Does Your Daily Driver Move Your Body, Your Soul, Or Both?

As families grow, and needs change, I imagine all enthusiasts who choose to have kiddos go through a similar phase of reconciling their desire for a "fun" car with the needs of car seats, day car drop offs, late nights and tired mornings where an abrasive hyper engaging car is not what you desire when your kid has kept you up all night and you just need to get to the office. 

I've been hunting around for a daily driver with a bit more back seat space and utility (there's been a couple of threads), and it got me thinking about what everyone is getting behind the wheel of every day, and if that object is just a utility device or something more. 

I'm not talking about a brand new Avant RS6, as that is out of most forum member's reach (I'm guessing), but what are you piloting? And is it there to just cart you around? Or do you have a relationship that goes beyond that? 

I have to drive an enjoyable car. I think I'd fall asleep if I had to drive a camry to work everyday. So I hope around between old projects. b5 s4 avant, e30 wagon, e30v8, jaguar s-type r...

But I have no kids, and no intention of having any. Dogs are enough for me.

We have a Sienna and a CRV for daily driving with two rear facing car seats it's hard to find something more practical than a mini van. At 6' 2" even the CRV is a tight squeeze for me with a rear facing car seat behind me. Hopefully my wife will let the older one face forward soon and I can think about getting a "fun" sedan. 

Around here(everywhere), the commute on the interstate involves dealing with a ton of distracted and terrible drivers. My friends and i have found that if you have a nice vehicle, people will tailgate you and try to push you around. inversely, if your driving a older/"crappier" vehicle, aggresive jerks tend to stay away. 

I love my 2003 nissan pathfinder. Good room for the family, seats adjust way back. It has the VQ v6 so good power. Real 4x4 setup. I love driving it. They can be had cheap. Mine was 2k because it was in limp mode. Easy fix. 
 

its got a 2" lift, trimmed for tire clearance. A set of titan 18" wheels and tires that cost me i think 150$ for all 4.  And i found a shopping cart on the trails today so hey why not toss that bish on the roof. 

Mostly it moves my butt.

I like my Outback a lot; it handles decent and the fact that I could get a 6 speed manual was a big draw.  It's a faithful old dog.

After having suffered through Prius C ownership for 4 years, I ended up with a wagon that manages to do a little of both. I sacrificed 30mpg to no longer be a rolling chicane. 

The current one does both. The new one is a body mover for sure. But on the average day I drive all of 10 miles max so I really don't care. On top of that, The summer is 50% motorcycle so outside of 1-2 trips a year and track time, My fleet maybe does 8K miles combined. 

My daily driver is a 27 year old Corolla. It simply moves my body. I demand economy and reliability in a daily driver. Old Toyotas do that very well. 
 

I will drive my old truck or Corvette every so often to break the monotony for a day or two. 

I'm of the opinion that a daily driver that bores me to death or makes me dislike driving it is a poor daily.  Currently I'm dd-ing the E38.  It's got some soul and a good bit of capability if pushed, but honestly, it's a bit more boring and appliance-like than the Jeep ever was as a DD.  But the E38 does a good job of comfortably moving people around, for the most part it "just works" and it's pretty darn rare that I find something I need to move that doesn't fit inside (or on a trailer behind it). 

Both, that's why I have two.   Escalade is great at moving people and stuff and trailers and is quite competent and comfortable at all of that.  Soul stirring it is not, but at least it is relaxing.   
 

The NSX is the opposite.  Nothing but soul stirring.  

I drive a rusty old suburban.  I think it's more of a manifestation of my personality 

Winter DDs: 350awhp '12 Golf R or Lifted off-roady '03 Tacoma. I dig both.

Summer DDs: Same Golf or a 290rhp '07 Cayman S. I dig both.

On a long trip you can't talk me out of the Cayman, so comfortable to drive long distances.

If I had kids, I'd be looking hard at a Euro rs2 Avant to import. No clue what they cost though but one of my favorite wagons.

