Valentine’s Day Survey: What Car Would You Buy for Your Sweetie?
Saint Valentinus was a third century Roman Christian, who died on the Via Flamina in Rome and his feast day is celebrated on Febuary 14th. It is hard enough for most people to understand what happened last week, so it is understandable that little is known about an early Christian from 1800 years ago, but popular legend has it that he was imprisoned (and later martyred) for performing weddings, and while incarcerated he sent a note signed “from your Valentine.” Today, Valentine’s day is fully exploited by the Hallmarks, Walmarts and FTDs of the world to persuade Americans into opening their wallets and buying some chocolate heart shaped kitsch. The Daily Turismo is going to join the desecration festivities by asking the following question of our readers: “What car would you buy your sweetie for Valentine’s day?”
Our answer is simple: A first generation Mazda MX-5 Miata. Why? Because they are cheap, simple to maintain, a blast to drive and we’d be ridiculed for buying one our self. However, you can drive anything if it’s the wife’s car…maybe even a pink New Beetle. Here is a perfect example of why you don’t need to be a eunuch to drive a Eunos: this 1993 Mazda Miata is for sale in Boulder, CO for $5998 with only 31k miles on the odometer.
This first generation MX-5 is equipped with a 1.6 liter inline 4 that puts out 115 horsepower into a 5 speed manual transmission. The MX-5 is the highest selling 2-door convertible of all time and simply a joy to drive.
What what would you pick? Comments below:
Red '65 Mustang Convertible, of course!
An Audi R8 V10. If I could. Because that's her dream car. I'd say a '66 Volvo 1800S as a runner-up, but she already bought one for herself!
1993 Volvo 850 for $500. I spent another $1000 on tires, timing belt, and replacing/refurbishing a bunch of miscellaneous parts. It's brown, it's slow, it's old, it's boxy, and it has a standard transmission. She can drive that for another 10 years. This is what she gets after crashing three expensive high performance cars, and trashing another two in the past 5 years.
Don't text and drive, don't drink and drive, and stay away from those drive-throughs folks!
A twin turbo 911 convertible with upgraded alpha 28 turbos to get her blood pumping, would be nice.
The 1965 Aston Martin DB6 Radford Shooting Brake that's on auction at Bonhams, right now. Well, it's out of my price range by a factor of more than ten but, otherwise, I would.
I absolutly love these little cars,great handling,lightweight,almost 50/50 weight ditribution.I had probably 10 of them.
However Id go with the second gen,because it has the bigger 1.8l engine.Also try to get an M edition.abs,leather seats,bbs wheels,limited slip,power mirrors and windows,ac,headrest speakers.Hard top is always a bonus.Jackson racing makes bolt on superchargers,and Moss Motors carries a large portfolio of oem and aftermarket parts for these gems.
They are getting harder and harder to find in good condition.Mark my words,these are going to be collectible.
These engines are bullet proof,easy 200-250k miles lifetime.
Tamas
Gotta be a minivan. Used, 2000-2004 Odessy or Sienna. Someone has to haul the kids around.
Only a tramp-stamped, wine-cooler-drinking, Kenny G fan would drive this car. Sorry D.T., this car has no appeal. I maintain that this car has no style and therefore does not qualify for an exemption to the criteria outlined in the Spouse Vehicle Agreement Contract of 2004 which clearly states that the wife's vehicle needs to be capable of (1) Starting Regularly; (2) Transporting small people safely; and (3) Hauling spare parts for the husband's less reliable modes of transportation. Further, Amendment 1 clearly stipulates that the wife should not be required to wear shoes she can push in, in order to operate the vehicle. I strongly suspect that this car might be in violation of all 4 of these regulations.