The Cars You've Driven and How They've Changed Over Time.

[Duque de Bragança]

Licence at 19, but after a few years of driving mostly during the summer and/or for the job, I don't drive anymore.

First car was the family car, a Diesel red 1978 (!) Ford Transit van. Mind you, this was in the second half of the '90s. 
No air conditioning, manual of course. Old school Diesel, as in getting time to heat and not exactly nervous. Reliable though. Car had been somewhat upgraded in the '80s by adding a backseat (most important) and a new car radio and speakers, which never really got a lot of use. Ended up being sold to a handyman (Portuguese red van man?  ).
The Larch complaining about the heavy steering wheel of a puny Renault 5 makes me laugh. 

Felt pretty safe inside it, but not exactly great at speed. 4-speed gear box for a Diesel did not help. Upgrading to a 5-speed gear box was once considered by my father but was deemed too costly or unpractical.
Nice for small town/countryside driving where it may be freedom, or rather having no car means being a poor serf but hell in a big city if not for very good work reasons. Trying to park it in Paris would have been nightmarish.

PS: this was pre-GPS time area, so going to an unknown place meant planning the trip on a map and/or using it on the way, or asking the locals and getting into detours sometimes.

[Admiral Yi]

I've owned two cars.  First was a 79 Honda Prelude I bought in 88 or 89.  Two door, power sunroof, manual, busted radio.  I made my Epic Transcontinental Journey in that car then around 92/93 it failed an emissions inspection then I sold it to a repair shop for $50 instead of paying the trillion dollars to get it up to spec.

The second is the car I own now, a 2017 Jeep Wrangler hardtop.  4wd (duh) automatic.

[mongers]

Licence at 19, but after a few years of driving mostly during the summer and/or for the job, I don't drive anymore.

First car was the family car, a Diesel red 1978 (!) Ford Transit van. Mind you, this was in the second half of the '90s. 
No air conditioning, manual of course. Old school Diesel, as in getting time to heat and not exactly nervous. Reliable though. Car had been somewhat upgraded in the '80s by adding a backseat (most important) and a new car radio and speakers, which never really got a lot of use. Ended up being sold to a handyman (Portuguese red van man?  ).
The Larch complaining about the heavy steering wheel of a puny Renault 5 makes me laugh. 

Felt pretty safe inside it, but not exactly great at speed. 4-speed gear box for a Diesel did not help. Upgrading to a 5-speed gear box was once considered by my father but was deemed too costly or unpractical.
Nice for small town/countryside driving where it may be freedom, or rather having no car means being a poor serf but hell in a big city if not for very good work reasons. Trying to park it in Paris would have been nightmarish.

PS: this was pre-GPS time area, so going to an unknown place meant planning the trip on a map and/or using it on the way, or asking the locals and getting into detours sometimes.

That's a rather neat, useful first vehicle to have. 

[mongers]

Jesus, people. Cars are freedom. Even in ancient countries like England where there's absolutely no space for them.


To answer Monger's original question, I think there has been a massive improvement of cars since he drove one and most of the gadgets are far from useless.

Interesting, didn't expect the North American vs Europe divide to be that wide.

Also the age or generational difference is quite stark, I'm heard about the younger generation's declining car use, but this is an interesting demonstration. 

Turn's out, Tricky, Yi and you to some extent are the outliers to the above two trends?

[Oexmelin]

No license, no car.

It's been somewhat of a challenge in some parts of the US.

[mongers]

No license, no car.

It's been somewhat of a challenge in some parts of the US.

I can imagine.

I have enough trouble sometimes falling back on public transport and I'm only 100 miles from London.

[Barrister]

Look, I am practically a public transit evangelist - I constantly extol the virtue's of Edmonton's LRT system, use it to ride to work every day.  But I can't possibly imagine not having a vehicle for evenings / weekends.  Bus service is not frequent, and often populated by sketchy characters.  Obviously you can't purchase anything large or bulky and transport it on the bus.

[dps]

Obviously you can't purchase anything large or bulky and transport it on the bus.

Back when we lived in Charleston, where there was a good bus system, on a couple of occasions when the car was in the shop and I had to ride the bus, just getting groceries home was a pain.

[Tamas]

Jesus, people. Cars are freedom. Even in ancient countries like England where there's absolutely no space for them.


To answer Monger's original question, I think there has been a massive improvement of cars since he drove one and most of the gadgets are far from useless.

Interesting, didn't expect the North American vs Europe divide to be that wide.

Also the age or generational difference is quite stark, I'm heard about the younger generation's declining car use, but this is an interesting demonstration. 

Turn's out, Tricky, Yi and you to some extent are the outliers to the above two trends?

I have a car. It seems like you think I don't.

I presently own (and drive about 260 miles per week in) a 2006 Toyota Avensis. Automatic with a 2 liter petrol engine. Not ideal for long commutes fuel economy-wise I guess but oh boy was 146 petrol horsepowers was a big jump from my previous car (back in Hungary) a 1.4 diesel 2005 Corolla.

Sure it's still not a sport car but it is a good feeling to often be able just press down on the gas and quickly be out of a questionable situation (like joining a busy motorway for example).

The car itself is great, all things considered holding up very well mechanically. I am trying to keep it well maintained, althought not anymore in official Toyota garages, as that was just unreasonably expensive for such an old car.

What sucks a bit is just the amount of usage it gets, and that I don't have a garage. 2 flat tyres so far (one I heavily suspect was due to a knife-stab), windshield had to be replaced once and I've just had a previous tiny chip develop a small crack after the hail that hit the country, so second windshield change is probably happening in the foreseeable future.

