Any Reformed SUV/Muscle Car/Truck Drivers?
 

I'll start first. I recently sold my 2006 Mustang, and replaced it with a 2007 Yaris Lift Back, and I am so darned pleased! Not only does the Yaris get twice the actual MPG, but it is reliable, durable, and it scores very high in ConsumerReports. The Ford was the opposite in all accounts. Having owned the Mustang, there is no wonder why Ford is in big financial trouble. It lacked the most basic expectations for quality, sucked up the gas, and was very unrefined.

But the Mustang does not deserve all the blame...I too am to blame, as I should never have bought it. I wanted power. I wanted looks. I ignored the big cost of gas, insurance, and the hassle of returning the car to service 6+ times! I fell for it's looks, but ignored more important aspects of a car.

But that was then, and this is now...I am a reformed wasteful driver, and I no longer am impressed by 0-60 times, engine size, body looks, and acceleration. That is so, so wasteful, expensive and frankly, very stupid in regard to one's financial future, and of course the environment.

These days I am so impressed by driving slow, striving for the highest MPG, keeping maintenence cheap, and I no longer do the 18-24 month trade-in/car buy which wastes tens of thousands of $$'s in one's life time....at 47 I am more mindful of saving $$. Talk about mortgaging one's financial future!

What are your thoughts on this? Am I alone on this? Do you see a growing trend as gas prices go up?

I'm a reformed horsepower junkie - and it goes way back.

Before I bought the Honda Insight 2 years ago, I was driving a Dakota pickup with the V6 -it would top out at 19-20 MPG. It was a slug.

Before that I had a '90 Chevy 454SS pickup, and it had been modified. Bored to a 468, turbo 400 with no overdrive, and 3.73 gears. 60 MPH was 3000 RPM. 9-10 mpg and it didn't matter how you drove it.

Before that it was an '80 El Camino. The original 305 was replaced with a 355, but it would still get 21 MPG on the interstate. I liked it for towing the boat and commuting.

Wow, you were hard core! :p

Glad you too have seen the light! :)

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I sold my 1991 Ford Thunderbird for a mere $1,800 August, and then bought my current car. The T-Bird was very nice. For one it was free (given to me by my grandma), was in very good shape, had the glorious 5.0L HO engine, fully loaded (the only thing it didn't have was a sunroof), and honestly didn't get that bad FE for it being a V-8. There's a video of me driving it here. You can hear the full-throttle acceleration @ 9:23 in the video.

The Geo is pretty boring, but at least it's front-wheel-drive and I'm currently more than doubling the FE the Ford got.

Since I got my metro I have made my camaro get much worse mileage than it used to so I can't say I am reformed :) I went from 25mpg normal driving to 9mpg normal driving in it. But then again it can now do 11.7 in the 1/4 :D :thumbup: :rolleyes: :eek:

I guess an advantage to living in the middle of nowhere is I can have lots of cars sitting around waiting for me to do something with them and not have to pay a fortune for insurance and licensing while they sit.

I'm a recently reformed muscle car driver. Beofre the zx i had a 5.0 mustang lx that was making closew to 300 rwhp. on highway wasn't too bad as long as i stuck to the limit it would get 21-23. around town is where it wasn't so hot. 13-15 range.

I'm not really reformed either. I am more with Coyote X on this subject. My muscle is a '68 Charger with a 383 and 4.10 gears. I love horsepower and I love FE. For me, it's either power or FE. I just like tinkering I guess.....:rolleyes:

I'm reformed during the week and sometimes back for my old high on the weekend. Today I did just that, took in a SMALL car show at the local high school where the procedes went to the kid's Key Club there. I broke out the heavy guns (the '30 Chevy) for them today but opted not to do burnouts in the parking lot, and even refrained from spinning the tires leaving. We took a LONG drive on the way back and went a good 30 miles out of our way.

Back in my old high school days I had a '67 Mustang that I discovered I could get 23MPG out of if I drove easy. Still, the mileage thing didn't catch on. Even when I lived in Europe it still didn't hit me. Once some of my tree hugger ways starting emerging I started looking at hybrids back in early 2000 but couldn't afford one. In 2003 I got a Civic Hybrid and the mileage thing became a game. Soon I discovered I could get stellar mileage in any car using the techniques I learned driving my Civic. After that, it's history - in the last 20 years I've owned over 100 cars, I'm a junky - they have been collectors cars, muscle cars, sports cars, luxury cars etc.

Like I said though, I normally break out the guzzlers on the weekend and "sometimes, not ALWAYS" drive them like I built them to be driven. A pure rush of adreniline.

Hello fellow junkies!
I guess I'm semi-reformed. My daily driver is a 1990 Laser that puts out around 275HP and I'm driving it well enough to get FE in the low 40mpg range. I haven't commited to selling it and getting a true FE vehicle yet, tho I wonder just how good I could drive a metro or VX if I really tried.

I also like to have fun once in a while, so my second car is a 1992 Eagle Talon that recently did the 1/4 mile at 11.3 @ 130 mph! Yeah, that was a rush! I only drive the Talon once in a while. I drive it so infrequently that when I buy gas for it I just get 4 or 5 gallons at a time. I don't want to dump a ton of money into the tank just to let it sit for months.

