Your Daily Driver...

[Salibaba316]

Hello, my name's Sal. I just purchased a black 2005 4runner V8 with 35K miles and I'm pretty excited. I'm selling my 2001 Honda Accord but now I'm wondering about possibly keeping a beater to drive around. Distance and gas aren't issues since I live close to work, shopping, freeways, etc.

I used to have a 2002 modified BMW 525i, I still miss that car, but I more or less saved that car as a treat on weekends or trips, etc. and made it to work and ran daily errands in a 1997 Honda Civic.

So what I'm getting at is...Do a lot of you use your 4runner as your daily driver or do you use another car? If so, what is it?

 

[whiterunner95]

95 4runner and im a daily driver

 

[josh220]

Daily driver. Even with 4X4, V8, a lift, and up-sized tires, so I get worse gas mileage than most on here. I believe in enjoying what you drive, and not worrying so much.

Is the insurance for a second car worth saving some $$ at the pumps? Also, assuming you own that car, how long will the $$ from that car pay for your gas, as well as put a decent chunk of change in your pocket....? Not to mention any repair costs when anything breaks on it or needs replacing....

 

[TheBlueWave]

My runner is the DD and my only vehicle (single, no kids). Sometimes, I wish I kept my '95 civic I traded in for the runner, but it was going to need a timing belt, wheel bearings (two of them at least), new tires, new v-belts, a new radiator, all maintenance type stuff as it ran and drove perfectly. In adding up those expenses and comparing to what I've spent on the repairs for the 4runner ($0.00), I'm glad I only have one vehicle instead of two.

 

[leftyguns21]

this is my daily driver<BR><BR>

<img src="http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/images/uploads/main/Web_new_train.jpg"><BR><BR>

save on gas, wear on car and plus get a little bit of exercise in the morning/night. the gas savings is well worth it going this route. even if i do have to hear some guy talking to himself about how he should have been a drug dealer instead of 'slave to the man'

 

[TheBlueWave]

this is my daily driver
save on gas, wear on car and plus get a little bit of exercise in the morning/night. the gas savings is well worth it going this route. even if i do have to hear some guy talking to himself about how he should have been a drug dealer instead of 'slave to the man'

If we had a decent form of PT up here, I would ride in a heartbeat. I tried to put together a bus route from my house to work and it's not possible without having to transfer around for an hour and a half. Hopefully, our state will do more of this in the future.

 

[eskimochaos]

I would never want a POS beater to drive to work in. The need for safety should be paramount and the 4r will keep you safe in the even of an accident. Some tiny honda civic from the 90s wont.

 

[Net4n6]

Here is my DD

 

[Cape 4RUNNER]

THIS is my daily driver when its not raining. 2006 Kawi Ninja 650R . This is before all the mods I have done to it, but you guys get the idea.:awais:

 

[CJ3Flyr]

My recently sold daily driver

If you can afford to keep the '01 Honda that might be nice especially if you choose to mod the 4Runner. If you're not going to mod beyond minor stuff sell it.

The Runner is significantly safer than the Accord if you crash. The less time you spend in the Accord the better your chances of growing old & cranky.

I am not slamming that vintage Accord in anyway it's just a little low on mass and doesn't have side airbags. Overall Accords are great to crash but unlike the lab tests most accidents involve two vehicles and when talking about two vehicles 'bigger is better' often offsets/exceeds technoligical and design advantages.

All just IMHO, of course. Good luck!

:cheers:

 

[Tariqie]

I just got a new UR, for now I only have this but I do plan on getting a second car. For Quick runs to the stores and stuff.

 

[Falls]

I think in these times , if the Honda runs good , if its paid for , your probably not going to get big money for it , heck I'd keep it.

My 4R is my daily driver . V8 4x4. I drive a lot. Last month my fuel bill was $409.00......lol. I love driving it.

 

[Colemanfu]

I like to have a cool ride but honestly prefer not to be stuck in a cage and don't like to drive much. 40,000 miles on my 04, a few long trips a year rack up the miles.
I have 4 motorcycles I rotate between (no kids = more toys) and that keeps the miles down.
I love to ride my bicycle to work. It's 8 flat miles each direction and I can pull it off in about 24 min.

I replaced the rear sprocket with a highway gear so once you get going you fly.

Check out those ape hangers!

 

[pickerdd]

So what I'm getting at is...Do a lot of you use your 4runner as your daily driver or do you use another car? If so, what is it?

My 4Runner is my Daily Driver. I put at least 40 miles a day on it going back and forth to work in addition to errands, trips, etc... I've considered buying something better on gas, such as a Yaris for my DD (but definitely keeping my 4Runner), but gas will have to be higher than it currently is or i will have to drive much farther than I currently do to work for me to justify spending the money on a new car with the additional expense on insurance. I'm not sure what that price point is, but until then I'll enjoy the hell out of driving my truck!
:driving:

 

[Cybercannon]

My 4R is my DD.

I'm a numbers kind of guy and for your situation I'd be thinking money. How much better is gas milage in your Honda and what's the difference in cost over one month of driving the Honda vs the 4R? How much can you get for the Honda? How much might the older Honda cost in maintenance and repair compared to the newer 4R? Then, how long would you have to drive the Honda before the gas savings minus the maintenance equal what you would have sold it for?

Say you could get $5000 for the car. Say at 1000 miles a month you would save roughly $85. $85*12mo=$1020. *5yr= $5100. (assuming an avg of 26mpg for the accord and 17mpg for the 4R. Redo the math for actual numbers) We'll take off that $100 for likely additional maintenance because it's older just to make it even = $5000 (and that's being conservative).

So keeping your beater pays off in 5 years if you drive only it. You'll also be driving the 4R some, so extend that time a proportional percentage which you'd be driving the 4R. 6 years? 7 years? And again, I was being conservative with older car maintenance. 8 years? 9 years?

Of course the value of the 4R drops if you put more miles on that instead, but then again what resale you have left on the Honda will also drop out pretty quickly if you put a lot of miles on that.

Seems to me not a lot better than people rushing out to take a huge loss on their SUVs in trade for a Prius, which all by itself (since their more expensive) would take 7 years of driving to offset the gas savings over a regular corolla or civic. Now those people are adding to that the normal loss on their truck/suv PLUS the loss they're probably taking because SUVs aren't in high demand so dealers are offering less. Plus the additional potential maintenance costs of the prius. Financial and logical bankruptcy. It's kind of a herd stampede/panic where people rush to act without thinking.

I'm not saying you're in the catagory as that above paragraph. Just that the math and numbers are kind of similar.

Edit: Oh yeah, and insurance on an additional vehicle. 10 years perhaps?

 

[Salibaba316]

I never broke it down like that. Thanks for all the input from everybody. I decided that I'll sell my Honda like I originally planned and not replace it with another beater. So, I'll totally enjoy my 4R and that's it. The truth I always forget is the added expenditure of keeping 2 vehicles and the yearly maintenance that goes with each plus insurance. It adds up in a hurry. Thanks again, people!!

 

[Cybercannon]

Unless you've got another reason to have a beater that you would never want to put you're daily driver through. Usually that goes the otherway around though with people owning a mudding vehicle that isn't their commuting car.

Or if you've got a kid coming up 16 anytime soon. Things like that.

 

[zimm]

27mpg city, 32 highway, 1g in the corners

Tokico shocks, eibach springs, mazdaspeed swaybars, drilled brake rotors.