Support NeoGAF

[KrakenIPA]

I'm just curious what kind of car you started off with, how long ago was it, and was it easy or hard to learn with?

My first ride was a 1992 Toyota Tercel, 5 speed manual transmission. It was about 14 years ago, and it was a tough learning curve! I miss a manual transmission so much, though!

I had a thought to post this thread because I just saw this beauty

on the road (don't worry, i pulled over to post) and got kind of nostalgic.

Do you ever see the make/model/color of your first vehicle and catch some feelings?

 

[haxan7]

I had a 1999 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight in this color. It had a really smooth ride and a surprising amount of power.

 

[Kenpachii]

Thing rides like a boss.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Green 5.2L 98 Grand Cherokee 4x4…great car for college until the automatic 4WD transfer case shit the bed. I put in the manual shifting version after that and it was fine. Eventually my sister got it and her now ex husband totaled it

 

[chromhound]

Honda Civic 2004 . Was a piece of junk. Was so happy when someone crashed into it

 

[poppabk]

94 VW Polo, mine was white though.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Hand me down Chevy Cavalier from early 90s. Worst car ever.

For a small car, it felt really heavy or maybe it was so weak it made it feel that way. Doors were like opening a fort knox safe. They felt like anvils. Glitchy anti-lock breaks which came on and off at weird times and made me hit a curb smashing my left wheel during perfectly dry weather. Some issue with gasket leak must had happened almost every year. I only had the car for a few years but nailed with that once. My brother must had got that fixed 4-5 times. It was so bad, my dad would always put a piece of cardboard in the garage or driveway and tell us to park it over it. While he parked his car on the clear side.

When I bought my first car (Civic), it was time to get rid of it. Selling cars on the net wasnt a thing yet. And zero dealerships wanted it. It wasnt worth getting this in a car ad or trade mag, so my dad called a tow-a-way service for shit cars. Gave me $20 or $25 for it.

(Edit: Forgot to add. Rusted like a motherfucker too. Every other car I have ever driven has never had one speck of rust..... except maybe the license plate!)

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

Nissan Primera P10 from 1996. It was my fathers car and he gifted it to me on my 18th birthday. I have fond memories about what we went through together. Me and the car. I shed a tear when it died and i didn't had the money to revive it.

Would love to have another one.

Thanks dad!

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

Do you ever see the make/model/color of your first vehicle and catch some feelings?

I love green and mine had a dark, metallic shimmering turquoise color. Never seen something like that again.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Nissan Primera P10 from 1996. It was my fathers car and he gifted it to me on my 18th birthday. I have fond memories about what we went through together. Me and the car. I shed a tear when it died and i didn't had the money to revive it.

Would love to have another one.

Thanks dad!

I dont know cars and never heard of a Nissan Primera, but going by that pic that car looks pretty damn good for a starter car.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

I dont know cars and never heard of a Nissan Primera, but going by that pic that car looks pretty damn good for a starter car.

Totally!

Looking back it had so much potential to be even more. It was my introduction to japanese cars and i still love them today.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

When I bought my first car (Civic), it was time to get rid of it. Selling cars on the net wasnt a thing yet. And zero dealerships wanted it. It wasnt worth getting this in a car ad or trade mag, so my dad called a tow-a-way service for shit cars. Gave me $20 or $25 for it.

Took mine to the scrap yard and got a hundred bucks.

(Edit: Forgot to add. Rusted like a motherfucker too. Every other car I have ever driven has never had one speck of rust..... except maybe the license plate!)

Me too. Sanded and smoothed like a mad man but it always came back.

 

[V1LÆM]

ford focus. was either a 2004 or 2005 model. i can't remember. got it in 2005.

after that it was ford c-max. that must've been ~2007/2008.

 

[SpiceRacz]

Mazda B2200

 

[badblue]

Plymouth Reliant K Car.

 

[tommib]

 

[WoodyStare]

A blue 2000 Chevy S10

 

[KrakenIPA]

Mazda B2200

That truck looks long as hell! Like 'fishtailing on pavement' long!

 

[KrakenIPA]

This truck looks like it can hold 10 kids and a food cart business.

10/10

 

[mekes]

Mine was a 6 month old Honda Civic Type R. I had it for 1 day. Got home, got an insurance quote for £9000 and my dad drove it back to the Honda showroom the next day

Five days later I had a Ford Focus Ebony edition.

