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Cars That I Have Driven
(as of 7/18/05)
MT = Manual Transmission
AT = Automatic Transmission


I'm starting to add as many pictures of the cars as I can. Look for 'pic' next to the car's name. Or 'page' if it has a page here on Gasoline Fumes.



199X Mercury Cougar (RWD)
First car I drove with my permit. AT

1986 Chevy full size PU
305 engine with about 40 hp. AT

1986 Oldsmobile Calais
Smooth, quiet, cracked head. AT

1987 Ford Mustang LX
460 engine (teaspoons), plenty of rust. AT

1992 and 1993 Ford Tempo GL
Job One missed these pieces of crap. AT

1992 Hyundai Excel Hatchback - page
My first car. It needed a transmission at 65,000 miles. AT

1992 Volkswagen Corrado SLC - pic
One of the few really nice cars I've driven, very fast, very German, very expensive to fix. MT

1986 Volkswagen GTI - pic
Fun to drive, strange engineering. MT

1987 Toyota Tercel Hatchback
AKA Shithead, 0 hp, loved oil. MT

1987 Chevy Caprice
I drove this one about 500 ft, that was enough, over 200000 miles. AT

1992 Geo Prism
Lots of body roll. AT

1971 Plymouth Fury III
360 CI, big 'n' rusty. AT

1983 Ford Escort Hatchback
The 'Scort. MT

1985 Volkswagen Golf
First manual transmission I drove on the road. MT

1985 Honda Accord Sedan
Nice car. MT

1994 Mercury Topaz
See Tempo. AT

1995 Ford Contour
Felt slower than the car it replaced (Tempo), any brake application locked drivers side front wheel. AT

1990 Dodge Ram
I drove this crappy beast through a field. AT

1995 Nissan Truck
No legroom. MT

1981 Ford F-100
4.9 I6, shift lever broke off, wooden bed, rusty, no brakes, did a nice one tire burnout. MT

1998? Ford Windstar
Crude sounding engine, otherwise not as bad as I expected. AT

1986 Toyota Tercel Wagon SR5 4WD - page
Jaws of Life test vehicle. My friend bought it for $25, no title. Great off-road tool. Its engine is currently in use elsewhere. 6-speed MT

1984 Honda Civic Wagon - page
My second car, rusty, handles great, 45 mpg. MT

1985 Honda Accord Hatchback - pic
Nice car, the brakes suck. MT

1986 Toyota MR2
Great car, great engine, too bad it was an AT

1989 Mazda 626
First turbocharged car I drove. AT

1990 Mazda MX6
Same engine as the above 626, better looks and transmission, I only got to drive it in snow. MT

1985 Honda Civic Wagon RT 4WD - pic
Broken windows and an overheating problem made a good car look bad. 6-speed MT

1988 Acura Integra RS - pic
Three things on this car were always disappearing: oil, coolant, and body material. MT

1992 Dodge Ram Van
Too big. AT

1991 Honda Civic Wagon RT 4WD
Nice, quiet. 6 speed MT

1992 Geo Storm
SOHC, not a bad car, damn ugly. MT

1987 Toyota Corolla FX16 GTS - pic
Great engine, great brakes, sloppy, but controllable handling. MT

1986 Honda Civic Wagon
Someone really beat the crap out of this poor thing. MT

1994 Isuzu pick up
I borrowed this truck to haul some garbage, ride and handling were better than I expected. MT

2000 Toyota Corolla
My friend rented this car for a day, the most boring car that I have driven. AT

1990 Mazda Protege
Not a bad car, numb steering and sloppy shifter. MT

1988 Jeep Wagoneer
The only good thing I can say is someday it will die. AT

1996 Subaru Impreza Sedan
My friend and I test drove this at a Subaru dealer. We drifted around the snow covered lot for about five minutes and left. AT

1979 Oldsmobile 98 Regency - pic
Big, heavy, soft and smelly. AT

1987 Honda Civic Sedan
A good car in bad shape. MT

1987 Toyota Tercel Wagon 4WD - pic
A boring and quiet version of Hornbeam. AT

1986 Toyota Tercel Hatchback - page
A Tercel with FX16 brakes and suspension is still a Tercel. MT

1992 Toyota Corolla
Great transportation. MT

1991 Toyota Corolla Wagon
Boring and reliable. AT

1986 Toyota MR2
Driving a mid-engined car like a FWD car results in ridiculous amounts of oversteer. I need an MR2! MT

1999 Ford Ryder Moving truck
A really big truck. Cummins turbo diesel engine. Backing up in tight spaces is interesting. AT

