Am I ever going to find a car that I want to keep?

You all can call me crazy but for some really strange reason I want to shove a volvo b23ft into a 944.

Taiden wrote: Sadly I think big displacement, heavy, rwd are not an option due to gas prices. I believe I want something RWD that can dip into the 13s, remain mostly reasonable for daily driving (hardly any winter driving), be fairly unique, and handle like no ones business.

What's your threshold on fuel economy?

V8s with a good overdrive and a sane rear gear will surprise you on their mileage (at least on the highway). On my skinny tires, I've seen high-20s in my stock-engined foxbody convertible (which was better than my AE86 SR5 at those speeds). C5 and C6 Corvettes (I know, I know, way out of your budget) are known for seeing 30mpg or better. LT1 and LS1 F-bodies are right in the same boat. Guys with stockish S197 GTs regularly report mid-20s (and consistently better than what guys with the 4.0/3.9/3.8 V6 do, lol).

And a 4th-gen Camaro has an SLA front end, just keep that in mind.

Taiden wrote: You all can call me crazy but for some really strange reason I want to shove a volvo b23ft into a 944.

Here, that doesn't get you called crazy, that gets you called brother. Welcome to the fold.

I'd be stoked if I could achieve 27 mpg highway on 87 octane gas.

My S13 somehow managed 34 mpg with about 700 lbs of people and crap in the trunk. I have no idea how this was possible. GPS verified odometer.

What are some popular junkyard RWD setups? Perhaps that's another thread...

Argh. Stop looking at octane. If you drive thirty thousand miles per year and only average 20mpg the price difference between filling up with regular and filling up with premium is $25/month.

ReverendDexter wrote: Argh. Stop looking at octane. If you drive thirty thousand miles per year and only average 20mpg the price difference between filling up with regular and filling up with premium is $25/month.

Fair enough.

Wow, we need to start a 100 plus club! I'm well over 100 cars, maybe 120 or so, and in my mid 40's. I've slowed down lately, mainly because of house rebuilding, but I'm starting to search for replacements to the current "fleet." We need support groups!

I'm not sure there is such thing as a perfect car. If there is, I've never found it. I can usually find good things about most cars, as well as bad. It depends on the usage and what your threshold is for the bad. And my bad may not be your bad. For example, I pretty much can't tolerate FWD. I hate, hate, hate torque steer. To me there is nothing worse in a driving experience, but I know others that like them above all else.

So, that leaves my list littered with RWD cars, many of them mid engine examples. I always find myself gravitating back to them. But I have yet to find a car that I simply couldn't sell. I do have favorites though, and many that I have owned multiple examples. My three longest tenures being a MR2 Turbo that I used as a DD and track for 7 years back in the '90's, a '74 X1/9 that was my primary autocross car in the late '80's, early '90's (also for 7 years), and a Fiat 600 that I kept for 10 years, a personal record. Most averaged about year or less.

The most I ever had at one time: 8. Five Alfas and 3 Fiats. At one point, the 600 was the only car I had running. It always ran. In 10 years it never had a single failure!

I'm 24 years old and I've got the same problem as you, roughly every year I find a new car. Right now I've held onto my camaro for a little over a year because I devoted a lot of time to college, and I will be in the coming year as well. But that doesn't mean I've stopped looking around.

The 98-02 camaro gets reasonable gas mileage for its size and power - I've seen over 30 on the highway many times. Honestly all the power is fun, but I'd like to have fun within the speed limit so I love the 'slow car fast' idea, the camaro is a fast car that often gets driven slow.

I think the best balance I had between power, handling, and mileage was a probe gt. But I got rid of that because I wanted rear wheel drive again.

Keep going till you find one ya like!

read part of the first page, then skipped to the bottom to post this.. so i might have missed something good..

i'm 36. about 10 years ago, i tried to make a list of every car i've had in my possession since i was about 14 years old. it was close to 150- about half of which actually ran, and about 50 of which i ever actually registered in my name and drove. i know i left out a bunch of cars, because i couldn't remember what they were or what i traded for them.

of those, there were about 10 or so that i thought i wanted to keep.. i've only got one of them now- my 84 Regal T Type that i can't drive because the tranny decided over it's winter hibernation that it wouldn't shift out of first gear when i got it out in the spring..

i think i've only had maybe 10 fwd cars, and only 4 pickups- 3 full size (81 F250 4X4, 85 Chevy 1/2 ton 2wd, 87 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4) and one 88 S10 4X4 regular cab long box that i swapped in the TBI 350 out of a 92 Caprice 9C1 that i parted out.

now that i think about it, i've only ever had 2 imported cars- a late 80's Subaru something or other fwd 2 door that was ugly as sin that i traded for a set of Ansen slots for my 74 Monte Carlo, and a 94 Mazda Protege that i bought from my aunt, drove for a few months, then "sold" back to her for less than i paid her for it.. i never did get a dime from her for it..

i had a 71 Nova that i had for 5 years. i had a folder with well over $15k in receipts (never, ever add up your receipts..) and untold hours tinkering on it.. i loved that car so much and it was essentially an extension of my personality.. i traded it even up for a 74 Monte Carlo in the fall of '04, and i sold that car last summer for $2200..