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Cars I've had

72 AMC Gremlin
74 Opel Manta
74 Honda Civic
74 Datsun (Nissan) 1200
86 Honda CRX HF
88 Honda CRX HF
00 Honda InsightPeople will have definitions of what "best" is but clearly it's my current car. The Insight is the best on both reliability and FE. The 88 CRX HF is runner up with nearly 250,000 miles and probably had a lifetime FE of 40-45

I liked each car i have owned for diff reasons.

By far, the 1986 Civic was the best car I had.... until the Prius ;). It was also my first (and likely last) stick shift (the wife can't drive them). I pounded the snot out of the Civic, and it gave me better number than the Elantra on it's worst day.

1983 Civic. Hands down.
I must say the 06 Mazda3 came very close to the kind of emotional bond I had with the 83 Civic, but the 3 and I had to part ways for other reasons. I miss it tremendously, but I was thrilled that I found the perfect buyer for it, and I'm happy that it's in good hands and won't get abused.

Probably my 1976 Datsun B210. It got 36 mpg with my regular leadfoot driving, had decent power, and was amazingly reliable in Alaska Winter driving conditions with studded snow tires on all four corners.

1996 civic ;) I will definitely be sad when it leaves. It's a basic car with not much to break. It's reliable. It's good on gas mileage. It's FUN to drive, too!

I won't bore anyone by listing the 85+ different cars i have owned. As to the best of that fleet, i would have to call it a tie between:

1983 VW GTi. A first year GTi that i purchased new on March 7,1983. My first son came home from the hospital a month later in that GTi. My first son drove that GTi for his first 2 years of college. It was fun, fun, and fun. My wife drag raced it in 1987, when there were ZERO 4 cyl FWD cars on the track. On the highway, it got high 30's MPG. It was roomy and handled like a sports car and was reliable. I kept it 19 years and still miss it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/Image022.jpg


2001 PT cruiser. Owned it 6 years and never had one single problem with it. None. Zero. Nada. Only car i have ever owned that i could say that about. Ordered it in Sept of 2000 and picked it up 12/27/2000. It was a 5 speed. It got decent milegae, but not stellar. I could get mid 30's on it's best days. But it was (at the time) very distinctive, and we went to lots of cruiser club activities and met lots of great people. The car was really roomy for us and our 2 growing sons. The rear seat was removeable, so i could haul an amazing amount of cargo. I brought home a new clothes dryer form sears, in the box, in my PT and was even able to close the hatch. I would buy another PT(probably will someday) with no hesitation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/2004_0530Image0004.jpg

I dont have a best car per say, but I think the best all around car I had was my 92 Honda Prelude. But someday when I sell my echo, that will be the best car I had by far!

The Prius is definitely the best all-around car I have owned. It runs like a top, lugs my stuff, looks good (in my eyes), and I expect it to serve for a long time to come.

The second best was definitely the first:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/100-0026_IMG_800_x_600_.jpg

The best part of this car was the sheer volume available for hauling my junk back and forth to school. It easily matched a mid-size SUV while returning fuel economy in the mid to high 20s before I had ever heard of hypermiling. Not bad for a tank. ;) It was 18 years old when it met an early demise, though I wonder how much longer I really would have run it. The last time I looked under it there was a lot of rust thanks to all those years on salty New England roads. It was also in need of a major suspension overhall, a clutch, and there was some rust starting to show up on the body. Still, I don't expect to see a car last that long again. They just don't come that overbuilt and that simple anymore.

That's a 2002 photo of a 1985 car, by the way. It was kept clean!

My civic. It had almost 300,000km on it and all i replaced was the ignition coil! And it introduced me to Hypermiling!!

ollie

The best car I have owned to date had to be my 81 Volvo 242 Turbo with a manual transmission. I loved that little car even though gas mileage was a joke compared to today's standards.

My sister had a 740 GL wagon, 1990 model. It was a great car, could haul ungodly amounts of *stuff*. She replaced it with a Camry, but loved it so much she kept it for two more years anyway.

great ...except for all the interior trim. Almost daily, a new piece of plastic was loose or falling off.

I could tell you which was the fastest, which had the highest mpg and which was the most reliable but those are 3 different cars. I have no clue how to choose a best but if you start a worst car thread I can easily tell you that one.

I've owned (I think) 13 cars. There was a clear worst, which I've posted in the other thread. For BEST car, i have 3 strong candidates.

- 1987 Honda Civic 4WD wagon, nicknamed "Margie". Decent ground clearance, an extra super-low gear, very short overhangs, beefy lugged studded snow tires and a rear limited-slip diff combined to make this by far the most capable vehicle I've owned. Beating the Subarus hands down. I've rammed it up steep hills through a foot+ of snow, scraping off the top 6 inches. I've blasted it up steep logging roads 3" deep in squirmy mud. I've tiptoed it down rocky dirt tracks that scared Jeep Cherokee owners. Only got it stuck once, in soft dune sand. I put 100,000 hard miles on Margie, averaging 27mpg in the process. Sold, still running strong, due to lack of A/C.

- 1990 Subaru Legacy. Not quite as capable as Margie but plenty of fun to drive, and certainly a lot easier to maneuver in the city than my bloated later-model Outbacks. It was running flawlessly -- and more free of squeaks and rattles than just about anything else I have ever owned -- when it was stolen at 205,000 miles.

But I think the overall award has to go to:

- 1990 Honda Civic Wagon (2wd), nicknamed "Maggie". A bit roomier than my previous 3rd gen Civic Wagons, but this one rode, handled, accelerated and sipped fuel better. I still managed to take 2wd Maggie a lot of places where SUV owners fear to tread. Despite my thrashing it regularly returned 30+ mpg in town, and occasionally 40 on the highway. Donated her because I foolishly decided I wanted something faster. BIG mistake.

1991 was the last year Honda sold a Civic Wagon in the US, and I've lamented the loss ever since. The 1st gen Matrix is the closest thing that's been offered here since, but it's no Honda. My Jetta Wagon is a great car in many ways, but to be a match for Maggie it would need Honda reliability and 1-2" more ground clearance. The former is unlikely, the latter I will remedy with a Metalnerd lift kit when the front struts go (which may be soon).

My 1988 M6; no question. The catalyst fell off in the garage(Drat!) and I added a Dinan chip, which brought the hp up to @314 at the crank. A beautiful car that was equally at home on the track or on the boulevard.

http://image.europeancarweb.com/f/9448964/epcp_0803_01_z+1988_bmw_m6+front_view.jpg

I sold it in 1995, and 14 years is far too long to go without an M car in the vmax stable. I've got to do something to correct that...