T-bird as daily driver?

[sdman]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

Charles am i missing something here. Don't you have an 02 in black ? Do you ever drive it ? If not, why buy another one if you don't use the one you have.

[steelblue5505]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

If you are asking whether the members think you should take your present 2002 EB from driving once-n-while to driving it all the time as a daily, well that's really only going to be your choice. You already know how it handles, what you like & don't like about the retro, only you can decide if the retro will please you as a daily. If you are concerned about something happening to it due to being used as a daily and having mileage build-up, wear & tear that sort of thing, my question to you is; What are you saving it for? And if you are concerned then I guess your present retro will become a "princess" or a 'Queen" and you will enjoy another vehicle as your daily.
Best advice is do whatever pleases you. One more point, make your retro a daily for a couple of months, see how it works out & go from there.

None of us can make your choice for you but it is evident from the response everyone thinks you should make your retro a daily.

[Rondor]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

An SUV and a retro is about as good as it can get. At todays prices t-birds make a great fun car that when your done may still have some value left. Any year should work as they all look alike.

[DudleyM]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

Today Dunderbird is a toy car, garaged during the winter months. However, the original owner drove it daily and was sad to sell it due to her new job demands as a realtor. I'd say drive and enjoy!

[martee]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

Your call! Daily driver or occasional ride---great car either way. My 03 was purchased in 05 with 13,000 miles as an extra car. I have 27,000 miles now and always enjoy taking it out. wherever I go always get positive comments on the car---my recommendation--buy the car and have fun.

[V8 Cat]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

Our Tbird is not a "daily driver" as every "daily driver" I have had gets messed-up with cosmetic blemishes at best; collision damage at worst. Some day it will be used daily as I move the next to oldest car we have down to daily driver status as the car (oldest) it replaces is traded or sold. Since we only have a two car garage and three vehicles, it will also move out of the garage. That's when the Tbird will start going down hill as the "daily driver" and give up its life of leisure as a "garage queen" (with 7,000 miles) and weekend car.

[FUN X 3]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

My Bird was a daily driver for 8 years, it was great driving the car most every day. Just went over 100,000 miles last Saturday. The car still looks great, although if you look closely, you can find some scratches in the paint and some chrome showing age. As others have said, do with the car as you wish. But if you decide to use it as a daily driver, I hope you get as much enjoyment your the car as I did from mine. It never once broke down, and the car never failed to start [until last Friday evening right before the trip to Texas :(] Got a new battery Saturday morning and we were back in business.

[justjon]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

I feel lucky to use mine as a daily driver. Always look forward to driving it anytime anywhere. You know it's a great car in the rain.

[02TBIRD]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

My 02 was our 3rd car. I drove it to work on
Fridays and on the weekend.

A couple of years my SUV was stolen, and I enjoy
driving the TBird so much, I have not replaced the
truck.

Drive it and enjoy it. If you wear it our, there will
be plenty more low mileage Birds for sale!

Happy Motoring!
02TBird

[EllisonCal]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

The 02 t-bird was on my short list of cars that I wanted to buy. Would this car make a good daily driver or will I end up paying for it on the backend? Basically the my youngest kid is off to college and the wife has the big suv, so we discussed getting a convertible for some weekend top down fun, but I would have to get rid of my small suv to do it. So what do
you guys think? Would it be bad timing with this economy and all, and would the t-bird make a ok daily driver?

Go for it! There are lots of reasonably priced '02-'05 Tbirds out there, and don't think you have to buy one with 10,000 miles on it. I bought my '05 in 2006 when it had 10,000 miles on the odometer, it now has almost 63000
and it runs better than ever. Usually I'm alone in the car except when my wife and I are going somewhere together, ie. Church or a night out. She drives an Avalon and it is her daily driver.

[DaiUyTed]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

My '05 has been a daily driver since I bought it a year ago. If it were intended to have been a garage queen, I doubt that it could have remained one. I want to drive and look my best always! The only begrudged compromise is when I absolutely need something with more capacity. Then the Hyundai i30 (Elantra Touring) is all I need. It drives like a Miata, and drinks like one, too. Costs half the cheapest SUV.

[eboose7]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

It is good, at least once in awhile,to lay aside sentiment and to face reality purely in the light of hard facts.

If you judge the suitability of the TB as a daily driver by the behavior of the members of TBN, then it is not a good candidate for a daily driver, but, if you require proof, look at the empirical data from the members themselves. A good starting place is the mileage poll in a separate thread on this site. So far 289 members have responded to the poll. Of that number 239 have miles between 2,000 and 55,000 miles on their cars. That is well below the average daily driver miles of between 12,000 and 15,000 miles a year, even on the most recent model, 2005. Only 50 members had between 55,000 and 105,000 miles on their cars. Those figures suggest that the majority of the members here have not had sufficient experience to offer an opinion as to whether the car is practical long term.

Moreover, there is the availability of replacement parts issue. We have read with discomfort the threads about the pcm problem and the high pressure radiator hose issue both of which have disabled cars for months waiting on replacements. It's one thing for a weekend fun car to be laid up waiting for a part, and quite another for a car needed to get to and from work.

A Honda Civic, a Toyota Corolla or a Nissan Sentra are all good daily drivers, because their parts are cheap and readily available. I did not intend to mention this but feel, in honesty, I must. Please do not misunderstand, I love my '02 but appreciate its limitations. You buy a Thunderbird, because you must have one--not because it is a practical car to own and operate.

[00mustng]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

....Been a daily driver for 8 years....for my wife and I....son lives abroad, daughter has own transportation....adapted to capacity limitations with no issues....well capable of handling our long and harsh winters....very well balanced car in snow...with no special tyres.....Inspiration Yellow has held up well, paint seems durable....our lifestyle does not require 4 seat transportation very often but we have always had a 4 seat back-up car....we also added another one last August so the roadster is now semi-retired from daily service...

[justjon]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

You might also note the age poll of the owners who are mostly shall we say "mature" and retired. So daily driver probably means in a non comute to work sort of way. My guess is that there are few TB nesters who own civics, sentras. or corllas for any reason.

[Ediron]

Re: T-bird as daily driver?

With me I use the Bird 2-3 days a week and the Caddy other days.with the price of gas I'm not using either one to much