I was just wondering how many FD owners on the board use it as their sole means of transportation. I know there's a lot of older guys on here with the luxury of other options, but for a young guy like myself, buying a second car and paying additional insurance just isn't feasible.

So who on here daily drives theirs?

 

I did when I first bought it 4 years ago... that lasted 4 months until my engine blew up.

 

I've daily driven mine when the car wasn't stored for the winter. I too blew my original motor. Running strong as of right now..

 

I daily drive mine, and have been for about 8 months now. I've just been keeping a close eye on everything, and if there is a problem, i fix it right as soon as possible.

I've been lucky so far.
::runs and knocks on wood::

Just make sure you take good care of it and maintain it regularly.

 

So its strongly recommended not to daily drive one?
I was thinking of getting a FD seeing you can pick up a nice base for around 11k these days, one of the best looking 90's Japanese sports cars.

I'd be driving ~350 miles a week if I got one (changing jobs so I don't have to drive 700, hence why I'm thinking of an FD).

 

An FD makes a poor daily driver, I should know, my car's been my DD for over 3-1/2 years.....and my car has been down for almost 3 months now in a rebuild process. Now imagine you having to rebuild the motor AND deal with transportation issues.

And to the poster above -- you are insane for even thinking of buying an FD for a 70-mile daily commute.

 

I daily drive mine... no problems. In august I'll have a bike for a secondary. I also try to keep all upgrades/maintenance scheduled for the weekends. Cant have the car down for more then 24 hours.

 

My FD has been a "daily driver" since the day I bought it. It really hasn't had too many problems at all -- it really depends on what you buy. Given, the FD does have a box full of tricks it can pull on you, all that is based on chance. I do have the "luxury" of having other cars to drive if the inevitable were to happen; I wouldn't chance it otherwise.

 

When I daily drove my FD I put 45k miles on it in one year and everything was fine until the fans decided to die in stand still traffic. I love to DD my car but the Volvo gets better gas mileage and is much more practical.

 

i sorta daily drive mine..about 3-4 times a week in the spring/summer/fall

then in the winter, about once a week if that lol

i have a civic for DD, thats why

 

I live in Toronto, I so only daily drive the car 6 months out of the year. Does that count?

 

I have an FD and an eclipse but I drive the FD at least 5 times a week even though I have an extra car. You can't be scared to drive your nice car, that's what it is meant for for driving unless you are building it like a show car. Its a shame if you don't drive it a lot then one day you decide to take it out for a spin then BAM you blew your engine. Would you rather have enjoy the car to its fulest then and blow your engine or drive it for one day and blow an engine. I know you would rather not pick one or the other but its inevitable. You gonna have to choose the lesser of two evils. The only down fall why you should not drive your car everyday is gas inefficiency. But hey you drive a nice sports car, you win some and you loose some aight. Just make sure you have proper maintenance on it and fix any problem you see right away.

 

My FD is my ONLY form of transportation.

 

I feel that those with ONLY an FD who are worried about driving it daily should just buy a cheap beater car. I mean if you can afford to maintain an FD and to buy an FD in the first place knowing it will cost you down the road, you should at least have some money set aside which you can put toward picking up a beater Civic or Corolla for like 2-3K or something like that...surely you can afford that and it beats having to drive your FD everyday. In no time it will more than make up for the cost of having to rebuild the FD's engine or on poor gas mileage...I have a daily driver VW Golf and with MINIMAL maintenance these things can top 250K miles

 

i daily drive mine, but i dont need to drive much since everything i need is withen walking distance of my house

 

good point, i like to enjoy my car for however long it will last before something breaks, major or not..and if it breaks, at least i have a backup car to use while i fix whatever is wrong on the FD..

but yeah, to own a sports car, you have to accept the downsides to it as well

you have to pay to play..thats my saying..

 

I currently have my FD as a daily driver..but I only drive to work and back home (10 miles total round trip). I don't go out much other than weekends. When I can, I'm definitely going to look for a 2nd car.

 

While, I'm older now, I did have my FD when I was younger and in the *high risk* insurance catagory. I ended up saving money by purchasing a beater. I was paying around $250 or so a month for insurance. I bought a beater with a $110 a month car payment. I put that as my primary car and the FD as a secondary. It dropped my insurance down to $130 per month so it was paying for the beater, for me.

 

I DD mine. Make sure your cooling system is good and you'll have some peace of mind. I dont think you'd want to drive on your commute daily in the same spirited manner that you would if it were just a weekend fun-car.
Check oil. Check coolant. Visit chiropractor.

 

I drive mine EVERY DAY. 50 miles round trip commute to work and home 5 days a week. i have NO problems with it. i love it. just keep up with the oil changes and you'll be fine. also, get someone who knows these cars very well to work on it. itll save you from alot of potential problems. Chad from ASI Racing here in oakland park works on mine. he is THE best with these cars.

 

Ulgh.. where does it say most sports cars can't be daily drivers? Tell that to the Evo, STI, Corvette, Supra and high end Mustangs. All of these cars are very capible, somewhat "exotic" and the owners have little issue with having them as a single daily driver. Exspecially the last three which I see as direct competition for the FD.

 

I got mine about 7 years ago. I also had a FC as a DD so for the first few years it barely moved. I did however switch their roles once the FC's engine blew. I drove the FD everyday for a while, never had a problem. I did overheat racing a bunch of 911s on the way to rotorfest and the cooland seals went(i think my thermostat craped out on me that day). That was 2 years ago i drove it for a few months like that. Got new housings and had the engine rebuilt almost a year ago and managed to put 8k miles on it worth of hard *** dd...
All i gotta say is that for all the horror stories and cautionary tales, the fact of the matter is that if you take care of it and the tuning is on the conservative side you should be more than ok! Take care of the factory problems and that should make it easier on your motor.

Just like any other car, there are wear items and parts that will fail. You just cant avoid that!

 

If you buy a nice running civic hatchback for say $1800 and drive it to work 3 times a week. It will pay for itself in the gas money you save.


Plus, you will have a 4-seater when you need it, or something to haul big stuff around in (I stuffed a full size "long" dresser into my 1992 hatch once, it had the flip down gate+hatch glass rear).

 

my fd is my only car and it does fine, i have a koyo and no overheating issues, from what ive seen the more stock a car is hp mod wise the more reliable it is. Just do the usual downpipe, catback, maybe intake, radiator, and ast and you should be good. Just do your regular maintainence like spark plugs and oil and stuff and your good.

 

As I've preached many times, the FD can be a daily driver, as long as you EXPECT to perform "maintenance" type issues on it.

However, it IS a very poor choice for a DD, and no one can argue that. It gets poor fuel mileage, you typically can't take much advantage of the capabilities of the car, etc..