Also its back rear side looks fugly after I wrecked it against the bloody parking lot entrance of my office. But in my defense I was the third person to do so and not the last.

Overall I love it.

Before that I drove a 2005 Toyota Corolla hatcback, which some of you people had seen and a couple of you even rode in. It had been in the care and use of my parents until very recently. My brother in law just got his license and now uses Precious to carry around my sister and their kid when needed. Which is great and far better than to see it wither away in unuse.

In parallel and before that I regularly drove my parents' 1991 VW Passat estate (nice car but it was near the end of its life when I got to it and it wasn't ideal for a fresh driver I think, as it had developed a bit of sensitive soul by then), then its replacement a 2008 Hyundai Tucson, both manuals.

[mongers]

Jesus, people. Cars are freedom. Even in ancient countries like England where there's absolutely no space for them.


To answer Monger's original question, I think there has been a massive improvement of cars since he drove one and most of the gadgets are far from useless.

Interesting, didn't expect the North American vs Europe divide to be that wide.

Also the age or generational difference is quite stark, I'm heard about the younger generation's declining car use, but this is an interesting demonstration. 

Turn's out, Tricky, Yi and you to some extent are the outliers to the above two trends?

I have a car. It seems like you think I don't.

I presently own (and drive about 260 miles per week in) a 2006 Toyota Avensis. Automatic with a 2 liter petrol engine. Not ideal for long commutes fuel economy-wise I guess but oh boy was 146 petrol horsepowers was a big jump from my previous car (back in Hungary) a 1.4 diesel 2005 Corolla.

Sure it's still not a sport car but it is a good feeling to often be able just press down on the gas and quickly be out of a questionable situation (like joining a busy motorway for example).

The car itself is great, all things considered holding up very well mechanically. I am trying to keep it well maintained, althought not anymore in official Toyota garages, as that was just unreasonably expensive for such an old car.

What sucks a bit is just the amount of usage it gets, and that I don't have a garage. 2 flat tyres so far (one I heavily suspect was due to a knife-stab), windshield had to be replaced once and I've just had a previous tiny chip develop a small crack after the hail that hit the country, so second windshield change is probably happening in the foreseeable future.

Also its back rear side looks fugly after I wrecked it against the bloody parking lot entrance of my office. But in my defense I was the third person to do so and not the last.

Overall I love it.

Before that I drove a 2005 Toyota Corolla hatcback, which some of you people had seen and a couple of you even rode in. It had been in the care and use of my parents until very recently. My brother in law just got his license and now uses Precious to carry around my sister and their kid when needed. Which is great and far better than to see it wither away in unuse.

In parallel and before that I regularly drove my parents' 1991 VW Passat estate (nice car but it was near the end of its life when I got to it and it wasn't ideal for a fresh driver I think, as it had developed a bit of sensitive soul by then), then its replacement a 2008 Hyundai Tucson, both manuals.

No, that as a younger European you DO have a car, seems to be in a minority for Languishites under 40.

[crazy canuck]

My first car was a 1978 Firebird - just like Rockford. I saved up all my money and bought it in 85 from a rep team coach I had.  I loved that car and so did the girls.

When that died, a few years later (didn't have the money to put into the repairs it required to keep it on the road), I went without a car until after I was a lawyer and married.  We decided we needed a vehicle for a family so we got the signature family vehicle of that time - a dodge mini van.

Then we purchased a Mitsubishi SUV primarily for ski trips and a Toyota Camry hybrid for getting the family around the city.

Now I have a Kia Soul electric for the city.  We still have the SUV for the odd long range trip into ski/wine country.  But when the new generation of electrics with greater range come out that will be replaced with an EV.

[dps]

looking at my list, one thing that's obvious in how cars have changed over time is the shift from V-8 powered rwd cars to fwd cars with V-6s or I-4 engines.  Something that's not obvious, though, is that all the cars I had that were manufactured in the 70s had column mounted shifters, something you rarely see nowadays.

[Barrister]

looking at my list, one thing that's obvious in how cars have changed over time is the shift from V-8 powered rwd cars to fwd cars with V-6s or I-4 engines.  Something that's not obvious, though, is that all the cars I had that were manufactured in the 70s had column mounted shifters, something you rarely see nowadays.

But that's a shift that happened back in the 1980s.

The big shift of the last 10-15 years is really the rise of cross-over vehicles, and demise of the sedan.

[Iormlund]

I started driving in my very late 20s, as a result of a career change to automation engineering. Until then I used my bike or public transport to get around.

I've only ever owned my first and only car, a Kia (diesel, manual, FWD). It's closing on 15 years old now, but still works. I could easily afford to replace it, but why would I do such a thing?

I did drive a lot of km in my employer's Passat SWs in the two years I spent travelling around Central Europe. Those were nice cars. Comfortable, ample, with enough power to get easily past 200 kph and a big enough tank to get to Poland at full throttle.

[dps]

looking at my list, one thing that's obvious in how cars have changed over time is the shift from V-8 powered rwd cars to fwd cars with V-6s or I-4 engines.  Something that's not obvious, though, is that all the cars I had that were manufactured in the 70s had column mounted shifters, something you rarely see nowadays.

But that's a shift that happened back in the 1980s.

The big shift of the last 10-15 years is really the rise of cross-over vehicles, and demise of the sedan.

Well, the question was about cars we've owned, and we've never had a crossover.