Beaters and Daily Drivers

Let's See them!!!

This is my 1993 GMC Sonoma. It actually has the ZQ8 suspention, but the shocks have been replaced with non ZQ8 valved/really cheap autozone shocks.

I have replaced the door pins so they the doors don't sag. It has a new Cat back from the local muffler shop. It has an Autozone battery. I removed the 4x10's that were blown from the back of the cab and replaced the 4x6's in the front with a set of Pioneers from Bestbuy.

It has a new front windshield as the othe was cracked that obstructed the driver's view. It has 4 newer tires, but the front ones are one size smaller that the rear ones, 'cuz that's how I roll.

The black trunk box blew off the back on the freeway so I don't have it anymore. the front fenders are replacment ones and have been painted with Krylon.

It is the 2.8 motor with the 5 speed. It has the 3.93 (or therabouts) rear end.

It has power stearing and Air Conditioning and Cruise Control.

This is my Beater / Daily Driver.

Sweet ride! Especially one that's fully loaded! Makes life so much more tolerable with A/C and power everything... ;)

You know, I'm really starting to like the looked of slammed first-gen S10/S15's.

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The Miata is my main beater/dd but I just got the Merc so that will be seeing more use as the weather turns.

Merc wagon is way cool; very stylish and practical. Is it a diesel?

Yup, turbodiesel...has some decent power.

'99 Forester picked up on the cheap ($800). It needed a knock sensor, front brakes and a tune up. Fresh timing belt and HG's already done by the dealer under warranty. It only had 130k on it so I couldn't pass it up. The 5-speed just makes it that much more fun to drive. Interior is mint so this was a nice score for me. I plan to drive it through the next few Michigan winters so I can spend more $$ on my IT car.

When it rains i drive this:

The rest of the time i rock out the ped:

fornetti14 wrote: '99 Forester picked up on the cheap ($800). It needed a knock sensor, front brakes and a tune up. Fresh timing belt and HG's already done by the dealer under warranty. It only had 130k on it so I couldn't pass it up. The 5-speed just makes it that much more fun to drive. Interior is mint so this was a nice score for me. I plan to drive it through the next few Michigan winters so I can spend more $$ on my IT car.

Nice find.... I'm jealous

My winter beater is an '88 325iX. All wheel drive, heated seats, and it was already rusty and dented when I bought it so it's perfect for a winter car.

grtechguy wrote:

fornetti14 wrote: '99 Forester picked up on the cheap ($800). It needed a knock sensor, front brakes and a tune up. Fresh timing belt and HG's already done by the dealer under warranty. It only had 130k on it so I couldn't pass it up. The 5-speed just makes it that much more fun to drive. Interior is mint so this was a nice score for me. I plan to drive it through the next few Michigan winters so I can spend more $$ on my IT car.

Nice find.... I'm jealous

Yeah.... How the hell did you do htat?

Here's mine! 91 SE-R. Picked it up for ~$1400. Salvaged title but it'll probably end up being an ITA car anyway. Threw some new motor mounts in it (what a PITA), Redline in the tranny (no 5th PO yet!!! 140K), tires and sunroof plug and have driven the snot out of it ever since.

277k (120k on engine) mile rattletrap that gets 38-40mpg

stuart in mn wrote: My winter beater is an '88 325iX. All wheel drive, heated seats, and it was already rusty and dented when I bought it so it's perfect for a winter car.

Huh... didn't know BMW made a -x car that early...

No pics just yet, currently alternating between the Cobra and my Kona for DD duty, though the Camry should be back within the month.... can't wait to turn up the boost and go start picking on WRXs!

ReverendDexter wrote: Huh... didn't know BMW made a -x car that early...

Yup. They sold e30 iX's in the US from 1988-1991. They were available in europe from 1986-1991, I believe. Europe also had an e34 525iX for a couple years in the early 1990s but they never made it across the pond.

ReverendDexter wrote:

stuart in mn wrote: My winter beater is an '88 325iX. All wheel drive, heated seats, and it was already rusty and dented when I bought it so it's perfect for a winter car.

Huh... didn't know BMW made a -x car that early...

They're somewhat rare, but you still see them here and there in New England.

'90 DX Every bushing replaced, some with poly. Current motor is a 10:1 compression single cam mated to an Si trans. Converted from throttle body injection to multiport and OBD1. Otherwise stock & very rusty

The newest addition to my herd of sprint/firefly turbo's:

85whp and 85ft/pnds of torque. Pretty rusty, but it is awesomely loud with the 2.5" straight pipe and Turbo XS RFL (I'll let you guess what RFL stands for) BOV. Fun to rally-x. It is getting some r-compounds shortly plus some stiffer (but same ride height) springs. Did I mention I get 40mpg :D

Run_Away wrote: '90 DX Every bushing replaced, some with poly. Current motor is a 10:1 compression single cam mated to an Si trans. Converted from throttle body injection to multiport and OBD1. Otherwise stock & very rusty

Sounds fast/fun and rough for a DD (mine's very stiff/jarring as well--380/450# GC and Koni Yellow))

fun w/ the d16z6 swap

HiTempguy wrote: (I'll let you guess what RFL stands for)

Real F'in Loud???

I don't think I have a bigger pic laying around...

'99 Honda Civic EX vTec w/ Hondata ECU, cam, under drive pulleys, Eibach Pro-Street Coil-Overs, Si rear sway bar, PowerSlot+ Big Brake kit : 12" front disks and 11.1" Si rear disk conversion, DC Sports 4 into 1 Header, DC Sports "full" CAI, 16x7" SportMax wheels with 205/45/16 Kumho SPT's and it still gets 34mpg...

Currently, basking in the completion of my resto-mod 240Z and daily driving until I cross the magic 1k mile threshold so I can turn up the boost!

honda civic lx is the dd, avg about 32 mpg for the 500+ mile weekly commuting. At $500 plus another $300 in replacement parts, its already paid for itself in fuel savings along, maybe twice. nothing special there, just a good, cheap, depenable dd... the Isuzu Vehicross was the dd until the honda came along, now i just use it for towing, weekend getaways, and in very nasty weather, forded a few flooded streets last week when FAY came through, when most other vehicles got stuck and probably hydrolocked... nasty stuff, but the VX made easy work of it...

The same Saturn SL2m that I do everything in haha. Autocrossed before, road rally, daily driver, donuts-in-the-snow car, everything. Made a round trip to NH from Philly this past week without so much as a peep, 113K miles. Oh, and the new clutch in it was done in my garage, I have literally put blood and sweat into this car (was close to tears hahaha).

saturn clutch in your garage?! Ouch!

'99 Maxima GXE, 5-spd, fresh Tokico Blue struts and springs, 125K miles, and 29 mpg!

Not pretty, and currently no A/C, but she gets the job done!

My Honda Civic VX, heading towards 140,000 miles now, and I've put about 95,000 on it myself over the last 6 years. Rain, snow, long trips, and daily commutes. It has done it all with nary a peep, knock on wood. I'm thinking about fixing up the rust on the quarter panels since it's starting to get bad, but then again, maybe not. It goes fine just the same - I've probably averaged a bit north of 45 mpg over the life of the car.