Daily Driver Camaro Owners

[6bangerBOOM]

Man, I hate that I missed this thread last month! Here's my 2¢:

My drive to work involves 50 miles round trip on a freshly paved, 75mph country road. 2 of those miles are completely flat and straight. I have yet to have a bad day at work that has survived that trip home.

When I first got the car I had a pretty bad case of "new box of crayons syndrome." You know what I mean. It's that slight sense of disappointment you got as a child when you opened a brand new Crayola pack and all the perfectly shaped crayons were there staring back at you. To use them invariably means to destroy them: bludgeoning the tips down into rounded nubs and tearing the paper back. But, if you preserve them you can never create the true meaning they were meant to create. This is the paradox of a beautiful thing that was built for punishment (i.e. sports cars).

[Green Machine]

This thread makes me chuckle every time I see it.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Indydriver

. . . don't drive on your OE PZeros in the winter. Heck you shouldn't even store them OFF the car in subzero temps.

Average cold temperatures here for the winter months are mid-20°'s F. Sub-zeroes are very rare, and even single digits to low teens (at 5 AM) are rather unusual.

If you look around this site a bit, you should be able to find my position on running summer performance tires at temperatures below where they've lost a noticeable amount of grip (hint: Goodyear Supercar G:2's).


After you notice something, you might want to see what else I posted in this thread, which started out being more about daily driving in general than about the compromises one sometimes has to make in order to do so.


Norm

[Angrybird 12]

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[upSSman]

Originally Posted by angie7

I can afford to have another car as a daily

Sometimes it isn't about money.

[TigerFA]

Just can´t let my hands off it!

[rontammy0]

Originally Posted by Squillo

There's snow on the big island right now, but you have to go 13,800 feet above sea level to see it on top of Mauna Kea.

I don't want to talk about.........

[SSGUNNER]

So if I understand correctly, people who can "afford" to drive other cars don't drive their camaro's daily but get mad at posts like this n hates all who enjoy her everyday? Really.

Do people feel superior when they own a 2nd car?


I guess I do too. I can afford 2 houses and I'm only 27.

[F-16 Camaro]

So I'm a previous daily driver of my Camaro, and now no longer. So I'd like to think I have 2 perspectives.

Quick story:

So my brother in law was separating from the Army after 3 years, and the wife asked me to go against our standing policy of "no relatives are allowed to move in"

Her theory was, we get him on his feet and help keep him away from those that he hung out with before the military.

So he arrived, and immediately started dilligently working on getting a job. He didn't have a driver's license(29 years old...) so we helped him get that. He found a job, but needed a car.

So I went with him to the dealer I just bought my Camaro from, and he put $2,000 down and I co-signed with him on a 2013 Chevy Sonic <which incidentally had manual windows, manual mirrors, 1.4L engine, no cruise control and... BLUETOOTH MYLINK w/ VIDEO PLAYBACK and USB... weirdest configuration of a car ever>

So flash forward 9 months: He lost his job, while in the Army he DECLINED THE GI BILL, he was too lazy to get his VA benefits started(PTSD, shoulder, foot, etc.)

Oh and he also had 3 accidents, his most recent in January was a rear-end, he was the one doing the rear-ending. Also he had a DUI in December he didn't tell us about. Throughout his time he was always late on his car payment, but would still find money to drive 400 miles in a weekend, and drink with his buddies.

Needless to say, our plans and favors amounted to a gigantic mess of a headache. Maybe that "no relatives move-in" rule was pretty f'ing smart eh?

So because I co-signed with him, and had served him 30 days notice to get the eff out of my house, I wasn't going to let him drive off in his rapidly deteriorating Chevy Sonic. Because I had selected "Or" on the title, in AZ I have 100% rights to the vehicle. It's literally "whomever has the keys wins"

Well since I paid the $250 deductible for the front end damage, I was in possession of the keys.

So I am upside down a good $8K on the Sonic, so I was pretty much stuck with the $297/mo payment. But I began doing some math...

I spent about $70/week fueling the Camaro
I spend $30 every 1.5 weeks fueling the Sonic.

So monthly Camaro gas cost: $280
monthly Sonic gas: $75.

280-75=$210 a month in gas savings alone.

So a $300 car, really only costs me $90/mo.

And I just bought new tires for my beautiful Camaro which I know will last. I keep miles off of her. And I've begun cleaning out the garage to make room for it's new Queen. I haven't had a car in my garage since 2005. A few more items sold on craigslist and there will be plenty of room for her.

So I really like having her in the garage. While I miss driving her like a beast everyday, I'm not going to lie it kind of lost it's thrill. She's a great car, and I adore her dearly but I like treating her well.

My only SINGLE regret about having a shit-box as a daily driver? Doing 55 mph down the highway, blasting Metallica ...And Justice For All the complete album and feeling like a total wimp. That part sucks...

Sorry to give such a long story, but I can really see both sides. Neither side is better in my opinion.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by F-16 Camaro

So I'm a previous daily driver of my Camaro, and now no longer. So I'd like to think I have 2 perspectives.

Quick story:
<snip>
My only SINGLE regret about having a shit-box as a daily driver? Doing 55 mph down the highway, blasting Metallica ...And Justice For All the complete album and feeling like a total wimp. That part sucks...

Sorry to give such a long story, but I can really see both sides. Neither side is better in my opinion.

I really have to give you a lot of credit for making lemonade out of the unexpected turn that life threw at you.

Would I be assuming too much to guess that if you were going to reduce both your monthly fuel cost and the rate at which miles accumulate on your Camaro's odometer that you might have chosen a rather different commuter car . . . given that such a car choice would have been yours alone? Or that once in a while you would (or still will) drive the Camaro once in a while during the week as a treat?


Norm

[F-16 Camaro]

I do, in fact just today I had to run to the post office and took the Camaro just to enjoy it.

But in reality, if I knew I would be eating the second car payment, I probably would've gotten a ZL1

But in all seriousness, when we went to get the car I knew the risk, which is why I limited the car payment to $300/mo because I knew thats what I could handle without issue.

It is also kind of liberating. I can now work on the Camaro to my hearts content without being worried about it being put back together with no issues before Monday.

[6bangerBOOM]

Originally Posted by F-16 Camaro

It is also kind of liberating. I can now work on the Camaro to my hearts content without being worried about it being put back together with no issues before Monday.

That's the kind of peace of mind that I would love to enjoy!

[Norm Peterson]

"Spare cars" are useful things to have around.

Even nicer when they're your own one-owner cars that you liked well enough to keep rather than trade or sell.


Norm

[Angrybird 12]

69 degrees today, just perfect for a cruise.