@87CapriceEstate: 1997 3.5 models were the ONLY ones eligible, thanks to the strange variability in year to year rankings on what were essentially unchanged cars. *shrug* kind of sucks, since that was my first car and I loved it. Even though it was never officially in my name, I paid the 1100 for the tranny job -…

Hrmm, well with 380+ comments at this point, this has probably already been said, but I'll say it again:

@87CapriceEstate: i'm not a big fan of the whole 'won't spend more than the car is worth' mentality. just because the market value on a car is X number of dollars doesn't mean that it's financially wise to only spend X or less number of dollars on repairs, ESPECIALLY when those repairs are for regular wear items. Is…

pshh, no e30s or miatas? these guys don't know nothin about forums.

Well, my Dad let his collection of vintage British and German iron sit, corroding in a dilapidated turn of the century general store he had purchased for storage, for approximately 25 years while he raised my 3 brothers and me. Now that he's retired, and we've all moved out, he's been plugging away at restoring the…

@87CapriceEstate: yeah, that first story is definitely not an enthusiast. the 99 camry was a bad start - the getting rid of it because it needed repairs that were in excess of it's worthless value is a bad continuation, the purchase of a 2011 camry was a bad finale, and the mention of the poster's gender at the end…

@Back In Time: Obviously you haven't been following the news - we can't even put a man in space anymore!

@Elhigh: I actually recommended that car to my Mom after renting a regular, automatic Cobalt and averaging 37 mpg (this was measured by fuel consumption and odometer readings, I don't trust the computer readout) on a round trip from Houston to Louisiana including time spent in New Orelans. Average speeds on the…

Hrmm, so it's the sportiest of a particularly non sporty segment that focuses on efficiency, but isn't really any more efficient than much more sporty gasoline counterparts. Let's see, for 20-24k you're starting to push into the hot-hatch territory. Even if they're a bit less efficient (seems like most hot hatches…

hrmm, i don't see a radio. if i bought it, i'd like one of those little xm traffic / nav headunits (don't want to get stuck in heavy traffic on the freeway, the damn thing might overheat!) - anyone know if this uses a single din or double din mount?

@Xelmon: exactly. i don't know if it's due to the shape of the combustion chamber or higher pumping losses, or something relating to the difficulty of effectively sealing the engine (the renesis was the first line of rotary engines to not drink oil, iirc), or maybe added friction from the very high rotational velocity…

@xxpor: only in the loosest sense - there's wayyy more difference between a 1.3L wankel and a 1.3L i-4 (or 2.6L I-4, if you want to be a bit more fair about it since the wankel is comparable to a 2 stroke in the way it pumps air) than there is between say a 1.3L wankel and a 1.6L wankel. so, the impression i got from…

@xxpor: it doesn't even make sense to compare displacement of a rotary engine to that of a piston engine - they make displacement using different geometry. The Renesis makes very efficient use of space to get it's displacement, and even more efficient use of space to get it's hp. If you want to talk weight, the…

@FTGDWolverineEdition: I am really being truthful when I say this (and I think my previous allusion to my first "mopar" should confirm my earnestness) - I wish I could say that it still looked fresh to me, but it's just completely played out. The only LX I could even IMAGINE in my driveway is a Magnum.

@499wishes: I actually have, but I believe it was in 2004. That was when I still had my 1g Intrepid 3.5. Not a piece of chrome on that car, sigh. Sure, it was FWD and automatic (at least the engine was installed longitudinally, like a RWD car), but I still really liked that thing. The LX had a decent amount of…

Ah, the Chrysler 300. Keeping it klassy since 2005...

hah, guess that makes an 18 wheeler wayyy better than a Mercury Marauder...

@M_Richardson: Of course. In fact, you could say that the statue will be resurrected.

@Dan122186: Ohh, I forgot, the GTI. What a fantabulously awesome car. Who else but VW would have the vision to call a 3100 lb fwd hatchback with 200 HP their high performance offering? And yes, I have driven one - it's quite competent, but thoroughly unremarkable and dull to drive. I certainly wouldn't be willing to…

Wow, the next generation of a car is larger, heavier and more bland than the previous. This type of change is incredibly bold! Way to think outside the box VW!