I drive the P***at for the New England winters. I bought it well used and it's served me well for the past couple of years. Before that, my winter beater was a '92 Corolla that took me about 220K miles before I gave it away to a college student (who put another 30K on it before buying a '94 Passat and getting obsessed with the mpg readout!). With different driving techniques, I regularly get between 31 and 34 mpg in it. It's no where near as reliable as the Toyota was but I've been able to keep up with it. So far, the biggest thing I've done recently is replace the water pump (including lifting the engine to do it).
I had a Miata with a psycho-killer stereo in it. That has to be the best bang-for-the-buck ride out there. When I sold it, I insisted the buyer give me 'first right of refusal' whenever she gets rid of it. I replaced it with the 323 convertible because I needed back seats for transporting children. What, you don't suggest I give up the ragtop do you?
Anyway, the Bimmer is a real nice drive, but not the same kind of thrill as the roadster. It has an analog mpg meter that shows a more 'instantaneous' mpg performance. It would be nice to have an averaging readout as well. Since it's RWD, I keep thinking about how I could add an electric motor between the transmission and the differential (shortened drive shaft) and make a hybrid conversion. Recently, I've replaced the brakes all around, rear shocks, rear window and a few other minor things.
The Healey was a longtime dream of mine. For fun-factor alone, I should have sold
it and kept the Miata, but atleast it's been going up in value. I recently replaced the 3 SU carbs and can't wait to get them tuned up.
As for my EV aspirations, I'm thinking about converting a used Civic sometime (but I need to clear some garage space first).
Linear Mode