Necessity has reformed me. Not because I can't afford the gas though! With a family of five, a short driveway, no street parking, and only a two car garage, we had to go down to two vehicles. The pickup of course has room for all of us, but the Isuzu Impulse AWD Turbo, and later the STi had to go. I hadn't done much to the STi, even though it was something I was fond of calling my slow car (with good reason).

So while I have kissed off cars capable of getting 6-7 mpg at the track, it's not for lack of desire, only space. Regardless, I like to engineer, and finding higher efficiency in a vehicle is still an enhancement to performance that I can get into. It's just less visceral.

Still have the bug
 

I've been a Pro-Rally and WRC fan for a while now. To participate as a spectator, sweep worker, or just driving the course of these events is a rush. I'll admit that I drive efficiently on a day-to-day basis, but when it comes to racing, there's a time and place.

Previous vehicles:

'99 Honda Civic Si (somewhat stock at 100 hp/litre) :D
'03 Mitsubitshi Lancer Evolution VIII (300hp, intercooled-turbo, AWD) :rolleyes:

They were fun to drive, but to realize their full potential required sucking down the gas when you didn't need to, and getting in trouble. :o

Judging by the list, most of the high-hp cars/trucks listed would be good as race-day vehicles, but that's costly for the average Joe. That's the problem with most auto mags out there -- they assume each reader is running quarter miles, top-ends, and max-g corners on the way to work every day. For me, it just doesn't make sense daily -- so here we are. I'd love to have a race-prepped Rally car to have fun once at sanctioned events, but the cost-benefit ratio is tough right now.

RH77

ive only had one car and thats the same one as now. I got tired of driving fast to school (100+) every day and seeing no real differance in time of getting there. Now i just leave earlyer and enjoy my music while getting good mpgs

I was concieved in the back of a Metro, so this is why that car is very fond to me. I felt immense guilt for having betrayed my parent's sentiments, by purchasing a new Yaris. My parents are heartbroke at this pissing on their past, however with therapy I feel good about getting past this latest speed bump. Still, I am glad to have found all you very close and precious friends, as we bond while saving gas, and relive the glorious pasts that we all bring to this wonderful site. I have to admit however that I do miss the days of thundering down the highway in my good old Eagle Talon, a real man's car, to be sure. If only my wife hadn't forced me to sell this wonderful monument to American engineering, I would be as happy as a clam today. Well, boys, I have to get back to my glass of Dewar's as it is late, and I'm yet to catch up to my wife's 4th glass for the evening.

Cheers all!

Real mans car? :rolleyes: You owned a talon and don't even know what country it was engineered in? "Hint" Japan.

I have a rare (1 of 83) turbocharged 4 cylinder '86 Comp Prep SVO Mustang in the garage for the occasions when "Need for Speed" kicks in! It feels Really quick after you get in it after driving The Festiva for a couple of months :D It actually gets decent mileage, upper 20s on the highway.

Japan, American? There you go spliting hairs on me again... :) The truth is, I shouldn't drink & post!

I owned a '98 Durango before I bought my first Saturn. I was able to get as high as 21 on the highway before I finally gave up trying to hypermile the heck out of it to get such poor numbers.:o

It's nice not having to worry about being spotted hypermiling. That's the other reason the sports cars had to go. They were just too much fun not to use as intended. Mine and my wife's driving records are proof of that.

Now at least we are seeing our insurance rates drop.

I hear ya, I have posted some stuff when drinking elswhere :eek: not good sometimes. anyways welcome to gasavers:)

I traded in my 1/2 ton GMC pickup in 2002 for a Toyota Matrix 4WD. The Matrix got exceptional mileage BUT I got a backache on every long drive, and the chin spoiler got dinged off-road. I raised the seat about an inch with washers whch made the seat more comfortable, but there wasn't much I could do to make it off-road-worthy. I suppose I could have ripped the bumper cover off and lived with it, but in all the Matrix just wasn't practical for me.

So, I had to trade the Matrix in, but wanted higher mileage than the GMC, so I bought a Ford 6.0 diesel pickup. It gets worse mileage than the GMC gasser. I still have 18 months of payments, and I'm really unhappy with the dealer, the truck, and the company.

I am somewhat converted. I still have my "hotrod", but hardly ever drive it anymore. It is a fairly rare (1 of 2238) 89 mercury cougar xr7 3.8L v6 with factory intercooled supercharger and 5 speed manual (too bad it weighs close to 4000lbs:eek: ). I could actually probably get 30 mpg with it if I tried, maybe better. I had a tank at 27 mpg once without trying, but that was before I started modifying it for power. Since then it averages around 22mpg (which is actually good compared to the 18 mpg combined epa #). I haven't driven it since I joined this site. I should try it this spring since I've learned many good ways to save gas by driving techniques alone. I may just sell it.

I still drive my s-15 pick-up for haul'in stuff. I know I am getting better mileage than before I joined this site. I have yet to actually fill it up for real #s though. Speed kills FE for that vehicle worse than my metro .

I still drive a rare Honda Element - a 2004 EX Sunset Orange Pearl 2wd 5-speed (1 of about 300). Okay, okay, I guess it doesn't count as rare if I just chose a weird combination of options and colors and drivetrains...

Anyway, does the Element make me reformed or not? I traded in a 626 that got the same mileage but was slower and less useful...

Could you hose-out the interior of the 626? Exactly.

Actually, the Element should have fewer emissions if you get the same FE, so you're actually ahead...

RH77

Aww, you guys say the nicest things. :-)