

a sad and neglected Toyota Sequoia.

A Volvo s40 that I have been inactively trying to sell for years. 2003 with less than 40,000 miles on it. I really don't drive much unless I am going on a road trip.

Tenchi wrote:I drive a 1989 Acura Legend with 220K on the odometer. Will get 26 on the highway if I don't goose it too much. Wife drives a 2001 Mazda with a 2.0 four banger, 110K, that gets about the same. Just got a 2000 Cavalier with a 2.2 that gets 30 mpg on the highway that I got for the daughter that gets 30 mpg on the highway and has only 101K on the odo. Paid $1000 from a neighbor....such a deal.

What i get from this? We haven't made much progress since 1989.

Tenchi wrote:Still want a 57 Chevy Bel-Air with a 283, Power Pack, and Wonderbar radio....yeah, that's gonna happen!

I passed on an opportunity to get one of these way back in '86. It would have been my daily driver and I was afraid of killing it with miles. (Instead, I got a '68 Cougar which I killed with miles.) If I'd only had a scooter back then! Dang parents.

Racenut: is your rear passenger side tire off the ground just entering a hard right after some hard breaking huh?


and as for me... my car gets 0/0 mpg...

I sold it to get my buddy.

I drive an 07 Ford Focus (about 35 MPG) and my wife drives a 95 Honda Civic (about 37 MPG).

This is my family transporter 25ish/30ish


The work-horse I'm not sure about town/highway but in the 700 miles I've put on it since I got it it's been through 5 days of auto-x and still averages 28mpg. It got 46 on the way home from Provo.

MikieTaps wrote:Racenut: is your rear passenger side tire off the ground just entering a hard right after some hard breaking huh?

Makes for a cool pic huh?

Looks like Eazy gets it done too.. though a Civic running in SM?

Racenut wrote:

MikieTaps wrote:Racenut: is your rear passenger side tire off the ground just entering a hard right after some hard breaking huh?

Makes for a cool pic huh?

Looks like Eazy gets it done too.. though a Civic running in SM?

Bought it with a JDM ZC already swapped into it.

With a b16 and the SMF class next year I should be quite a bit more competitive on a national level. I already do decent regionally. Especially considering I'm running on blown shocks and ebay stuff that was already on the car.

I have a restored '87 GMC truck. I love her and she's beautiful. But watch out at the pumps. Besides loving to ride, she's the reason I now have a Buddy as my main form of transportation. But she has her place, for usage and in my heart.

I tried to add a jpg but had problems. What am I doing wrong? I'd love for all of you to see her.

Mogirl

Nice! Our SM class gets a little crazy and running a Civic would require some serious effort against 400+HP Evos and STi's. Sometimes Vic Sias shows up in his national champion M3. He's stupid fast

I'm running ESP, leading points locally, but have no plans to do anything beyond that yet. It's just my once a month yeeeehaaaa session

Our current cars include:

* 1970 Volvo 1800E
* 1970 Innocenti Mini
* 2007 Honda Fit


We sold the turquoise 1800 (on eBay) to buy the safari yellow 1800 (on eBay) because it's a 4-speed AND has factory-installed a/c that works! What's a girl not to love. The turq was one of two turquoise automatics in the USA and was made for a dealer.


This Volvo is a daily-driver in the winter (he rides his scoot all spring/summer/fall).


This is an Innocenti Mini which is the Mini Cooper but made Italy; therefore, it does not run. It's got bad electrics and bad everything else. But we drove it up here from New York and actually passed one car (a little old lady in Saturn). Note the sweeeet 1980 Volvo 240 in the background...why did I give it to my b/f's brother? He can't drive a stick to save his life.


The Fit is our first brand new car. That was an *ahem* interesting experience. This is the car after a wikkid winter storm at my favorite beach in Rhode Island.

Man I love threads like this. Means I get to show off my OTHER hobby

My 1970 Plymouth Sport Satellite Wagon(note since someone pointed it out last time I posted this pic: It now does high 13's.):

<img src="http://www.piratelogy.com/wagon.jpg">

My 1950 Chrysler Windsor:

<img src="http://www.piratelogy.com/windsor.jpg">

My 1967 Plymouth Belvedere:

<img src="http://www.piratelogy.com/belvedere.jpg" width=80%>

My 1937 Ford Pickup:

<img src="http://www.piratelogy.com/ford.jpg">

my other baby is my 2006 mercedes benz c230...i only use her when i need to get on the highway, other then that, my buddy is my new best friend

Kaos wrote:
My 1937 Ford Pickup:

<img src="http://www.piratelogy.com/ford.jpg">

Ahhhhhhhhh...that's a nice toy. How many scoots can you transport in the back of that?! Scraped paint optional

Ahhhhhhhhh...that's a nice toy. How many scoots can you transport in the back of that?! Scraped paint optional

Heh, never tried scooters. Though my father in law(Whom I built it for origionally) has hauled both garbage and gravel in it. I cringe every time I think about it....

I drive a 2003 volkswagen passat wagon = carries the dogs around.

I have a Silver and black convertible PT cruizer to go with my Silver and black 110 Rattler!

Our other cars OPEC loves us for:
4x4 dodge ram
4x4 Chevy S-10 (son's)
Jeep Wrangler
Motorhome - whopping 8 MPG! But great for traveling with kids and dogs
Crownline (also gas hog but fun on the lake)
and XR 400 dirtbike rounds up the garage.

I drive an '03 F-150 Supercrew V8. It hauls the kids to school and the boat every so often. I bought it new and maybe have 48K miles on it. It does not get driven very often.

'02 Honda Civic and '01 Honda Accord

98 GTI VR6

This is one of my favorite questions.

The Mrs. has a Ford Explorer. Her territory is all of Missouri and Kansas, so we need a freeway cruiser.

I sell real estate, and I did have a Lincoln Town Car.

Since we both kinda work out of the house, we decided to share the one gas guzzler (which is mostly her driving and me taking out clients once or twice a week).

So, I bought a scooter and a fun car to restore and play with: A 1980 BMW 320i. It gets 35 miles to the gallon and gets driven once or twice a week. I paid more for my Blur than the BMW, by the way.

my car is a subaru legacy wagon 24/30 mpg
most of my scooter riding is replacing driving around town when I would be getting 24mpg
the subaru (which I love) replaced a dodge durango 11/15mpg

actually what my scooter replaced was my 79 fiat spider

I still miss it - but my scooter makes it easier to let it go

2007 VW GTI. 32 mpg highway, and haven't driven her in over 2 weeks.