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Owning a classic car that you can daily drive isn’t that tough. It’s more a question of willingness to sacrifice comfort, but reliable classics do exist. And, let’s get this out of the way, contrary to some popular opinion they’re typically not German. The responses we received and tabulated were anecdotal and personal. But for proof of the above statement, consider that everyone who works here at Petrolicious and has owned a German car has experienced reliability issues. They’re certainly fun and engaging to drive, but bulletproof? Hardly.
But there are factors besides reliability to consider when choosing a daily, such as: how fun is it to drive? How much is it worth? Will I plunge into the depths of despair if someone breathes on it wrong? Most of the following are thus cheap and cheerful—they’re fun, but not too expensive with parts readily available. Without further delay, following are your top ten choices for best classic cars to drive every single day.
#10 Mercedes-Benz W113–Despite being at the bottom of this list the Mercedes-Benz “Pagoda” is probably the most elegant and luxurious car on the list. Not only can you drive this car everyday and not really worry about where you park it, but you could just as easily pull up at the best, fanciest restaurant in town and instantly be recognized for your exquisite taste. Best of all, if taken care of, Pagodas will easily do 250,000 miles without an engine rebuild.
#9 Volvo 242–Some people view these Swedes as stodgy, but ask anyone from New England–or Northern Europe–and they’ll tell you that the 242 Coupe is stylish and reliable no matter the weather. These cars are built like very reliable tanks and with a couple of small tweaks they rapidly shed their suburban-housefrau image.
Photography by Turbometal Motorblog for Petrolicious
#8 BMC Mini–Do we need to explain why this car makes such a terrific daily driver? It’s a blast to drive, isn’t astronomically expensive, and everyone loves them. The Mini may not score as high as others in terms of reliability (they tend to “go British” once in a while, as Mr. Sumner Norman put it) but if you’re having a bad day and go drive one, you’ll end up with a smile on your face. What more could anyone ask for?
#7 VW Golf MkI (or II)–Using Auto Union’s expertise in front-wheel drive, water-cooled cars, VW built the Golf as a replacement for the Beetle (which wound up lasting another roughly thirty years). Similarly, the Golf soldiers on now in its seventh generation. In many ways the Golf is similar to the Mini, they’re both design icons (the Golf designed by Mr. Giorgetto Giugiaro) and have a superb package due to a tight engine and transaxle allowing ample passenger room. Also like the Mini, early Golfs are a blast to drive, especially GTIs.
Photography by Josh Clason for Petrolicious
#6 Toyota FJ60–The only off-roader on this list, the Toyota FJ60 is the optimal choice for a classic daily if you need all-weather and off-road capability. Not that its predecessor, the FJ40 Land Cruiser, is bad–quite the opposite it’s great! But the FJ60 is a bit more refined making it easier to live with on a daily basis. And the best part is that you don’t sacrifice the FJ40’s mountain goat-like capabilities.
#5 Ford Mustang (1964½-1966)–The original pony car is our choice for a daily-drivable muscle car. It’s true that the first two-and-a-half-years of the Mustang didn’t have much power when compared to some of the cars released only four years later, but it spawned the breed and more importantly, it’s smaller, lighter, and more maneuverable than nearly any of its competitors. And when it comes to style it’s not much of a contest. Best of all, since they built so many, parts and cars are readily available at reasonable prices.
Photography by Afshin Behnia for Petrolicious
#4 Mazda Miata MX-5–Now twenty-five years old the Miata is the best-selling sports car of all time. It also helped raise the bar of quality by proving that a sports car could be fun, tossable, and engaging without being a temperamental nightmare. It’s cheap, fun, and goes when you ask.
#3 Alfa Romeo 105/115 Series–Yes, yes, they look great. And no they don’t cost too much [yet]. And yes, what we said about suspect German reliability holds equally true for Italian Alfas. But. The sound! Being able to start one every morning, listen to it idle and warm up, then, once the oil is warm, revving it to redline before executing a quick shift or heel-toeing into a turn and hearing that four-cylinder sing is a fantasy most people don’t even know they have. Trust us, you want to hear these cars’ operas every day.
#2 Datsun 240Z–It sports a straight-six mounted up front that makes decent power, rear-wheel drive, great classic GT looks, and helped launch the affordable Japanese sports car genre. This is one of the most significant Japanese cars ever (at least to enthusiasts) and they can still be had relatively affordably. Of course, they’re reliable too and never disappoint in the twisties. Why don’t we all own one yet?
