Here’s the thing. We’re car enthusiasts. We pick and choose our cars on emotional whims, and spend aching hours obsessing over the cars we desperately want to own. Often, the cars we choose are neither cheap nor practical, and many of us will admit our fleets are not always in the best mechanical shape. That raises a question: What car should you be driving, instead of whatever impractical/unreliable/suboptimal machine is sitting in your driveway?
I’ll openly admit I’m guilty of some folly in this regard. I drive an Audi TT – a drop-top roadster, of course – in one of the rainiest cities in Australia. I live deep in the inner city, so I barely ever actually drive the thing, and its ride height is so low that it’s getting beat up every time I go over a speed bump. Of course, it’s my dream car, so I hold on to it for dear life.
Basically, I should be driving something else. And I know exactly what that car is. See, on the day I bought the worst car I’ve ever owned, I had actually test-driven something else. It was a first-generation Honda HR-V. This vehicle ticked a lot of boxes for me. It was all-wheel-drive, with a good ride height, so I could totally blast it around on the beach in the summer. Plus, it had a manual transmission. Ultimately, though, it felt cheap and a bit janky, so I passed it over for that hateful BMW.
Now that I’m living in the city, I realize this Honda would have been perfect for me. It had a nice high driving position, and absolutely wouldn’t fuss over any of the bumps, grates, or kerb ramps that plague the city. With no turbo, it would have been a touch better on gas than the Audi, plus it ran on regular instead of premium. It also had tons of cargo space, and was so cheap, I could hardly make it worse even if I drank four liters of Mountain Dew and spewed all over the interior. I could have found parts for it all over the world. Plus, it was still manual, so it’d satiate that part of my enthusiast brain.
This would have been an altogether better car for the kinds of driving I do these days—infrequent, on clogged city roads. Plus, its just-barely-off-roadable ability would have served me well on the occasional jaunt to the out-of-doors. Still, I love my Audi, and I’m not complaining. I just realize that there was a better, cheaper option for me.
Now, since this is Autopian Asks, I throw this over to you. What should you be driving, instead of the brown diesel Cadillac coupe you’re so addicted to?
Honestly, nothing. I live in the city, have for most of my adult life. Plenty of public transit, stores, etc. are available to me.
I could save a big chunk of money by abandoning vehicle ownership and probably live objectively quite comfortably. But subjectively, never as fully.
Honestly, some sort of small coupe or a “3 door” hatchback
I don’t have a single need for anything more than 2 seats. A tC, a CRZ, an Eclipse, etc.
I need something to get me where I’m going
Champagne Carolla
If you need a car that will get you there, take Karen (nee Kitty)’s advice and get a white. Chrysler. LeBaron
If you want a car that will get you there, take Karen (nee Kitty)’s advice and get a white. Chrysler. Lebaron
I should be driving some plug-in hybrid manual transmission thing that would fit 2 people and 3 dogs in a pinch.
I should be driving an F150 Raptor R. Obviously, 720 horsepower and 37-inch tires are a need and not a want.
What ever I like, no need to please people
A Subaru BRAT/Brumby with a manual.
Hey, four posts today, already. Did the local coke and crank dealer have a sale or something?
In Australia, Lewin can probably just go to the beach https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/03/high-tide-why-are-cocaine-bricks-washing-up-on-sydney-beaches
Pshhhh, just own 6 cars like I do. No need to compromise!
My insurance company has a collectible car policy that allows one to drive their collectible 4 days a month. I aim to get 7 collectibles just to say haha.
As someone who is single with no kids, it’s certainly not the GX470 I have right now, but it’s just so excellent. I’ll likely replace it with something more appropriate that’ll scratch the enthusiast itch. Toss up between a rougher ND1 Miata, 500 Abarth, Toyota Crown, or maybe a Toyota Sera. If this list seems unfocused and chaotic, welcome to my Facebook Marketplace algorithm, it knows me well.
Toyota Crown!!! Of course the others are excellent choices as well, and I am a bit biased, but I know the best place in the country to get a crown!
Only if it’s a Toyopet Crown Deluxe.
I’d go the other way since I’m driving the car I should be driving in this sense- an Econobox…when I SHOULD be driving either a truck; since I’ve never had my own truck (only had a company truck that I could commute in) and love trucks…
OR, I should be driving my dream car= 69 Dodge Super Bee
I really wish there was a modern version of the 03-08 Toyota Matrix. One with all the modern creature comforts like heated seats and Android Auto, and modern safety features, but retaining the plastic backed, fold flat seating with ties tracks and cargo volume. Throw in all-wheel drive and I’d be a happy camper.
I think the closest is probably Corolla Cross?
Honda Element.
Go back a decade, and smarten up.
I drive maybe 5 miles a week to grab lunch or run an errand. I do that in a 30 year old Ram that gets maybe 12mpg. I should drive the cheapest most economical shitbox that exists. David’s recently sold Leaf would have been almost perfect for me.
Money no object, a Lucid Air.
A V60. Bought the Tiguan and it does everything I need but it’s only utilitarian. Only 13 payments left and rates are way too high to dive in now
As a S60 Recharge owner, I endorse this message.
I have a truck because I need to do truck things often. But, I wish I had a more economical vehicle to drive back and forth to work. Something like Suzuki Kizashi, there is something about those little things that I love.
Because of work and an older home… A pickup truck. I just drive a buick verano instead
I should be driving a NEW car, but instead, I’m using that money to put a kid through college 🙂
I should be driving an Accord 2.0T 6 speed. I went to test drive one and would probably have bought it, but when I got there it was not a 2.0T. The salesman said “oh, it’s in another lot”. We went to the other lot, and he showed me another 1.5L. I left.
What I should be driving on my town’s 17th-Century streets, roads and lanes, is an OG Mini. Despite fears that all the SUV/CUV drivers would skoosh me like a bug, it’s the right choice. Plus, since parking spots are small and rare (at least in tourist season), the 10-foot length would be a big help.
Given enough money and the unlikely chance of finding one that hasn’t been hooned to uselessness, I’d love a Mitsubishi Dangan ZZ-4. Or a Fiat Abarth Zagato.
Realistically, I have a hankering for a ’58 Chevy two-door coupe that occasionally wobbles through town. I’d have to get it before one more winter reduces it to a pile of rust flakes.
I need a classic Mini. I’m in a Miata now so not much bigger, but classic Minis are just special.
Now that you reminded me of the first generation Honda HR-V, that’s most definitely the car I should be driving. What a charming little machine.
Well, my commute is suburban & rural. Average 20mi each way; also haul my motorcycle a bit and mostly 55 roads.
I feel like i should be driving either a maverick hybrid, or an S-Cargo. Instead im looking at N cars.
I bought a Civic because it was really really cheap and I needed to get a first car at some point. Now I realized a 6 Ft person and a ’98 Civic coupe don’t mix. If I could, I’d take a manual 1st-gen CR-V or Element anyday. Ideally I would get a new Elantra Blue Hybrid though.
I should be driving a plug-in hybrid Honda Element. I’m told this vehicle doesn’t actually exit. BUT IT SHOULD!
Well, if the universe wasn’t all messed up, I’d be driving a full-on S Class, or at least a 7 series.
Hell, I’d settle for an LS.