Beaters, access panels and cheap fun

I just started driving my geo storm again, and I have to admit that I had forgotten how much fun a little basic car can be. There are a number of reasons why I love old econoboxes.

1) Part of the fun is because the geo is a stick, and I've spent the last year puttering around in an automatic. It is so much more....engaging, I guess. I've decided that the way to get people off their cell phones is to have manual transmissions....there's more to do, and you cannot be bothered with a pesky conversation.

2) In my modern daily driver, there's lots of sound deadening....even if the engine is doing something interesting, I'll never know....I simply can't hear it. The old geo is so anemic that it really has to work to get anywhere, and oddly, that's exciting. I felt like I was really flogging it, then got passed by an SUV, looked at the speedo, and realized I was within two MPH of the speed limit. I didn't care....it was fun.

3) A lightweight little car like that makes you feel every bump in the road.....instead of being in this little cocoon, sheltered from the details of driving, you're experiencing each one of them.

4) A lot of stuff on older cars is much easier to do. Remember how nice it was when you didn't have to disassemble a car to do something basic? I had to put a turn signal into the geo, and the whole process took just under four minutes. The only tool needed was a phillips screw driver. Last week I unsuccessfully tried to replace a reverse light in a friend's Lincoln Navigator.....as near as I could tell, getting partway through the process, this requires taking off the grab loop on the inside of the hatch and then removing the entire skin.

5) Having a beater gives you something to flog without fear. The abuse, wear and tear are not being done to the car that has to get you to work on Monday.

I'll stop rambling now. I'm going to go for a drive.

That's why I bought that Accent! 2011, lightweight, five speed. I almost hate driving my X-Type now. Maybe I'll get rid of the X in favor of a manual X-Type Sport...

Beaters are awesome.

My winter beater '91 Saab 9000T is having alarm issues right now. Turning around and making myself late for work to get another car with an alarm that doesn't go off every 10 seconds while driving rather annoyed me, so I hit my driveway at speed and left the car in a snowbank.

Now I'm going to go rip the alarm module out, hit it with a sledge hammer, and ziptie fix the valence (again).

My 00 Civic DX sedan is my snow warrior at the moment. 195-55-15 Hakkapalittas, Koni STR/Tein S-Tech suspension, a 5 speed and 107 rocking HP.

Drove into work in a snowstorm yesterday--not many people on the road. Thus, it was fun time. I did a couple of killer drifts that I was rather proud of.

Turn in, give the e-brake a nudge, countersteer and modulate the throttle. Do this onto an onramp and make the car behind you think "WTF?!"

I did the same going into the (sparsely populated) parking lot at work. A couple of my co-workers caught it and were duly impressed.

I love driving in the snow when it doesn't involve herds of panicked idiots doing 10mph.

• 1 to "that's why I bought an Accent".

I don't always drive beaters, but when i do, i make sure that they're turbo'd.

Stay boosted, my friends.

^^QOTD.^^

Wait, wrong site.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I don't always drive beaters, but when i do, i make sure that they're turbo'd. Stay boosted, my friends.

It's as though you plucked the words from my brain before I had even thought them, knowing that later I would read this thread and my first thought would be "Geo Storm, huh? I wonder how much boost it could handle."

Separated at birth perhaps?

My very thoughts egggzactly! I just got back from flogging my winter beater around the crazy twisty roads behind Mosport in a wicked snowstorm. Short wheelbase, no electronics... not even ABS. I love it - you can't get in trouble with a car that tells you exactly what it's going to do with no technological interference whatsoever.

I've found that strapping a fully dressed 3100 GM engine in the bed of my S10 makes Snow Drifting a lot more controllable than with an empty bed. And this S10 is my DD.

When you said access panel I was guessing cutting a hole in the floor for a fuel pump. Works a lot better than dropping the tank.

my wife bought a 2005 buick rendezvous yesterday. we're both used to stuff that you can hear run. her 02 cavalier is like driving a go-kart. you feel every bump, hear everything, know it is running because the little 4 cylinder buzzed along. i am used to driving the cavalier and my sonoma which has a 4.3 with a flowmaster - you know damn well what the engine is doing. this buick is so quiet i have been holding the key too long, and the only reason i can tell it is running is because the tach moves.

^^ That's what John and Jane Q. Public demand: an insulated cocoon so they can text on their iPhones while driving and their little excess consumers in training can watch their DVDs in peace and quiet.

I drive my Miata far more in thewinter for this reason. The MINI stays in the garage most of the time, too much electronic interference in the fun.

I have a beater Taurus and a beater Prizm for that very reason. Winter beaters are a LOT of fun, because you simply don't care. I leave both cars unlocked, I don't care if they're dirty, etc etc. I may convert the Taurus into a rolling toolchest eventually, just because the idea of being able to drive my tools to where I want them is quite intriguing.

Long live the Geo winter beater!! '94 Prizm here...bought for $400 from original owner. Had new axles put in it and away I drive...peeled clear coat, dents everywhere, rust on the dog leg, removed headliner and all.

It was literally a big fat zero degrees outside when I left for work this morning. Scrape the ice off the windshield, an extra try to get the starter to engage, and off I went. Poor thing wasn't enjoying itself in that cold, but my NC was tucked away quietly in the garage.

gamby wrote: My 00 Civic DX sedan is my snow warrior at the moment. 195-55-15 Hakkapalittas, Koni STR/Tein S-Tech suspension, a 5 speed and 107 rocking HP. Drove into work in a snowstorm yesterday--not many people on the road. Thus, it was fun time. I did a couple of killer drifts that I was rather proud of. Turn in, give the e-brake a nudge, countersteer and modulate the throttle. Do this onto an onramp and make the car behind you think "WTF?!" I did the same going into the (sparsely populated) parking lot at work. A couple of my co-workers caught it and were duly impressed. I love driving in the snow when it doesn't involve herds of panicked idiots doing 10mph.

especially slow speed drifts past people in their cars...One of my favorites is to initiate the drift, lock my knee against the wheel and wave with both hands and smile at whoever happens to be watching. The mystified looks are some of the most pricelss you can get.

Snowy FWD E-brake Drift for president 2012!

Nitroracer wrote: When you said access panel I was guessing cutting a hole in the floor for a fuel pump. Works a lot better than dropping the tank.

I decided that my post was getting long and rambling, so I didn't end up pursuing that. What I was getting at was that new cars don't have access panels.....taking the whole skin off a navigator hatch just to get to the backup light is stupid. They should have built an access panel that could be unscrewed/popped off.

4cylndrfury wrote: especially slow speed drifts past people in their cars...One of my favorites is to initiate the drift, lock my knee against the wheel and wave with both hands and smile at whoever happens to be watching. The mystified looks are some of the most pricelss you can get. Snowy FWD E-brake Drift for president 2012!

I demand video of this. If you can multitask Snowy FWD E-Brake Drifts with your knees whilst waving at other drivers with both hands, you can sure as hell video their reactions. Youtube gold FTW.