And finally, #1… Honda CRX–Some people still claim that Japanese cars have no soul. Which might be true if you equate soul with proper engineering and reliabilty (were I speaking to you in person I’d be making “air quotes” for the words soul, proper engineering, and reliability). Get in a CRX, wind it up, throw it into a corner and then tell me it has no soul. Not only is it fun to drive, the whole “slow-car-fast” calculus holding true, but it will never break. Ever. As long as you maintain a Honda, you can walk out to it every morning and it will always happily fire up, just ask the original fanboy.
Images Sources: Volvotips.com, breezemotorsport.com, toyota.com, celebratemx5.com, classiczcars.com
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I speak in the name of the worldwide Citroen DS community (they may pardon me to do that). The DS is a very reliable car and – not in terms of riding quality of course – it is tough as a stone built to las forever. No miracles needed to keep it on the road and has a power steering, power brakes, most of them are equiped with 5-speed gearbox and a reasonable affordable consumption, while the inner space is enermous. If your are one of those luckies who’s deesse has got an A/C, than your car is an ultimate. What else your really need?
Porsche 944 series makes more sense as a DD than some of those listed. Hatchback holds a lot, good gas mileage, power, A/C, etc.
While I applaud the W113 Pagoda Mercedes being on the list, they are a bit too pricey nowadays to just lark anywhere. I would instead suggest the next series, W107 – it’s nicknamed the Panzer tank for a reason. Very sold DD, runs on regular gas, gets poor gas mileage though
I was fortunate enough to have had a BMW M635CSI as a daily driver. The only thing I had to change to make it “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, was a short-shift kit. No reliability issues whatsoever (and this was a poorly maintained Motorsports car). Sad to have had to let it go.
If you’re going for one, check if you can live with the TRX tyre issue. Also, if going with early models (pre 86), I suggest considering an upgrade from a single row timing chain to double row (be warned, it’s an expensive upgrade).
I have to comment about the Mk.2 (A2?) Golf. I’ve got a weird one. It’s a ’92, and was built in the Mexican factory in Puebla. It was badged as a GTI, but was just the “big bumper” body kit with the upgraded 8v engine from the Cabrio in it. Has drums on the back. IIRC, VW was just trying to reduce all of the existing A2 inventory at the factory before they started building A3s.
I actually bought it ‘new’ because my (then) wife was angry about my BMW 2002 died while I was taking our daughter to daycare. “No more used cars!”, she said. I was a little angry myself, since I’d found a pretty decent E34..but the damn Golf ended up being the best car I’d ever owned. VW had good quality before they tried to move upmarket. The 8v wasn’t as quick as the 16v, but had tractor-like reliability. I still have it in my garage, I hope that I can restore it if I ever find another middle-c;lass job.
Another vote for the BMW E30 from me, after living with it for over a year.
It’s very comfortable, the cabin is spacious, the trunk is huge, and mine being a 4-door makes it especially practical for everyday life.
When you want to have fun with it, just push it harder along a twisty road to let the chassis qualities really shine, or go to an empty parking lot and hoon like a little kid who just got his driver’s license 🙂
Definitely one of the best classic cars to drive daily.
Glad to see the W113 featuring on the list. I bought a 1966 230 SL in 2004 when I turned 30 – it was my daily driver for 4 years! Rain, hail or shine I drove it everday to work and back and everywhere else I could! Never left me stranded and the pleasure I got from driving it cannot be described!
The BMW E30 and Porsche 944 tick all the right boxes – and are more reliable than most of your list. Or are they just too common? The CRX is an interesting choice over the first generation MR2. Choosing just 10 is hard!
And despite how much I desperately love the 105/115 Alfas, you really are stretching all reasonable definitions of reliable daily driver (and my year round daily driver is a 1987 classic).
After owning a 2006 330i for a few years and major components wearing out at 50 and 60k miles, I will never own a BMW again. My final straw was at 61k miles the steering wheel squeaking every time it was turned. Had to be taken off, new ball bearings put in and $500 to fix it. Once again at 61k miles! BMW = Broke My Wallet!