1979 Honda Accord Hatchback
A fun, old classic Honda in "restorable" condition. MT

1991 Honda Civic Wagon - pic
Good at pretty much everything, but lacks the feel and soul of older Hondas. MT

1993 Dodge Caravan
Slightly awful. AT

1994 Geo Metro (3 cyl) - page
Weighs about 25% less than most economy cars, too bad it has about 50% less power. AT

1983 GMC K1500 Diesel - pic
Good for plowing and moving heavy stuff, bad for everything else. AT

1991 Volkswagen Jetta Diesel
A nice car if you like diesel Volkswagens. MT

2003 Pontiac Aztek
A rental that I drove about 500 miles. I really wanted to hate this ugly thing, but it wasn't all that bad. Other than the under-damped suspension and its large size, I didn't mind driving it. AT

2003 Oldsmobile Silhouette
Another rental. It had 10,000 miles on it, and it rattled and even pinged a bit. Bounced a lot over bumps too. I'd rather drive an Aztek. AT

1986 Nissan Sentra
I didn't drive it very far, but it seems ok. AT

2003 Honda Civic
A nice car, but too many "improvements" over the years have taken the fun out of the Civic. AT

1993 Toyota Tercel
Not bad, but why not get a Corolla? MT

1989 Honda Civic STD
A decent car, but it seems that Honda went out of their way to make the STD less of a car than the higher trim levels. Leaving out options is one thing, but designing different parts to reduce power doesn't make too much sense. 4-speed MT

2002 Volkswagen Golf TDI
Drives like a gasoline burning car with an amazing amount of torque. I'd want one if it wasn't a VW. MT

2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI - pic
Like the Golf I just drove, but with a trunk. Gets 49 mpg at illegal cruising speeds. MT

1990 Honda Civic Wagon - pic
I picked up this car for free as a parts car for the 1991 that my parents have. Great condition, except the drivers side was bashed into a pole pretty hard on a snowy night. MT

2004 Buick Century
A crappy rental. AT

1997 Saturn Wagon
Horrible car, I'd rather walk. MT

1993 & 1991 Nissan Sentra
Nice cars. MT

1991 Suzuki Swift SOHC
My second Swift parts car. Best throttle response I've experienced on an EFI engine. Otherwise, it's unremarkable in stock form. MT

2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo - pic
Another crappy rental. AT

1988 Volkswagen Golf CL - pic
I drove this 1.3 liter VW about 5000 km while I was in Finland. Volkswagens aren't my favorite cars, but this was a fun and trouble-free driving experience. 4-speed MT

2005 Dodge Grand Caravan - pic
Another crappy rental. Absolutely no steering feel. AT

2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel
I pretended to be interested in it and took it for a test drive. The Cummins has plenty of torque and the turbo whine is fun, but there's no way these things are worth $42,000. AT

2005 Chevrolet Classic
My friend and I rented this to use while spectating at the Susquehannock Trail ProRally. We had to wash off a lot of mud before bringing it back! AT

1995 Nissan 200SX
A nice looking car in need of some power and handling upgrades. Not an SE-R. MT

1988 Civic Sedan
I've never seen a Honda this old with no rust. Came from California. AT

1988 Toyota 4Runner
Terrible ride quality. MT

1984 & 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300D
Diesel beasts. These cars will probably still be running long after humans are extinct. AT

1999 VW Jetta TDI
Just like the other TDIs I've driven, except I installed a Greasecar kit on this one. MT

1990 Toyota Corolla
Drivetrain donor for the 1991 Corolla wagon further up the list. AT

1990 Suzuki Swift SOHC
I found this on eBay for $99 and had to have it. It's officially a parts car, but I'm having too much fun driving it around the property to take it apart yet. MT

2007 Ford Focus
Just the basic rental-spec version. Another rental for the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. The handling and braking of this Focus far exceeded my expectations. I wouldn't mind having one. AT

2007 Hyundai Sonata
Had a manual mode on the shifter, but it ignored half of my gear change requests anyway. AT

1999 Nissan Altima
Not a bad car, but not very interesting either. MT

2006 Ford Focus ZX5
A fun car, but I found it annoying how the engine would "hang" at high RPM while shifting gears. MT

1997 Toyota Corolla DX
This car handles much better than I expected. Must be the sportier suspension of the DX version. AT

2002 Nissan Sentra
Fun to drive, even if it's not the SE-R version. MT


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