Cruiser or Carver? What Would You Prefer for Your Commute?

thb, I'm in the 'both' crowd on this, but it has to be put into perspective. Two of the greatest 'sporty cruisers' I have owned are a 1989 Ford Scorpio, and a 1990 Accord, none of which is thought of as cruisers today. Both are ridiculously lightweight and powerless by todays standards too. But that's what made them great for me :P

For me, a car can be both, but there is a catch, it'll probably not carve as well as some true carvers, nor will it be the ultimate isolated, numb cruiser either. I say this as they don't have to be mutually exclusive, they can be both, as long as you are realistic about your expectations. Personally, I don't want an isolating boat, not do I want a car that wallows along with numb, vague steering and a V8 as it feels too relaxed and thus boring to drive/ride in. Nor do I want a car that's so harsh that it's no fun to drive on anything remotely rough and devoid of even the basic semblance of comfort. A car's motor will affect how a car behaves and thus like smaller cars with smaller motors as they come of more alive generally than a big land barge IMO. And since I can only afford one car, I went with a used Mazda Protege5, it's not quiet by any means but certainly not the loudest either, it's not giving me a smooth ride, nor is it an overly harsh/hard rive, it's firm, yes, rides and corners quite flat and handles like it's on rails and has NVH that would bother many people (not the smoothest 4 pot motor) but it has 130hp, therefore plenty of zip, a ride that does NOT shake my fillings loose, but I DO feel the undulations and such on any given road, the steering is precise and provides plenty of feedback - and it's a hatchback for hauling stuff should I need it to and is reasonably economical. I just did over 300 miles last weekend on a day trip. Drove up I-5, though I could've taken old highway 99 instead up to Sedro-Woolley, a 1.5 hour trip of roughly 60 miles from Seattle, then took a side trip across State Route 20, a rural 2 lane blacktop highway to the small town of Concrete that is literally at the base of the N. Cascades to see the town briefly before having to head back (a 30 minute drive from Sedro-Woolley) as I had to be on the road back south to my Mom's, who lives in Tacoma and that was a 3 hour drive - again, via I-5. Yes, on the trip to Tacoma, I was dealing with the early stages of rush hour by the time I hit Seattle at 3:30 though the drive from about Marysville south was sluggish before it picked up again once past Seattle until I hit Federal Way roughly and traffic came to a near crawl all the way into Tacoma. I have plans to take it up a mountainous 2 lane highway, SR 410 across Chinook Pass and another twisty state highway, highway 7 through the Cascade foothills that follows the Nisqually River for part of the way, both twisty highways and want to do Chuckanut Drive and take SR 20 over Washington Pass this fall to see the fall colors before it closes in the mountains for the winter. However, my daily commute is across I-90 to work, not too bad in the mornings, but often can be awful going home though. I do think if you love getting into your car and just going somewhere, just because, then the car is the right choice for you. I had equal fun with my '83 Honda Civic hatchback when I had it in the 90's and it was just as fun as the Mazda, though not quite as precise, nor as taut but it was still a fun car and did the mountainous roads just fine for the most part, though I think the Mazda may shine there though. BTW, the Civic did just fine on an 8-9 hour trip from Tacoma to Medford Oregon and I did it, not only once, but twice in 1995. For me, it's what the Mazda offers that I prefer and when I got to Mom's, I wasn't beat up or anything like that. BTW, I'd prefer that my car have a decent stereo to help reduce the droning and have decent and working heat AND AC. :-)

Big V-8 cruiser please. Not too squishy though, I like a little road feel. I can't imagine much I'd like to do less than take a cross-country road trip in Mazda Miata.

How many of you have had your tastes change as you got older? Wanting a slushbox where you wanted a manual trans before? Power windows in place of crank windows? Auto HVAC vs a knob? For me the only real shift in my tastes have taken is a desire for more reliability. I love working on cars and am restoring one right now but I don't like working on a commuter car that has to be ready to go Monday morn. I really want a lift and a high ceiling shop to make use of one. Fortunately our daily driver CUV has been nearly flawless for 240K miles but it's due for another set of front rotors (second replacement set) b/c the current set are warping when they get hot on mtn roads and/or towing. No big deal but I'm not enthusiastic about the work like I was at 21 years old. Too many other responsibilities. It's not going to take very long I know. I've done it many times before over the years with other cars and once before one this vehicle. I also know that some failure will eventually come my way - likely the 240K old clutch wearing out and the thought of doing the work myself in the driveway is not appealing. ;) Meanwhile I need to get our second car ready for winter in case it becomes our daily driver while the first car is down for a clutch. The second car has been used for less than 150 miles over the past summer. My wife and I have a carpool routing worked out which we really like. Less fuel, no real convenience penalty, etc. I only keep car #2 now as a back up. My tastes in cars have shifted a little. Along with reliability I want more interior sound proofing. That's a weak spot in our CUV. It's noisy on certain coarse pavements at interstate speeds. Still happy with the engine and manual transmission and the ride. Fuel economy is okay, not great but far from a deal breaker considering how few miles we drive each year now. Carver vs cruiser? I don't want a cruiser. I just don't like the numb ride, numb controls and numb driveline. If I was on the highway for hundreds of miles each day maybe I'd have a different opinion. My commute is less than 10 miles each way and I could do it in a 1929 Ford Model A. I'd rather drive something with some utility and versatility and compact size like waht we have now. It's still big enough to haul us and our things and has a hitch for times when I need to haul dirty stuff. I'd LOVE to have an EV for local trips and something diesel powered for out of town stuff like the "mythical" VW TDI 6MT Jetta wagon. Drove to a BSA reservation for a Jamboree this weekend. Rough twisty mtn roads, dirt and gravel and mud. Our little CRV was great again. Hauled kids and gear. Pulled our Brenderup 1205S. The AWD came in handy twice on slick mud at the camp. Transmission was geared just right for the mtn roads (5MT). If our troop ever does a cross country trip I'd drive our 'V and drag that trailer along but due to the low gearing I'd want to run 65 mph rather than 75 mph like one of the adults who often drives on trips. I usually let them run off down the interstate and then we catch them stopped somewhere for gas and a bathroom visit. ;)