What's your daily driver?

[adigra]

I just bought a new daily driver (picking it up in the morning) and am just a little excited as it's a car I've admired for a long time (and it's nearly as rare as an Elan, believe it or not!). It's a VW Lupo GTI. I love small, fun cars.

But it got me wondering what other Elan owners are using as daily transport??

Adi

[terryp]

Jeep Cherokee , its almost as reliable as a Lotus so fits in really well. Its also quite rare as its an Orvil no sorry an Orvis.

Adi - Nice Lupo!

Terry

[HolmDenmark]

Subaru Legacy.
ps: I don't drive around with the chassis everyday

[dusty]

I'm using this at the moment. 1978 633CSi

[jono]

Subaru Legacy, or a 17 year old Mazda Eunos

[prezoom]

Infinity G35 Coupe, with a 6-speed and Brembos.

Rob Walker
26-4889

[Galwaylotus]

1990 Mini City. 300 miles a week and it's getting a bit tired!

[garyeanderson]

1997 Ford F250 7.3 PowerStroke Diesel automatic 3.55 rear axle 227,458 miles 5000 pounds empty.
bought new, had a few Lotus cars as cargo, I will always own a pickup as they are just so damn useful.


Before that

1988 Ford F250 5.0 4 speed with creaper 1st gear 4.10 rear axle no overdrive. 253,xxx
also bought new

[csjohnson]

2005 Dodge RAM 1500 with a 5.7L V8. I have a race trailer for moving cars around but I like the idea of putting them in the back of the truck.


Chris

[msd1107]

I guess the question is - if you have a Lotus, why is it not your daily driver?

Until my car got creamed by a wrong way driver, it was my daily driver. Used it to bring back building materials from the DIY centre, new TV (just barely fit), transport company brochures up to COMDEX in Las Vegas, etc. For anything more, I rent what is needed for the day - less expensive than owning another vehicle and I get the joy of driving a Lotus.

Cars that shared time with the Lotus:

1972 Mazda RX-2 (went 150,000 miles and with the ex-wife)
1961 Jaguar MK-2 (owned 10 years, sold for what I paid for it even though it needed total restoration)
1970 Mercedes 280SEL (sold for more than I paid for it)
1988 Mercedes 300E (sold for more than I paid for it in 1 hour on CraigsList)
2000 Acura 3.2TL (current car - first car with working radio and heater)

Before the Lotus, my daily driver was a 1961 Honda CB-77 with a 1941 Cadillac as backup.

David
1968 36/7988

[garyeanderson]

I guess the question is - if you have a Lotus, why is it not your daily driver?

David
1968 36/7988

Lets see now, this picture was taken 9 days ago on December 20th at 10 am, it was bare earth at 12 hours earlier.



16 inches of white nasty cold frozen water. Saturday night (December 26th) into Sunday (the 27th) it rained about a i/2 an inch and the Temperature warmed up to 55 degrees Fahrenheit and all of that white stuff melted and washed away. At the moment its 13 F and supposed to be 7F by morning, it is now bare frozen earth. Yesterday I pulled to the side of the road and got a wheel off the pavement and nearly got stuck in the mud. Last June it was 49 F the whole month except for 2 or 3 days, last time I looked at a calender summer begins on June 21st in the northern hemisphere. July started off with 3 days of rain but it warmed up into the low 50's F if my memory serves me well. Summer in Scituate 2009 was about 3 weeks, I call it summer when the temp get above 80 degrees F. Um I guess I don't really want to continue why I don't drive my Elan with no top, windows or heater but I think you know where I am leading with this.

Gary

[msd1107]

Hi Gary,

I knew that was a way to get a picture of Beau!

On the other side of the coin:

One day we were up in Oregon east of Portland along the Willamette river. It was raining. As we went south from the river and up into the mountains, the precipitation turned into snow and we continued toward Crater Lake until the forest service closed the road as impassable. Beautiful scenery!

My first Elan didn't have a thermostat, and I had the needles adjusted very lean (45 mpg on trips) so the car never really got that warm in winter.

But then, I have a FHC, so the nasty weather is outside, and we appreciate the scenery no matter what the weather.

But before the Elan, I rode a CB-77. One Thanksgiving morning I set off up Little Tijunga Canyon Road toward the ski slopes. The sides of the road gradually turned white, and then the road tuned into a sheet of ice in parts. This was an exciting ride. But with proper gear, comfy.

SoCalif actually has a wet season, and some years it was really wet. The bike was my daily driver, and I would get to my classroom and be the only dry person, since I rode with wet weather gear. The rest of the students got soaked coming in from the parking lot. (In those days, bikes parked right up close to the buildings, cars in the boonies. I would lean the bike up against a conveniently close wall or fence [completely stripped bike, so no centre stand] and walk into the building with my backpack under my wet weather gear, arriving in class warm and dry).

But then I realize many Lotus owners would have no other model than the DHC, preferrably with the top down. So that does cut into the days of the year in which the joys of Lotus driving can be enjoyed. To each, that which pleases them the most.

David
1968 36/7988

[Bruce Crowthorne]

Lotus Elise S1 - modern equivalent of the Elan!
Now done 127k miles, owned for 10 years.

But I also cheat! I have an Espace for going to the scrapyard / builders merchants / airport.
By the way, the Espace is also glass fibre body on a (galvanised) steel chassis.
I suspect the body panels are made in the same place as the S2 Elise.
On one of my visits to Hethel someone in the body shop mentioned atha all the high volume panles are made in France using the "dough moulding" technique. Looking at the back of an Espace panel, I think they are made the same way.

Bruce

[tdafforn]

Hi All,
My daily driver is chosen to highlight the wonders of the +2, A peugeot 106D (56 bhp, 86 ftlb torque, 0-60, 17.9 secs, 56 mpg).
Don't use the lotus as a daily driver as I only go 5 miles each way per day along roads with 30 mph speed limit...
Lotus comes out at the weekends however!!!
Tim

[HolmDenmark]

Winter was here in DK for a short while prior to X-mas. I had a "work at home day" when the snow fell and couldn't resist taking my Youngtimer out - a Lightweight LR from '83.
The snow started to melt on the 23. and was more or less gone on the 25'th.