QOTD: The One That Got Away?
Surfing around the Twitter machine the other day, I saw a reference to the late, not-so-great Pontiac Aztek. It occurred to me that despite working in the service trenches at a Pontiac store for a summer, and despite once working alongside someone who owned an Aztek, I’m not sure I’ve ever driven one.
Which got me thinking – what normal, attainable car have I not driven? The same question applies to high-end (but not unobtanium) metal.
After all, I’ve driven a lot of cars, and not just because of this job. I spent a good chunk of my teens and 20s working various dealership service roles – from porter to greeter to service advisor – meaning that even before I fell ass-backwards into auto journalism, I had a chance to drive a variety of vehicles, even if on many occasions I never got out of second gear.
I mean, I even drove a Fiero once during my time at the Pontiac store.
There’s a whole bunch of older cars I’d love to have driven but never did. I don’t think I’ve ever piloted a Honda Element (pun intended). I can’t recall ever driving one of the retro T-Birds, or a Chrysler Crossfire. Heck, I’ve never driven a Dodge Viper on road, although I have on track and at Chrysler’s proving grounds in Michigan.
I’m not even sure I’ve driven a Porsche 911.
I ask you, B&B, what car would you like to have driven that you haven’t yet? I suspect many of you have driven a lot of cool and/or interesting stuff, whether it was a car you owned, or just test-drove, or something a neighbor or friend had and let you take a turn with.
For the purposes of this exercise, let’s keep it to relatively obtainable cars. High-end, six-figure cars are fine, but let’s avoid the exotics that even us journalists don’t often get a shot at (except those at the buffs). Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, that kind of thing. As for me, I’ve driven a Rolls just once, a Ferrari once, a Bentley a couple times, and a Lambo never.
Even better than focusing on ‘Vettes and Vipers, let’s hear from those of you who wanted to drive an Aztek or Element or PT Cruiser or HHR and never did.
Have at it, folks.
[Image: GM]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Mainstream models? I've never driven a Mazda or a Subaru and only drove one Toyota sedan. Only Dodge/Chrysler I've driven was a rental or a borrow from my sister-in-law. I've never driven a F150, Dodge Ram, and only a short test drive in an old Silverado. No Porsche either, or Mercedes or Audi or Lexus or Acura. I've driven BMWs and, by extension, several MINIs. I fell in love with the MINI handling but not the constant quality and reliability issues. I grew up as GM guy but now would only buy the Corvette. Another car I've never driven but only ridden in. I would like to test drive a Tesla before I buy one.
Peugeot 505. Dealer did the eyeball test on me and wouldn't let me do a test drive because it was "drizzling". So I blew the budget on three Saab 900 instead. The good ole days, being a buyer for the company fleet and the prez saying "we need to standout, be different, get something other than those boring Fords and Chevys you normally buy". Next quarter bought the first Toyota and from that day we never bought any other brand.