2002 As A Daily Driver

[JerryC]

My Ceylon '72tii is my DD come rain or shine, even when it's 25 like this morning here in NoCal. I'd drive it just about anywhere, but I'd be alone so we take my wife's car for trips out of town.

Mods: Bilstein HDs, IE springs, sway bars, 14" Panasports, 5-speed, seats, battery in trunk, 320is sport wheel, and friggin' loud horns. I've spent much of my 11 years of ownership undoing and correcting the PO's mods (mostly engine and drivetrain related). Nearly any car is much more reliable in stock form, and you can look the part up in a manual without having to guess or remember what the mods are. But don't try to take away my 5-speed.

I parked it for a year a couple times to undertake major maintenance type repairs; most recently all suspension joints and rubber, steering box replacement, and complete brake system overhaul. What an improvement! I have a beater Ranger that I drive when the '02 is garaged. It's great for fetchin' '02 parts.

This isn't the easiest car to work on, largely due to it's size, but the trade off is performance. The visibility is a safety plus in my book, I've seen pedestrians nearly get hit because a driver can't see them from behind the huge roof pillars on new cars. Generous brakes for the time, nice running engine, it's a well balanced car. For a nearly 45-year-old design, it's still a kick to drive and has as much or more on-the-street fun factor as any new car I've driven.

Complaints: #1 - it's a bit over-engineered (said the mechanical engineer). Why does it need a 2-piece driveshaft with that damned guibo coupling when neither end is attached to anything that moves? And all those damned hoses! A 6-cyl 1965 Mustang (which has a vastly superior heater, btw) has 5 coolant and heater hoses, total. My tii has at least twice that many, I'm not gonna bother to count them, and the heater is an afterthought.

Overall, it's my favorite drive at our house.

Edit: my previous 2 '02s were daily drivers, also. Seventeen years worth!

[neanderthal]

i live in los angeles.

i drove mine for years as a daily driver. i also play rugby, so i spent some weekends driving all over the south west united states, from phoenix to san luis obispo to san diego for rugby games.

it had a completely rebuilt drivetrain, so no issues.

no mod cons, but more grins than any car with mod cons would give. i seem to remember being stress free back then too.

[JsnPpp]

Been driving one of my '73s just about every day for 8 years now. I don't have much of a commute any more but wouldn't hesitate to bring it into long distance duty if required.

I'm not much one for AC, I've lived in TX now for 3 years and have been fine. Again, I don't have much of a commute - so if I had to drive in heavy traffic for 45 minutes each day and had to see customers or something I would probably change my mind.

Usually it's just me driving my son to school and both my kids love the cars. My wife too, but she generally drives her own car.

[InkaSteve]

Absolutely, with great pleasure....every day, all day. Too much fun to leave in the garage.

[Pancake]

Yes, but the flipside is that you can fix it on the highway shoulder, assuming you keep the typical 10mm, 12mm, 13mm, and 17mm wrenches in the car. I was trying to explain this to people at work last week; yes, it breaks more often then my wife's DD (an 06 Sentra), but 9 times out of 10 I can fix it in under 15 minutes in the parking lot. Can't think of any new car I could say that about.

Short version is if you can do your own wrenching it makes a great DD, if not then get something more reliable(but more complicated/paying a mechanic/dealership) for a DD.

Oh, and I DD mine unless there is snow/ice on the ground (like right now). In the PacNW we only seem to have 2-3 snow days a winter typically, so I haven't broken down and gotten snow tyres yet. If so I would probably drive it those days too.

[Dutchie3719]

Another consideration for you is that drivers in this area are terrible. Heavy traffic everywhere, all the time, everyone on the phone or tending to some other distraction. Lots of aggressive but really stupid driving. One good hit on your 2002 and it is toast.

Unfortunately this is too true. Everyone hates NY drivers, but I must admit a lot of DE MD VA DC drivers do not know how to drive, and can quite often me worse.

[danjrusdug]

After voting 'Yes but no highway', I saw I was the only one who voted that way. I am a very literal person and answered the question because 'Yes', I do drive it daily, but I don't have to drive on the highway.

I do drive it on the highway though as evidenced by my appearance at True Friends, V@V 2008, and the occasional drive to Skips for whatever I don't have the time, patience, or skill to fix.

The question may have been clarified further down in the thread but I didn't have the time to peruse it all.

Lastly, I do share my daily driving with my '90 325i. Not as much right now because it has an oil leak and I need to get it to Skip. I am mainly using it to haul my Hobie Revolution kayak to the river. Leaving in an hour to get on the river as it feels like we are back in the 60s today in Little Rock. And the ice just melted from my deck yesterday!

Cheers to all.

Doug

'73 tii Atlantik