The '02 as a practical daily driver?

[future_assassin]

My 74 is about to become a daily driver for my gf for about three months till we find her a new car. We've driven it quite a bit since I bought it a few months ago and so far it runs pretty good. Except for the car/road noise it drives no different then her CRV.

Last Sat we drove it for about 250 K's on the highway and it went pretty good. Yah the supsension is a bit soft but that makes it that more fun when you get hit by a gust of wind at 120.

[SteveJ]

Almost any properly maintained car will be reliable, but not all reliable cars are fun.

I too was afflicted by the WRX bug and the new-MINI-itis. My wife said, "Sure, go ahead and get one. Which one of your cars will you trade in? The tii or the M3?" A sure cure for those infections is the thought of giving up either of those cars.

Right now, my E30M3 is off the road(for the last year and a half) while I rebuild all the tired suspesion, brakes, bearings, etc... That makes my 72 as my daily driver AND plaything. Ideally, I'd have the 02 and a back up car. My wife has her E46 that I ~can~ use in an emergency, but that is her car. The only pain is that I have a deadline of the next morning if I tear anything apart on the 02 for repair. As a result, many things do get postponed. I nursed a nasty oil leak until I had enough time set aside to get in there and clean and seal it up. So I had to live with oil spots wherever I parked. Oh well. It's just like a dog marking his territory. "Hey look. Fifi was here too."

Having the 02 as a daily driver is just fine as long as you don't expect it to have super cold AC, complete silence sound-deadening, and blend-in stealth looks as would a Accord or Taurus or Camry. Then again, the next time you are out driving your 02, take a look at that Accord or Taurus or Camry driver. Do they look like they are having fun?

Life is too short to drive boring cars.

[JohnW]

I have three cars and go through periods where I will drive one of them a lot more than the others until I get bored (or it breaks) and then move on to the next one in the rotation. The 2002 runs a lot better when I drive it regularly and I also believe that regular use makes any car more reliable. If you start with a decent car, you will probably still have to work through some annoying teething problems, but once it's sorted out, it should be fairly reliable. With any car this old, however, you never know when you're going to have a major mechanical failing. Even if a lot of stuff has been replaced or rebuilt chances are it wasn't done to quite the same standard as when it left the factory for the first time. Engine rebuilds are probably the best example of this.

I rarely drive my 2002 in the winter because even here, in southeastern Virginia where it almost never snows, they pave the road with salt at the slightest hint of bad weather.

[jpcapoc]

Life is too short to drive boring cars.

I've had new boring cars. I now drive a '70 02 every day. Extremely reliable. Way more fun than my chevy pickup, ford taurus or my wife's new jetta.