Yellow 2003 Suzuki Aerio SX. Ugly-ass car, but had a 6-CD changer standard and despite a rating of 20mpg by my calculations I got around 40-ish mpg. As a teenager working a retail job at minimum wage, it was awesome.

Fucking everything. But if I had to pick it’s the cassette-melting, vinyl-evaporating hot box it was capable of. Smelled like freedom.

Not my car/pic.

mine was a five speed and it made me feel so superior to my 16 y/o peers

That i bought it for $400 and traded it in for $600, also it had a nice big back seat.

It had a distinct smell that, when I smell out now, brings me vividly back to driving home from high school listening to Metallica.

It was my grandmother’s, and I was the 5th owner after she passed away. Manual windows, manual locks, and a fully-metal body. By the time I got it, it was so quirky, I loved everything about it.

• The horn was dying, so if you held it for longer than 2-3 seconds, it sounded like the doppler effect,
• Since the hood was metal, the horn would make it vibrate a little and the car sounded like it was begging to be put out of its misery,
• The brakes screamed when you came to a stop, but only at speeds under 10 mph, so I basically scared the shit out of every drive-thru worker I encountered,
• Our family dog knocked the rear view mirror off with her head, and after 5 months, we finally glued it back on, only for her to do it again a week later, so I learned to drive with only my sideview mirrors,
• The parking brake basically couldn’t be relied on because the previous owner, my sister, drove it for about 6 months with the parking brake fully engaged, complaining to my dad constantly that it had no acceleration.

Was a beautiful, green, Kia Sephia, and I miss that car more than some family members. My second car had another favorite quirk: the driver’s window motor died, so the window wouldn’t roll up or down. So, being the high school chucklefuck that I was, I’d go through drive-thrus in reverse if I had a friend in the passenger seat (also without a rearview mirror, thanks to the aforementioned dog).

All the staff used to come to the window laughing, and one manager gave us real shit for it despite their being no signs or anything indicating we couldn’t.

Sigh my younger days, cars today are just too boring 😂

I had 10" subs in my 08 Hyundai Tiburon

I drove it across country (US) from east coast to west coast and back without my parents knowing. It was a fun week.

An Alpine radio and phone dock meant I was streaming podcasts way before it was cool.

It never broke down. Didn’t change oil, didn’t check water, just gassed it up and drove.

AMC in-line 6-cylinder. They don’t make them like that anymore.

That it was mine 😂

Two couches on wheels, 1989 Oldsmobile Delta 88

Still driving it, 2008 1.6 gol power, got it 3 years ago.

Very much a south American version of a golf but since it wasn’t designed that much for security it weighs 1000 kilos and has 97 hp.

But it’s one of the most reliable cars in the country and while the car has multi fuel injection the accelerator is mechanical, the steering is hidraulic, no ABS or Traction control, it has a markedly notchy 5 speed manual and the suspension is both stiff but with some significant body roll, mostly thanks to it’s light weight.

Thing drives like a FWD kart and I love it, you feel like you’re going super fast or doing dangerous stuff even in completely safe situations under the speed limit. Can’t wait to get it to a track day (they’re very uncommon in my country).

On top of all they’re worth 4k usd at most and the parts for it are dirt cheap. And the engine design is actually a Mercedes design from the 80s so it’s pretty solid people get 150 HP out of it very easily (which leaves you with the power to weight ratio of a golf GTI) with a few mods and if you get forged Pistons and a proper turbo you can go past 300 hp

It was a small subcompact hatchback but ran on diesel. Back in my home country, diesel is cheaper and considered more economical, and it was rare for a small car to run on diesel instead of gas.

My camaro broke down quite often. I had to replace a starter, water pump, alternator, something about the universal joint in the drive shaft, brakes, battery, etc. The clutch was the hardest and I got it wrong 2 times before I got it right on the third. It made me start thinking outside of what was easy and spoon fed. I started to realize that a Haynes manual was extremely limited. Eventually this line of thinking took me deep into fundamental understanding. Most people never think past throwing parts at a problem, but I learned how all of it works at a fundamental level. That journey started with my first car. It shaped my mind and who I am to a large extent.