I see a lot of rage hear for the lack of German cars and currently owning an E30 M3 (which I try to daily drive) I would definitely have to agree with the post’s omission. The question wasn’t about the best to drive, but the best to drive daily. They are great fun to drive but it’s incredibly difficult to find one that has been properly maintained all of it’s life. Even low-milage cars suffer from gasket and random sensor failures from quite simply age, that will put you out of commission, thus making it a not very desirable daily driver. You are more likely to find a well maintained Porsche over a bimmer at this point, but i don’t have any porsche experience to make a proper defense for it’s case. I’m glad no one is jaded enough to claim that any classic mopar could make the daily driver list 😛
But I will also note that any classic car is a crap shoot for daily drivability, it really, really depends on the past ownership and maintenance. I had a ka24de swapped 70 Datsun 510 that was stone solid reliability and every e30 I’ve owned has been a black hole that consistently consumes my weekends. While on the flip side, my buddy’s e30 m3 has been stone solid reliable and his Datsun 240z has been the drama queen. Either way, thanks for the article Petro! It’s always great to see people come out and defend their own favorite marks and to hear stories of reliability where you’d least expect it!
Hate to be ‘that guy’ but the car you have pictured as an FJ60 is actually an FJ62. They actually vary pretty significantly as far as daily driving goes. I’d say the 62 is probably the better bet for daily duty since it has fuel injection and an automatic transmission that will let you go over 55 MPH (after a while) compared to the 4spd manual that came on the 60’s.
Yet Alphas make the list… 🙂 A reasonable man could say any one of the cars listed might fail at a moment’s notice and that perhaps an individual’s record of frequent breakdowns is not so much evidence of the quality of any given marque as it is an indication of his pattern of buying poorly maintained vehicles. I think all of us readers understand these lists are rooted in the whims of the staff rather than in a broader subjective considerations, let alone empirical considerations. That’s what makes it fun. But seriously, a Mini as a daily driver? Maybe if your commute is to your job at the circus…
I beg to differ about German cars having reliability issues. I own five BMWs, an E34, E38, E39, E60 and and E92, so I can speak authoritatively that as long as you properly maintain them according to their prescribed maintenance schedule and do not deviate from it, they will go where you want them to when you want them to. Like any good fraulein, you have to pay attention to them for they do not suffer negligence or neglect well.
The Volvo should be a B18 122 or 121. Cheap, good looking and fun to drive, how much more practical do you want? Plus a number of readers seem to be running them.
A 250,000 mile W113 will have quite a large cloud of black smoke following along behind it! I think you would worry everywhere you parked it as well, do you know how much those bits of chrome are? I’ve been there… For an everyday car go for a W111 Saloon with a bit of patina.
OK .. here’s my opinion on the ten ;
Volvo 242 – The P1800E is a much better .. as well as more satisfying to drive [ Honestly … unless one is a not so hip ‘ Hipster ‘ … who in the ___ wants to toddle around in a Swedish 242 bread box on wheels with all the reliability of the Italians and the British ? ]
BMC Mini – Not if you’re over 5’8″ and have any desire to make it back from what ever your daily destination might be
The Alfa Romeo 110/115’s – Again … not if a return trip is a priority . Anyone [ such as myself ] thats owned one can tell you … the lack of reliability w/classic Alfa’s is second only to classic British iron
The Ford Mustang ? Seriously ? On what planet pray tell ? Unless of course its a resto modded or completely restored classic Mustang … chances are it’ll fall apart right before your eyes in todays traffic , congestion and road conditions … especially if its an inexpensive one
Everything else on the list ? A-OK !
As to a couple of the comments ?
BMW 2002 – Two thumbs up .. assuming you’re mechanically minded and keep a set of tools on board
FIAT ? Any FIAT ? Errrr…. there’s a reason FIAT is said to be the abbreviation for ;
Fix It Again Tony
F***ing Italian Abject Trash …etc … etc … etc
911 … Yeah … how in the name of all things GearHead did the 911 NOT make the list ? Not only a great daily driver [ if properly maintained ] .. but the ONLY 24/7/365 daily driver [ with the exception of the Land Cruiser ] even in the snow belt states …. Sheeesh !
Ahhhhh the Wisdom that Age brings one versus the Vanity of Youth when it comes to all things mechanical
How is there not a 911 on this list ? I have an 84′ Targa & an 85′ Coupé that I switch off on driving each day. My new SUV sits in the driveway. I have MANY friends who drive their 911’s everyday.
I am a bit biased but, I think you guys missed one/a few here. I agree 2002 bimmers should have made the list and I don’t even like BMW. An old Series Land Rover like the one you recently featured should have made the list too.
Really any classic daily driver should be sporty/ good looking/ easy to work on yourself/ have a reputation for having a somewhat bulletproof mechanical bits and finally have something that makes people on the street say things like “Nice car”