1988 Nissan Skyline GT with an RB20DET.

It was abandoned by my uncle at our place when he moved overseas and subsequently my sister drove it around a bit. Eventually it leaked coolant from the water pump, overheated and blew a head gasket because she wasn’t paying attention.

I was unemployed and bored and I decided to pull it apart and bought all the bits to fix it. I didn’t really know anything about mechanical stuff at the time, but I am good at logic and try not to be useless at practical stuff even though I’m really a computer geek. I drove it around for a bunch of years after that until I was earning enough money that I could buy something I wanted which was a Mitsubshi EVO 1.

So to answer the question, favorite thing was that I rescued it from oblivion even though I didn’t know much about cars or engines at the time.

I misread OP’s title but she was a momma cat and I was a little kid, so she used to lick my hair when I was on the floor reading the funny pages in the newspaper. And she was very comforting when anyone was sad.

mine was a five speed and it made me feel so superior to my 16 y/o peers

Fucking everything. But if I had to pick it’s the cassette-melting, vinyl-evaporating hot box it was capable of. Smelled like freedom.

Not my car/pic.

The large comfy bench seat. The trunk space. It being made entirely of steel.

I mean I really hated that car, but she was alright. The sagging headliner, the dead seat cushioning, the fading paint, the regular overheating, the leaking rack and pinion, the grinding noise the timing chain made when going uphill, the unreliable electronic engine components, the fact that it never passed emissions on the first try, the crappy underpowered iron duke, the AM/FM radio with no cassette. I could go on…

Two couches on wheels, 1989 Oldsmobile Delta 88

It was a small subcompact hatchback but ran on diesel. Back in my home country, diesel is cheaper and considered more economical, and it was rare for a small car to run on diesel instead of gas.

Not sure if this counts (as a car), but it was a three wheeler (Reliant Robin), gutless and rattly, all the fun of going 50 mph without breaking the speed limit. All the engine weight was directly on the front wheel, so the back end (no weight at all) would slide out wonderfully around corners.

It came with a snake.

The fact that it would run with no oil and all four engine mounts broken

The fact that it lasted 20 years.

My camaro broke down quite often. I had to replace a starter, water pump, alternator, something about the universal joint in the drive shaft, brakes, battery, etc. The clutch was the hardest and I got it wrong 2 times before I got it right on the third. It made me start thinking outside of what was easy and spoon fed. I started to realize that a Haynes manual was extremely limited. Eventually this line of thinking took me deep into fundamental understanding. Most people never think past throwing parts at a problem, but I learned how all of it works at a fundamental level. That journey started with my first car. It shaped my mind and who I am to a large extent.

My first car was a 1995 Hyundai Accent my dad bought from a friend for $800. The best thing about it was it was purple. People at work and school knew it was me because I was the only person with a little purple car.

The most annoying thing about owning that car was that the door handles would freeze during the Chicagoland winter. I’d go out to warm it up before school and ever so gently try to open the door. If I tugged too hard on it, the thin piece of plastic connecting the handle to the metal bar and latch mechanism would break. I changed driver and passenger side handles maybe 7 times while having that car. For a short time I was waiting on replacement door handles for both sides to arrive and I had to crawl in through the hatchback to get into the car. Good times

I’ve never owned a car. That’s my favourite thing about cars

It had a distinct smell that, when I smell it now, brings me vividly back to driving home from high school listening to Metallica.