The Tacoma is great – I bought a 1998 model a few years ago, think I paid $14k for it. No more renting trucks from Home Depot for me!
My husband drove a Subaru for ~15 years and had to replace the clutch twice. But he’s the first to admit he’s not a great stick driver and would tend to ride the clutch. Now we’re both old and drive automatics.
1971 Pontiac Le Mans Sport 350, four on the floor, convertible, visiting her birthplace of Pontiac, Michigan. We called her the Shark.
Eventually we got old and no fun and she started to take on some wear from neglect, so we sold her on to a fellow who was going to restore her with his teenage son. I hope they had a great time!
I feel the same way about the Scion XB (aka The Breadtruck). I freaking loved that car, and they stopped making them before I ever needed another one (the Soul was my failed attempt to recapture that feeling). To a lesser degree I also lament the loss of the Neon, I really dug having one of those too.
The Scion and Element seem to be in that family of strange concept cars some maniac decided to actually produce without watering down too much. Also designs that are frequently mocked, but that I’ve come to respect for the purity of their intent. Form completely following function, no superfluous decorative crust. The Element was conceived as a modern-day Woody, shaped vaguely like a surfboard, that would look good sitting on a beach in an ad photo. Having driven it on beaches, can confirm it looks like it belongs there. Also, the 00’s plastic skirt look is dated but makes a lot of sense considering the use cases.
The PT Cruiser would be another one like that, but it’s an awful car. I had to drive one as a work company car a few years ago and everyone in the office hated it. It would always be the car to drive when there wasn’t any other car available.
I appreciated the look of that Plymouth retro period with the PT Cruiser and the Prowler, but I don’t know that I ever heard a compliment about driving either of them.
Seconded! It’s been a couple of cars since I was able to even find one on a used lot. That’s compounded by the fact that used Subarus don’t sit around for long here in Christmastown. Silver and gold, gold and silver, wahoo.
But I bet rollin’ coal continues to be perfectly fine
(I cannot for the life of me think of a good reason why this particular mod, stupid and rednecky or not, should be outlawed; unless some auto engineer has a good explanation for why this renders the vehicle more dangerous to its own or other motorists, this seems like a place where There Oughtn’t Be A Law)
It actually does make the vehicle more unstable to drive, and also obscures the drivers view of the road and as well as the vehicle(s) in front of them.
And it’s especially stupid because Priuses aren’t even all that green. I doubt I fill my tank as often as they do, but I still have to put gas in it on the regular.
But then they probably do it to Leafs, Teslas, etc. too.
Ah, well, at least there’s an ostensible reason for it. Of course IMO virtually every truck/SUV obscures the view in front, especially for short drivers. I’m always a little worried when I see someone driving and their nose is below the top of the steering wheel.
Alright this is super depressing, so here’s a picture of my old car (sold to a kid the next neighborhood over, so I still see it sometimes). Isn’t it ADORABLE?