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Thread: What Small Cars Have You Owned (Compact and Smaller)?

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    What Small Cars Have You Owned (Compact and Smaller)?

    I thought it would be interesting to read about the history of what small cars you've owned. Compact and smaller. So, superminis, city cars,...you get the point. I had the following:
    An 82 or 84 Chevette (horrible /first car...paid like $200 or $400 for it)
    An 84 and 1/2 VW Scirocco
    A 2003 VW Golf 2.0
    A 2008 smart fortwo
    A 2019 Mirage ES

    Hopefully some people will have had more interesting things like a Justy (post pics if possible).



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    Senior Member MacClyver's Avatar
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    95 Metro LSi Hatch, still own, First car that was truly mine, had my stallfest with it learning to drive manual. Since it had a dead cylinder I learned to shift pretty good since it was so easy to stall. After getting an engine rebuild and restoring ~20 HP that's when I really started to like it and get good mpg.


    01 Prizm LSi, was financially mine for a time(finaced it for a friend). Was a great car and fun to drive until the clutch wore out, and he traded it in to a dealer for a gas hog Mustang. But the fun factor of it cost too much mpg for my liking.


    97 Metro Hatch, still own, Was a cheap rusty car that was great for what it was. It's probably a bad idea but I think I'm going to try to get one more winter out of it, yolo. Even loaded it down and in many trips I moved with it last year.


    95 Metro sedan I bought as a winter car for my friend after he totalled his mustang. Never expected to be paid back just said give it to me when your done with it. Now trying to sell it but only getting scrap offers(somewhat justified). Frame is too solid to scrap but the engine is soo worn out at 348K miles. Will probably put the powertrain from my rustbucket 97 in it if I get stuck with it. Love that color but it's rough. At least it was only $400. Though worth much less now to anyone besides an enthusiast like me in it's nearly inoperable state now. At the same time I wish it wasn't taking up parking space . Buyers remose #1


    15 Mirage DE, obviously reason I'm here, sadly never really warmed up to it. I have Metros available so the Mirage will be going into hibernation shortly. I agree with many who see the Mirage as a long awaited Metro replacement, just I'm not ready to replace. I should have seen it coming... Buyers remorse #2, I need to realize more cars do not make me happier. But having a like new car on hand in a metro-less eventuality... I'll hold onto it, maybe use for a month or two each summer since it has A/C.


    So except my 97 which is parked at my parents. That's all of mine in one shot. I think I'm set for cars until gasoline isn't economically available...


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    Cool, thanks for sharing. It's weird for me how desirable older domestic small cars are. When they were available, I was not into them (such as Festivas, Sprints...). I was always so die hard on imports (mainly VW). I think it would be really cool to have an 83-88 Sprint.

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    I had a few small turd pails. Not sure if they'll all be considered compacts.
    86' Hyundai Excel, with a slipping clutch. Free
    86 Escort 4 speed carbed,
    84 or 85 Aries carbed automatic,free needed brakes and a fender which were also free
    86 Fiero 2.5l 4 speed Turd pail.
    83 Sj410 1.0l 5 spd

    Edit: Found another pic of my sj! buddy hooking up the strap to a front end loader for me lol Attachment 15119
    Last edited by Fummins; 07-29-2019 at 08:09 PM.
    Mirage videos:

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    I have had a couple Escorts, one Mercury Lynx XR3 (rebadged Escort), and several Geo Metros. My Mirage replaced a '97 Metro with 261,000 miles on it.

    I got tired of replacing burned exhaust valves and transmissions with bad input shaft bearings, so I just replaced THE WHOLE CAR.

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    2018 Nissan Micra
    2018 Nissan Mirage
    1995 Suzuki Swift
    250ish hp 1993 Pontiac Firefly Turbo
    80mpg ish 1991 Pontiac Firefly

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2018 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 43.5 mpg (US) ... 18.5 km/L ... 5.4 L/100 km ... 52.2 mpg (Imp)


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    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nickels View Post
    2018 Nissan Micra
    2018 Nissan Mirage
    1995 Suzuki Swift
    250ish hp 1993 Pontiac Firefly Turbo
    80mpg ish 1991 Pontiac Firefly
    Something tells me that these numbers aren't quite right.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Eggman View Post
    Something tells me that these numbers aren't quite right.
    If I tell you one of em had no stereo, no passenger seat, no mirrors (at all), no glass (replaced all with plexi), no spare, no nothin, and the other one required a rebuild every 2nd drive?

    Never underestimate the effect of tearing everything out and driving for economy, and never underestimate how cheap you can make power if you dont mind frequent rebuilds and engine swaps.

    I do always wish the light car and the powerful car were one and the same though. Would have been stupid fun.

    When I do the Micra I'm keeping it under 200. Because I'm old and now understand that if you want your toy to spend more time on the road, it should really be tuned for potential, not 50% over what potential should be.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2018 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 43.5 mpg (US) ... 18.5 km/L ... 5.4 L/100 km ... 52.2 mpg (Imp)


  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Eggman View Post
    Something tells me that these numbers aren't quite right.
    I googled modified firefly and think I found it. I don't have speakers so I have no clue what it's about but I doubt it's english.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6vZnjet27Q


    Edit, Nevermind, I thought Nickels said 450hp not 250. Well throw a big turbo and or big shot of N0S at something and it'll make power. Like he said, it won't last but it may be doable.
    Mirage videos:

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member dspace9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The White Mountains View Post

    Hopefully some people will have had more interesting things like a Justy (post pics if possible).
    1985 VW Rabbit 1.8L rag top

    1998 Ford Escort station wagon

    2014 Mitsubishi Mirage ES

    Name:  85 rabbit.jpg
Views: 691
Size:  89.1 KB


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.2 mpg (US) ... 17.9 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.7 mpg (Imp)


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