 

[Sub_Level]

2007 Honda Accord

The 'ole grocery getter.

 

[Irobot82]

1992 Ford Taurus station wagon, white. Yeyah.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

92 Pontiac Bonneville

 

[West Texas CEO]

94 Mustang. I loved this thing more than I loved pussy.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Kilau]

1989 Mitsubishi Sigma, very strange car but it was pretty nice and fast.

 

[lem0n]

Technically my first car, even though I never actually got to drive it. My mom bought me a $300 SAAB 9000 for me to learn to fix up cars. It was solid and rust free, shocking being we lived in Boston, but it was sitting due to a bad alternator. I ended up sourcing the alternator, as well as some nice interior wood trim and some other goodies for it from a junkyard. Right before I was ready to get it running we ended up moving across country as my parents got jobs in Scottsdale, AZ. We had to leave the SAAB behind unfortunately.

 

[synchronicity]

1974 AMC Matador. What a beast.

 

[ipukespiders]

I'm not sure what year I had, but it was basically this (not my picture)

 

[BigBooper]

89 Suzuki Sidekick. It was fun to drive around unless I had to go on the interstate because it felt like I would flip over and die at any moment.

 

[SJRB]

1996 Opel Astra sedan.

Paid 750 euros for the thing, drove around for two years with zero maintenance cost and sold it for 750. Great car.

 

[nush]

Technically the company pool car a 94 Ford Mondeo. I didn't learn to drive until I was 22, then I got a job in a company outside of the town and a group of us ride shared. I knew this agreement might break down at some point so I make preemptive decision to learn to drive.

I Passed my test one morning and in the same afternoon I went right to the office manager and asked if I'd be allowed to drive the pool car now I had a license. He looks at me and asks "Are you sure you're confident to drive that?". "Yes" I reply confidently, as I assumed one of the other guys we pooled with would be in the car with me for support while we drove home. I was wrong.

What happened was all the guys stood outside in the car park refusing to get in the car with me and laughing as they expected me to fuck it up just getting out the car park. They had arranged other rides and stood there waiting for the entertainment to begin. Shit. But I wasn't going to chicken out, so I said fine, hopped in and drove off without incident.

I was fucking shitting it! The only other car I'd driven was a dual control learner Nissan Micra and always with the instructor there. Mondeos are fucking huge and I had to drive through a small English town with thin streets and rush hour traffic, before going out onto the dual carriageway about a half hour dive. I made it home without incident.

But for some reason I just kept driving it every day and the staff just assumed the pool car was now actually my company car (Complete with company fuel card). So for two years I had that car for absolutely free. My decision to learn to drive as a precaution paid off as the guy that used to drive it lost his license for a year for speeding the very next month so I had to take him to work each day. That worked out well for both of us.

 

[Putonahappyface]

My first car was a 2003 Honda Civic i-VTEC SE 1.6. It was a great car that never skipped a beat.

 

[gimmmick]

1997 Honda Civic. I loved that car.

 

[NeonGhost]

1996 Ford Probe GT

 

[Banjo64]

05 plate Renault Cleo.

 

[Nydius]

My first car was a 1985 Pontiac Sunbird LE that I got in 1994, partly with my own savings, partly as an early graduation gift. I was the second owner, previous owner had been an older couple who hadn't driven it much so when I got it the thing only had about 60K miles on it.

Loved that car. It had some character and took me all over the place. Up and down the eastern seaboard, down to the Atlanta Olympics, Cooperstown, Yankees games, random trips to Hard Rock Cafe's. When the transmission went up in it and I couldn't afford a full rebuild, it pained me to be rid of her.

Hand me down Chevy Cavalier from early 90s. Worst car ever.

My dad purposely bought a brand new 1992 Cavalier, which you can see right beside my car here. He spent months test driving various cars and decided he liked that one the most. I never understood what he liked about it. The damn thing felt too long and heavy, it handled like ass, the dashboard design felt like someone was trying to copy Star Trek: The Next Generation and made all the knobs and dials into shuttlecraft controls.

My mom hated it (she had an '88 Cavalier), I hated it, but my dad absolutely adored the damn thing. When he died my mom offered it to me out of courtesy but we both knew it was just going to get sold.

