My current personal car. A 2003 BMW 525. I don't allow eating in it so it's pretty clean unlike our Pilot which shows traces of stuff spilled months ago. For some reason I've always enjoyed cars. Even when I had no idea of the technical stuff, I'd borrow Road & Track and Car & Driver from the library and read up on the cars. This was junior high age (around 12)...I didn't get obsessed but I enjoy them very much. So about the BMW, around 2000 Hector would get his subscriptions to Consumer Reports...the CAR issue. This is where they give an unbiased report on the all the makes and models. I love to browse that issue and pretend to pick a car I would buy. Of course I realized that no car is perfect...some cars were butt ugly, poor acceleration etc but a decent looking car is a good start for me. I was used to seeing the pros and cons of the models which the cons usually had something significant like poor handling so I'd cross that off my mental checklist. Well, that year the BMW 525 was a standout. The cons on this model was flimsy cupholders.....what? Is that it? Well that sealed the deal for me. The only thing was that it is on the pricey side. $40,000 for a car and the price just goes up with all the options. Hmm....well I think I talked about that car for a couple of years until Hector finally caved in (he's the best) and bought me my 525. It was late in the year so all those models were slim pickings and the only available colors were silver, black and white. No, I wanted the Steel Blue with gray leather interior. So BMW ordered it for me in Germany and I could track its progress on the internet. I would take every opportunity to pore over the 85 page book looking at the color options, tech specs etc. It took 3 months but I finally received my 3rd baby February 1, 2003. It was a good thing that I got the car when I did because the next year the 525 was revamped to the current model which I didn't care for. So that's the story....it still looks new and clean with a couple of dings from rude people. It only has about 31,000 miles on it after 5 years and I only had to change the oil twice (free maintenance), windshield wipers and one headlamp (also free). Oh, and Consumer Reports was correct with the cupholders....one has been broken for a year now. Small piddly things because the car drives like a dream....speed, power and great brakes. It was in a small fender bender long time ago when I was driving home from Vegas on I-15. Rear ended in stop and go traffic which costed about $1000 to fix the bumper (thank goodness for insurance). Josh loves this car too and always asks when we go somewhere if its the red or blue car. He gets very happy when we ride in the blue car. So do I.
My second best car and I get very nostalgic about this one. My 1994 Toyota Celica. This was a great car...it took me everywhere. I was commuting a lot with this one so it had over 100,000 miles on it after 4 years and I never had a problem with it. Regular maintenance kept this baby running like a dream. I drove this car in the snow in Utah and it handled great. I was very proud of the fact that I drove the car for about 80,000 before needing tires which amazed the tire people at Costco. It was because I was always in traffic going about 30 miles an hour so I piled on the miles but never drove the car very hard. For a time Hector borrowed my car and he fell in love with it too. A super cute sporty number that hugged the road. I sold this car to a 'friend' for $3000 and then he turned around and sold it a year later for $3600. Oh and this car was stick shift which I LOVE to drive. That's one thing I miss with the BMW (automatic).
1994 Mitsibishi Eclipse. My mom and I went to the nearest auto mall in Tustin. I originally was interested in Acura but the men there ignored me so I took my business next door to the Mitsubishi dealer. This was a fun car but I never got to find out much about it. Two months later I got into a very bad accident involving an 18 wheeler tanker carrying a full load of milk which rear ended me while I was stationary behind a long row of cars and I happened to be the first in the chain of events. Actually my car was stuck to the front of the truck where we hit about 5 cars then went over the shoulder and down a 100 ft drop hill. I had to be cut out with the jaws of life, had a fractured pelvis and multiple cuts and bruises. I spent 10 days in the hospital and then had physical therapy for about 3 months after that. The Eclipse was totalled but it worked out in the end. I bought the Celica, paid off my student loans and bought a condo with the settlement.
1986 Toyota Corolla. I bought this one used when I was college so I drove this one a lot too. This was one little good car too. I drove this to college in Stockton from LA then it served me well on my long commutes to work. I put on lots of miles and it was very dependable.
My first car in high school. Piece of crap. 1976 VW Dasher wagon. It was even this reddish orange oxidized color too. I got a stick shift so my mom couldn't drive it but she was lucky since it was an awful car. I think I had this for a year before we sold it again. It got me around town but that was about it. Something was always breaking down. Good riddance.
So that is my car history....what was your first car or fave?
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