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:

My daily driver is a 27 year old Corolla. 

Old Corollas are awesome - even the Toyota CEO owns one.  

I like my Mazda 6. The hatch makes it useful for hauling stuff and the backseat has plenty of room for the kids. It's not fast or particularly sporty but it is still nice to drive, not totally boring.

I'd be looking pretty hard at Kia Stingers If I had to pick a newer and nicer car to replace it.

I very much enjoy the 2019 Mazda CX-9.  Comfortable, versatile in that it can carry both people and cargo in varying percentages, economical--gets 27 MPG in mixed driving, and the fastest vehicle I have ever daily driven by a wide margin.  Looking forward to wearing it out and buying a new CX-90 in a few years.

I have a 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It is much like all the mid size rentals I drive. Quiet, comfortable, reasonably quick, and reliable. But it does not do anything for me at all. I drive it wishing I was driving something old and cool, but everything I own that's old and cool is in pieces or needs work. After 30 years of driving and fixing old stuff I decided I would buy an appliance and just work on stuff that I did not need to rely on. 

For most of my career, I did.  But the actual drive is so very boring, it didn't help much.  Taking the top down was nice- but it's still 95% freeway in traffic.  Yuk.

Mr Meejeeps moves me, body and soul and toys. A practical car to drive every day here in snowy Tahoe but also fun and silly enough that I enjoy it every day. 

GF drives a lowered 6spd JSW TDI which manages to also be very fun and engaging and even more practical, at least outside of snow season. 

I'm sure there is a fun car that fits most scenarios

I was lucky(?) to have had company cars for over 20 years. Some were fun (Ford Contour) and some wanted to make you drive straight into a wall (Ford Tempo). At the end of my fleet car days they were all pretty competent and I could drive them with some aplomb on the back roads and have a decent time. Nowadays with the shift to CUVs in company fleets it's truly a 'meh' experience and I don't miss it.

Having not been blessed/cursed with children my DD is a Mustang, so life is pretty good.

I drive a $500 liberty. I used to drive nice stuff, but then people kept wrecking up my nice stuff. So I drive E36 M3ty stuff, with the knowledge that I am at complete peace if I total it on the way to wherever. It's very zen. 

Swmbo drives a penalty box nissan, and is looking at Lexus hybrids. She wants nice stuff. She's been driving E36 M3ty stuff her entire life. This Nissan is the nicest car she's ever owned- and it's a 2014 with hand roll windows and a stick. 

I really enjoy my 08 non-SI civic coupe, AKA vtec slow.

Admittedly, my standards are low, which aligns well with my transportation budget. The manual transmission, combined with Koni sport shocks, a 24 mm rear sway bar, and a set of RE71 tires make it a fun drive.  

I really enjoy my XJ's.   I agree with buzzboy on the '99 Jeep XJ.  Silly, but I have a Smiley face key chain for it, that's what it does to me.  The Jaguar XJ8 is my fair weather ride.  Comfortable, yet just sporty enough, to engage you.  It too, brings a smile to my face.

In reply to Dirtydog (Forum Supporter) :

I've had a bunch of XJs. Our last was a 2001, coil packs, etc. The plastic dash did not do it for me.

My '96 (I think) was amazing 4.0 ten was one of my all time favorite 6s. Padded dash, so nice. Put a tow package d44 in it and made it betterer.

My daily is my 66 Chevelle. Just got turned on to Rainex which has transformed it for driving in the rain. Old wipers SUCK.

Before I got the Tesla I was actually looking for a cheap manual like Bobzilla, something like a Kia GS hatch that I could wring out like mad on the road despite my MR2 being built for that.

The Model 3 is pretty weird. I don't agree with people who claim the steering feel isn't there, but I DO agree it's "divorced" from the experience. In fact if you drive it like an old man, it feels like a nice, comfy I6 sedan... until you hit the throttle and you find the limit of your tires . So I'd say it does a little of both pretty damn well.