 

[teezzy]

1987 Mercury Tracer hatchback

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

Peugeot 205 Automatic.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Not my pic but same exact car. 1986 Monte Carlo SS.

 

[NeonGhost]

Not my pic but same exact car. 1986 Monte Carlo SS.

My dad had a 1987 SS

 

[KrakenIPA]

Not my pic but same exact car. 1986 Monte Carlo SS.

Good lord are you Mitch Buchannon?!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

My dad purposely bought a brand new 1992 Cavalier, which you can see right beside my car here. He spent months test driving various cars and decided he liked that one the most. I never understood what he liked about it. The damn thing felt too long and heavy, it handled like ass, the dashboard design felt like someone was trying to copy Star Trek: The Next Generation and made all the knobs and dials into shuttlecraft controls.

My mom hated it (she had an '88 Cavalier), I hated it, but my dad absolutely adored the damn thing. When he died my mom offered it to me out of courtesy but we both knew it was just going to get sold.

Oh ya, the dashboard. Another piece of work. I forgot about these two beauties about it:

1. The vent at the top of the dashboard would warp. Never understood why. Then my engineering buddy told me it's due to the car maker making the main dashboard and the vent part of the dashboard two different materials. So in heat and cold the vent part would buckle and warp while the main dashboard held up.

2. Even though it was a small car, the dashboard was big. Combined with the hood, it was actually kind of hard to see above the hood to get a good view in front of the car. You'd think for a compact car it would be easy with good visibility. Nada.

I googled it, and wow. Is this the piece of shit I drove? lol. For the warping piece for gaffers who never drove a cavalier, see the thin rectangular vent things at the top flush on the dashboard (reflecting in the windshield)? Those plastic vent parts would warp and stick out from years in the sun and cold.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Good lord are you Mitch Buchannon?!

Never watched that show. Did he drive this car, and did it have t-tops?

 

[Paulxo87]

1997 grand Marquis that I got in 2007 lol. Solid like a rock. Was still on the road recently as a couple years ago. Left it at my parents

 

[Chittagong]

Just got my first car two weeks ago. A fully electronic Mini.

 

[SatansReverence]

Still got it after 15 years, not the daily driver anymore.

1982 Ford Fairmont Ghia

 

[poodaddy]

1985 Chevy Celebrity. It was honestly a great car, heavy duty body that you just could not dent man, it was just sturdy. Kind of old when I got it in 2002, but I didn't mind, as I was just happy to have my very own car ya know? It was that weird brown that you only see on 80's cars, had a bench seat, and these cheap fake leather but weirdly comfortable seats, and the whole interior had kind of a fake classy but cheap vibe to it that I really found charming in a weird way. My step dad had a custom system put into it for my birthday at 18, installed it himself. Goddamn I used to love just driving that damn thing all around the Knoxville area in TN, couldn't care less how far something was, I was just happy to drive. It wasn't fast, it wasn't incredibly fuel efficient, it wasn't sexy, and it wasn't modern, but goddamn did I fucking adore that car, and I miss the everliving shit out of it. I don't think I'll ever feel a connection to a car like I did that one. Now they're just machines, modes of transportation to me, but that car was like my sanctuary, like a safe haven for me. Wish I could feel that again.

 

[Billbofet]

Think about this car all the time. So fun!!!

 

[KrakenIPA]

Oh ya, the dashboard. Another piece of work. I forgot about these two beauties about it:

1. The vent at the top of the dashboard would warp. Never understood why. Then my engineering buddy told me it's due to the car maker making the main dashboard and the vent part of the dashboard two different materials. So in heat and cold the vent part would buckle and warp while the main dashboard held up.

2. Even though it was a small car, the dashboard was big. Combined with the hood, it was actually kind of hard to see above the hood to get a good view in front of the car. You'd think for a compact car it would be easy with good visibility. Nada.

I googled it, and wow. Is this the piece of shit I drove? lol. For the warping piece for gaffers who never drove a cavalier, see the thin rectangular vent things at the top flush on the dashboard (reflecting in the windshield)? Those plastic vent parts would warp and stick out from years in the sun and cold.

1992 was a huuuge year for warp drives. Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the vents of Chevy Cavaliers (console knobs and buttons included).