Losing IT... The joy of driving that is.

dean1484 wrote: What I am finding is I want more comfort and convenience. Dare I say luxury? As my DD. Somthing that I can close the door and be in a very nice environment that is quite. Set the temp and let the car deal with it keeping I there. A nice stereo designed for the space is also very nice. Also important to me is a balance of form and function. I also want some performance. Not zo6 performance but I if I want to get by someone the car has to have the get up and go as well as poise at speed and some cornering ability. Most any mid size executive sedan can provide this. Ford has the sho. Gm has the ss or various Cadillacs to chose from. 5 or 7 series BMWs are an option as are various Mercedes And as I found out Jaguar is also an option. All of these cars are very pleasant places to spend time behind the wheel. All you have to do I get out there and try some of them. You may want to pay your local car max a visit and take a couple on test drives. One thing I found is I really don't like cars with cheap interior's. It is just kind of a downer to be sitting in a cheap environment. It sets a tone for the drive. I use to not care but as I have got older I really hate a cheap feeling interior. Or for that matter a cheap feeling car.

Im not even that old yet and I agree with you which is why I love my daily

Woody wrote: And I really don't like to drive at night anymore.

I don't mind driving at night, but I'm done driving through the night. I'm not sure if it's age or just an increased awareness of how truly stupid it is to drive that tired.
I dislike driving at dawn and dusk though. It's too easy to not see things. I do think that is associated with aging eyes.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Ive never liked driving at dawn. Something about the sun coming up makes me tired. If I drove all night, go inside while it's dark and come out 20 minutes later into daylight I'm good the rest of the day but if I'm out for the sunrise I get groggy.

IDK....my commute is about 50 miles each way in lousy traffic and boring roads. But I still love driving. I think it has a lot to do with what you're driving though. My wife has a Sequoia (which I use for towing and some other utility stuff) and when I drive that I do NOT enjoy driving. It's a bore, even though it's a perfectly good, comfortable, relatively powerful truck.

My DD is a 2009 WRX lightly tuned but with suspension/brakes how I want them and a 5MT. I still love driving that car...in any weather....summer, snow, rain, whatever. Then I mix it up by driving the e30 or the GT6 on occasions, which are a lot of fun in small doses, because you can drive both of them to the max and still not get in too much trouble since they both have low power. Right now I'm building a 1988 Porsche 924S to mostly-stock spec just to have a fun car with decent power and good cruising manners (a GT car). I also still road-race, rallycross, and rally, which are even more fun.

All in all though, your list of cars sounds terribly boring. I think if I drove any of those cars regularly, I would be bored with driving as well. In fact, I have zero interest in driving any of those cars for any reason (though the Ridgeline always piques my interest for purely utilitarian reasons). There are plenty of sporty, fun-to-drive cars out there these days that are also civilized and comfortable. Though, I'd say one major aspect of driving fun for me is three pedals. Driving any automatic bores me. I love rowing gears - and in the subie it's almost a game to see how perfectly I can keep it in boost, lol.

I use to say I would never have a two peddle car. 30 years stuck in traffic around metro Boston every day spending two to three hours in stop and go parking lots on the interstate and a manual is not the proper tool for the job.

In reply to irish44j:

I completely agree with you his list of cars I have no interest to drive. They are all appliances that have no sole. It would be like locked in car jail hell. No wonder the urge to drive has left him.

In reply to Dean and Irish - this is where my thoughts were taking me and most of the posts here have mostly confirmed that. I can't significantly change my route but I can hopefully change what I drive and work on my attitude towards driving.

Now to give serious consideration to what I would enjoy driving. I have some thoughts on a "what car" and will research via threads on here.

Again, I appreciate ALL of the replies to this thread. Very helpful.

Joe

You need a car that makes every drive an event.

Or at least one you can walk out to in the morning and say "berk yea, I get to drive THAT, I'm the luckiest mother berker in this town"

I get this way in the winter sometimes. Driving whatever craptastic beater i have at the time. I have yet to tire of driving my zephyr. Even if im not doing dumb things like burnouts i love just driving it. The car makes me happy. Low power, noisy, but it has character.

Sounds like you need either a kart or a Corvette.

You may need to find a vehicle (car or bike) that either makes you giggle at least one time on every drive or that makes you want to giggle. Whether it inspires you to make a hard pull, take an off ramp or turn at higher speeds or just get a chirp or light up the tires on occasion.

I built Midlana for the weekends and it focuses my attention every time I drive it. Seriously, have you considered building a Locost or Midlana? Either could well rekindle your interest.

Yeah, sounds like an interesting vehicle would go a long way for you. It's nice to have something two pedal, easy to drive, for the times you just need to get somewhere, but if I drove the Silverado every day, I probably wouldn't find any joy in driving. The e30 and the wagon, on the other hand, are great fun, even if they (especially the wagon) get to be a little bit of sensory overload on longer 'normal' drives.

Similar thing happened with me and it cause severe car ADD for a while where I was constantly changing vehicles.

I just changed the scenery basically. Got into foreign market cars and imported a Skyline though it sucks for autocross or racing, you can't get a decent class, but otherwise the connections I make just made it more fun for me. Talking with people overseas and people who just want to talk about my car.

Plus having a car that finally matched fully what I wanted to drive helped as well. Every car I had before just disappointed, even if this does which doesn't seem likely I can spruce it up and bring it to car shows.

jjreyn wrote: I worry that my perception of driving as a chore...

