We're so lucky to drive 02s...

[72touring]

I just got back from driving all over northern Illinois (for work/business) for a week. I put about 700 miles on a 2007 Dodge Charger. Pretty peppy with 350 horsepower, but it sure handles like a big bar of soap. It probably weighs as much as two 02s. I feel so fortunate to drive a 2002 on a regular basis. I miss my cars...

[BLUNT]

when i was at SEMA last year i watched one of those pigs on an autox course. it was pathetic. major understeer and a crown vic smoked him on the course. it just looked heavy

[wohleb]

For the last few months I have been working on my daughter's automatic and every time I drove it i marveled at how much fun it was to drive.

This week I've been driving my son's standard to work and it feels fantastic even in bumper to bumper traffic. And when you get away from the crowd and get to drive...it's nervana.

[Jim_75Sahara]

Today people look for distractions while driving. In an '02, you roll down the windows, turn off the radio, and DRIVE. No need for phones, video, makeup, reading materials, food, drink. My kids like to get that old-fashioned experience of riding w/dad in the '02. I have similar memories of riding in my dad's TR4 with the top down. 45mph might as well have been 75mph with the wind and the sound of that little engine. Great fun. He was a daredevil with it in a parking garage -- YEEE--HAAA!

[72touring]

Ahhh, the parking garage. My sons (who are now 17 and 20) recently told me of a fond 2002 memory of theirs. When they were much younger, I was working on the Potrero Hill area of San Francisco, and occassionally they would go to work with me for a couple of hours on Saturdays. On the way home, with the two of them safely strapped into the back seat of a 1972 2002 Targa (usually top down). we would pass over a metal grate/plate before getting onto the ramp to 280. They would scream to gun it, and with a little bit of moisture and some tractionless metal, the back end would swing out a little before regaining contact with asphalt. They would yell with delight at the incredible thrill of a little loss of traction. In a 2002.

[KFunk]

When I was in Illinois cruising down the highway at about 80 mph, I saw a black Charger approaching in my rearview mirror at a very high rate of speed (110 or more). As it got really close, I could see the low profile light bar on top of it. Now thats a scary sight.

Luckily he just passed me and kept going.

[Zenon]

Today people look for distractions while driving. In an '02, you roll down the windows, turn off the radio, and DRIVE. No need for phones, video, makeup, reading materials, food, drink.

Amen, brother. Amen.

[Mike Self]

pm last night, then mop up water from a leaky pipe and water heater...The drive about ten miles on back roads, but I drove the '02 so it was actually fun! Love those Optilux driving lights; properly aimed they light up the road like daylight. Deer beware!

mike