Thread: What are you driving?

Aloha!

I've been thinking about all the cars I have owned and that SWMBO has owned, and the most reliable car we ever had was her 1990 Mercury Cougar. We bought that car brand new in 1990. She drove it until 2000 and put about 95k on it. The only thing it needed while she drove it was brakes and tires and a new battery and a radiator hose. I took it from her in 2000 to keep some mileage of my Audi that I drove at the time. I drove it until 2004 and put an additional 120k on it, so 215k total in 14 years. Just standard maintenance was all that car ever needed. I put a new water pump and serpentine belt in it at 140k as preventative maintenance. I wonder how many more miles someone put on that car before it headed to the great highway in the sky?

If my Audis were 1/2 that reliable I'd stick with them, but as posted previously, this will be my last high end German import. EVER. I'm either buying a Kia Optima or going back to Ford. Like the Ford Fusion. I'm done with expensive luxury imports.

-Zip

Originally Posted by edhewitt

The land cruiser gets about 15 mpg based on us gallons. Over here it is litres per 100km, which i get roughly 14 or 15 litres per 100km. Diesel is about $1.30 australian per litre.
There is roughly 4 litres to a us gallon so that works out at around $5.20 australian per gallon or approx $4.16 us.

Well an update on this. I had a funny noise coming from the drivetrain somewhere, my mate had his mechanic at his place so I popped round - turned out to be a stuffed rear diff, so he rebuilt that and popped it back in.
He still has my transfer case as the casing is cracked, he is going to open it up and make sure it is ok, and if so get it welded up, fortunately my mate had a spare one I could borrow.
Post rebuild I was told to keep below 80kmh for the 1st thousand km's. Conveniently I was going on an 800+ km round trip that day so it is mostly run in already, about 5o km left I think.
The fuel economy improved dramatically using less than 2/3 rds the fuel at these speeds 😅. Almost a linear correlation to how much more time it took to get there.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Well an update on this. I had a funny noise coming from the drivetrain somewhere, my mate had his mechanic at his place so I popped round - turned out to be a stuffed rear diff, so he rebuilt that and popped it back in.
He still has my transfer case as the casing is cracked, he is going to open it up and make sure it is ok, and if so get it welded up, fortunately my mate had a spare one I could borrow.
Post rebuild I was told to keep below 80kmh for the 1st thousand km's. Conveniently I was going on an 800+ km round trip that day so it is mostly run in already, about 5o km left I think.
The fuel economy improved dramatically using less than 2/3 rds the fuel at these speeds ��. Almost a linear correlation to how much more time it took to get there.

Sounds like you pretty much broke it in Ed.

Originally Posted by engine46

Sounds like you pretty much broke it in Ed.

Yep pretty much. Another 10 k or so now, but I am tempted to go a bit longer. I dont have any long trips planned over the next few days so it shouldn't be hard. ☺

1987 60 series diesel landcruiser. I bought it up where i work to have a runaround fun bus. Got it for a steal.

Originally Posted by ZipZop

Aloha!

I've been thinking about all the cars I have owned and that SWMBO has owned, and the most reliable car we ever had was her 1990 Mercury Cougar. We bought that car brand new in 1990. She drove it until 2000 and put about 95k on it. The only thing it needed while she drove it was brakes and tires and a new battery and a radiator hose. I took it from her in 2000 to keep some mileage of my Audi that I drove at the time. I drove it until 2004 and put an additional 120k on it, so 215k total in 14 years. Just standard maintenance was all that car ever needed. I put a new water pump and serpentine belt in it at 140k as preventative maintenance. I wonder how many more miles someone put on that car before it headed to the great highway in the sky?

If my Audis were 1/2 that reliable I'd stick with them, but as posted previously, this will be my last high end German import. EVER. I'm either buying a Kia Optima or going back to Ford. Like the Ford Fusion. I'm done with expensive luxury imports.

-Zip

Yup, I said that as well...was just going to get myself a normal daily commuter car to bop around Toronto and that was that...looked at a Toyota Corolla, and a couple of other non-expensive, highly reliable, eminently practical cars, my time with the BMW's was at an end....

And then I saw a spectacular, virtually new, 70,000 kilometers on it, fully loaded with every option, BMW 550i GT, 440 HP, V8, twin turbo, 0-60 in 5.2 seconds, 450lbs of torque, and was like driving around in my living room with a rocket attached, sucks gas, spews out exhaust, causes cyclists to choke and turn green, and shakes the road.

I call it, "The Anti-Prius", and I absolutely love it...maybe when I'm dead I'll buy a practical car with 4 cylinders, 106hp and my balls hanging form the rear view mirror....LOL.

I tried, and just couldn't do it, and I think and hope, you'll come to the same conclusion...remember, that's what the wife's car is for....

Nice Land Cruiser Ed....room for 6 of your favourite friends and a major load of stuff.....

Originally Posted by Phrank

Yup, I said that as well...was just going to get myself a normal daily commuter car to bop around Toronto and that was that...looked at a Toyota Corolla, and a couple of other non-expensive, highly reliable, eminently practical cars, my time with the BMW's was at an end....

And then I saw a spectacular, virtually new, 70,000 kilometers on it, fully loaded with every option, BMW 550i GT, 440 HP, V8, twin turbo, 0-60 in 5.2 seconds, 450lbs of torque, and was like driving around in my living room with a rocket attached, sucks gas, spews out exhaust, causes cyclists to choke and turn green, and shakes the road.

I call it, "The Anti-Prius", and I absolutely love it...maybe when I'm dead I'll buy a practical car with 4 cylinders, 106hp and my balls hanging form the rear view mirror....LOL.

I tried, and just couldn't do it, and I think and hope, you'll come to the same conclusion...remember, that's what the wife's car is for....

Nice Land Cruiser Ed....room for 6 of your favourite friends and a major load of stuff.....

This one only has 5 seats, and my rule with it is to not spend any money. Everything on it is rough but i like it. I think the roofrack may be holding the roof on,but if I got offered a decent price for the rack i would take the chance ��

Originally Posted by edhewitt

This one only has 5 seats, and my rule with it is to not spend any money. Everything on it is rough but i like it. I think the roofrack may be holding the roof on,but if I got offered a decent price for the rack i would take the chance ��

Well, if you could get it here in Winter you'd be OK, nothing holds a car together than being frozen solid, it's the summer when everything melts...put some Snow/Winter tires on that beast, and you'd be laughing as you drove through the snow and over everybody else....is it 4 wheel drive?

The major load of stuff may potentially fall out of the bottom too. I really do not want to look too closely.
I did upgrade tbe spotlight wiring with donated parts ☺

Originally Posted by Phrank

Well, if you could get it here in Winter you'd be OK, nothing holds a car together than being frozen solid, it's the summer when everything melts...put some Snow/Winter tires on that beast, and you'd be laughing as you drove through the snow and over everybody else....is it 4 wheel drive?

It sure is 4 wd. When it doesn't pop out 😅