Stock or not to stock...

[Wrightness]

Just a quick poll. We talk a lot about performance and the merits of many different power adder but what about plain stock? The question is this: what is your daily driver(s); stock or power added? If you spent more than $1000 in upgrades we'll say that you're running power added. My '82 is a stock 2.3L with minor head work and gets about 15mpg city and 18+mpg highway. Oh and I'm at 4200 feet. Again just a quick answer will do. Thanks
Bill

[anthonydalrymple]

Money pit, going on 10K in mod's, daily driver, 19.2-20.5 mpg, and...... I.... can't seem...... to stop...... myself.....

[81coupe]

right now, i would have to say (stock).

[haromaster87]

Right now i'm 17 and I daily drive my '86 5.0 5spd GT. I can say it's a bit annoying always wondering if she's gonna start and get me home or not. I had alot of trust built up in her then I ran into alot of problems lately so I don't trust it alot. lol But it's doin better(knock on wood). It's dead stock, save for an o/r H-pipe and some visual things. I love it though.

[Ford'sCapri]

stock

[Bob's84]

My wife's DD is my 2006 2500HD chevy, which is stock 6.0 motor. I drive my 76' FJ40 to work and around 5-6 days a week, so I guess you could call it a d/d. It has a stock 305 SBC right now as I blew up and trashed the Edelbrock headed 70' 350 vette motor that I had in it.

[86gtwith82nose]

bone stock.. i guess because my car was a salvage so i guess its stock lol .

[v8only]

i've spent at leat 5k on my explorer motor/drivetrain improvement (all the bolt ons)....

this is why I bought a daily driver. Modding the crap out of something and daily driving it just doesn't work for me. Too much down time.

[85GT-79FJ40]

My tacoma and my wife's 4runner are bone stock, insanely reliable, and incredibly boring. They never need anything more than routine maintenance but I drive my Mustang and FJ40 whenever I can. My mustang has lots of bolt on's but a basically stock drivetrain, and I do drive it pretty much daily in the summer. My Fj40 has a basically stock drivetrain too, but it's got more aftermarket than stock parts in every other area. Although I would much rather drive the FJ40 and Mustang whenever I hear strange noises and smell wierd stuff I always think it's me. Both of them have left me stranded at least once. But that's just part of having older vehicles in general.

[ScreeminChikin]

I would say the only merit to having a heavily modded DD is that you get to drive your toy more often. I have had pretty well modded dailey drivers in the past that worked out just fine, its just harder to keep em nice. I have to wonder why your 2.3 gets such poor mileage. I get 14 around town in my DD 05 F150 with a 5.4 and pulled down close to 19 on a trip to Denver last weekend with the A/C blasting. I would bet any of my 5.0 cars can best that. You drive it like you stole it?

[Mazlem]

Both drivetrains on my Marquis (DD) and Mustang are pretty close to stock; exhaust work and suspension upgrades on both, original mileage on both, did a shift kit in the Marquis and I'm replacing the Mustang's carb today.

[Wrightness]

I'm not sure why my mpg is so low. It's always run this way but my guess is that this vehicle was sold in North Carolina and I live in New Mexico. There's not much O2 at 4200 feet. The VECI labels says that it was rated (in 82) for up to 4000 feet but I dunno. It has the Holley carb and so can I re-jet this thing? Thanks for all of the great input y'all.
Bill

[mmb617]

I've been down that road in the past where I only had one car which I "souped up" and used as a DD. It never worked out too good for me. The more you mod them the more they break down, especially with cars as old as ours. It sucks having to rush repairs so you have a ride to work the next day.

Now I have a company vehicle for my DD, really nice since I don't pay for the insurance, maintenance or gas for it.

My car which I have more money in than I like to think about, is purely for my pleasure. It works out a lot better that way.

[v8only]

My tacoma and my wife's 4runner are bone stock, insanely reliable, and incredibly boring. They never need anything more than routine maintenance but I drive my Mustang and FJ40 whenever I can. My mustang has lots of bolt on's but a basically stock drivetrain, and I do drive it pretty much daily in the summer. My Fj40 has a basically stock drivetrain too, but it's got more aftermarket than stock parts in every other area. Although I would much rather drive the FJ40 and Mustang whenever I hear strange noises and smell wierd stuff I always think it's me. Both of them have left me stranded at least once. But that's just part of having older vehicles in general.

lol, tell me about it. I made the mistake a few years back of thinking I wanted a reliable import, so I bought a 98 tacoma with only 54k on the miles. After driving it for 50k, I got so damned sick of how slow and boring it was (and reliable)....that I sold it to my father in law for half price, who really needed a vehicle like that, and went out and bought myself a half broken down 91 bronco that I knew WOULD need work.

That reliable gas sipping think just aint for me :)

My father in law has been driving it for at least 2 years since then, without even so much as a hiccup. Now That's boring. What fun is having a car if you don't have to take it apart at least once or twice a year??

[gdniel]

My DD is an 88 vert,5.0 h/c/i etc, 5 speed, 3.73 , gets 20 mpg. I could not stand to drive some boring slow import . My commute is 86 miles per day, an I don't mind paying for the fuel, esp. when I get to cruise with the top down.

[Helltime]

My DD's are my 85 GT 5 speed, 3.73s, headers, h pipe and a couple misc things and gets 15mpg. I also have a 96 silverado extended cab Z71 and the previous owner installed a K&N short ram and hypertech programmer and it gets 12mpg.

[86GT2go]

My DD is 170,000 mile bone stock 1997 Dodge Dakota......but I drive it like it is my racecar.

[7t9cobra]

pretty much anything stock........must be upgraded. im keeping a semi-stock appearance, but modding the hell out of it for performance.