Driving is a chore. Unless you are racing or going out for a "pleasure drive", its a chore. Its something you have to do to get to your destination. Sure, there are fast, sexy, or otherwise interesting cars that can add some spice to this chore, but its still a chore.

I see no need to change you view, especially for your kids. They should want to drive so they can get places. If they have other ways of getting where they are going without driving, great.

To echo what others said, if you want to enjoy driving more, try out a few forms of racing. If that isn't doing it for you, move on and do something else you enjoy more. Don't force it.

Oh, and get a shorter commute.

Again, all great comments.

Shorter commute - have been working on that. Just nothing has happened on that front yet. I keep working on it though.

The more I think on it and read thru the comments the more I realize that I've sort of forgotten the boy side of me. Drove a WRX (manual) when the Wife was looking for a new car. It did quite appeal to the teenage boy in me, but was not something she needed and she really didn't like the automatic version. Honestly my leanings are towards unrefined fun to drive cars and while fun the WRX was more refined than I expected. Did not drive the STI. I would not mind a weekend car, but prefer something I can drive across town or even put the family in on occasion. I want that steering feedback and immediate response when I hit the go pedal and likewise when I want to stop. Manual will be a must. To get all that with some level of comfort I seem to be leaning towards the e36 or even perhaps the e30 if a good one was found and of course either as an M3 if one of those appeared without being half destroyed. I think I would smile each time I got in one or worked on it. But I wonder - do those breed parts like aircooled VWs do? I mean really it seems that once you get an early VW and a couple of parts you end up with more just overnight - I still have stuff I haven't quite figured out where it came from.

Joe

A while back, I got a company car. New car, no maintenance costs or work to do, came with gas card. And I drive a lot, both commuting and for work itself. The catch is that I had to trade my automotive soul. I had been driving my fun cars for work- Miata, Galant VR4, Legacy GT, and my Titan when needed. Even though the company car was a big financial benefit, I had reservations. After a year and a half I can tell you the the company car, a 2015 Chevy Malibu, is definitely an appliance. It's actually a pretty decent car. It does all the car like things is supposed to do reasonably well. It's no sports car, but it goes, turns, and stops just fine. And I have no desire to drive it other than to go from point A to point B. I don't take the long way home. I don't go to the fun on ramp on purpose. I don't try to catch red lights so that I can be in front. Now, I find that I enjoy my fun cars even more than I used to. They are like a reward. When my wife asked me to run an errand, I jump up and grab the keys- and rarely take the most direct route.

sesto elemento wrote: You need a car that makes every drive an event.

Most have said something similar, but Sesto said it most succinctly. Sounds like you're already on that path, but it bears repeating.

Relevant to the issue, we just got our 2011 WRX back from a 3 month dealership visit for the Takata airbag issue. During that time we had a rental 2015 Town & Country with pretty much every option. It was a NICE vehicle to have with our infant twins, for obvious reasons. Compared to the Subaru, it was a better vehicle for kid duty in every conceivable way. That said, (I'm pretty sure you know where this is going) I found myself being more easily frustrated and disappointed during the daily grind until we got the WRX back. I realize that sounds pretty ridiculous and dramatic, but there it is . (I mean, the nerve of them to provide a free rental $40K+ swag-wagon with heated seats, automatic doors, dual-climate control, and an awesome bass-heavy stereo system!)

There are some people who are happy with a pure appliance for daily driver duty as long as they have a fun car in the wings. I realize I am not one of those people. For how much time I spend in my commute, I want to enjoy it.

Matt B wrote: For how much time I spend in my commute, I want to enjoy it.

This is why step 1 for me is: remove/reduce commute. Spend very little time doing it, and its no longer an issue.

Plus, commuting sucks in general. You know what wasn't fun to drive to work? My S2000. Neither is my Saturn, but it accomplishes the same chore for 1/25th the cost.

In reply to ProDarwin:

Certainly a good strategy and kudos if you can manage to set up your life that way. However it's not one you can really bank on it working for everyone's situation, career path, and housing budget. Kids only complicate matters when you now try to balance out house size and school districts with enough income to pay for everything they need. Forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir here, as I have no idea what your life is like.

I also suspect we may have different preferences. On some days I would prefer to drive either my old Integra or crusty MR2 to work (both on aftermarket suspensions), but the darn rugrats' car seats won't fit. That said, it probably helps I don't have a highway commute or have to deal with much stop-n-go traffic.

The type of roads you drive to work makes a big difference. My commute is only straight roads. I'm bored out of my mind.

I really want this commute:

The best commute to work!

My daily commute is 4 miles. Im not sure how some of you guys manage to deal with 100+ mile days. I get tired of boring cars on a short trip.

jjreyn wrote: No motorcyle - too many idiots on the road around here unfortunately. Loved riding dirt bikes back in the day though.

If the roads around you aren't too inspiring (plus full of crazies,) is getting off-road on a dirt bike out of the question these days?

I enjoyed the heck out of dirt bikes as a teenager, but too much potential for trouble on the street led me to hang it up after only a couple years. I got back into it a few years ago (with a dual sport) in my late thirties, and while I am not regretful, I often find myself saying, "this is so much fun, why did I ever stop?"

Wherever you end up finding your enjoyment, I'm glad most of us on these forums buck the trend of "settling down" to an adult life of all work and no play. It saddens me when I hear people talk as if their adult self isn't supposed to be having fun anymore.

A long commute blows. Commuting in general blows.