Happy Friday! We’re at the end of a short week, so I thought we’d take our three winners and pit them against each other in a game of Track, Daily, Burn. The rules should be self-explanatory; it’s just like that other party game, only with cars. One becomes your new weekend toy, another your new daily driver, and the third must be torched for the insurance money.
Our third winner for the week was, if I may say so, a very deserving one: the red Audi Quattro absolutely creamed that cosplaying cop car. Don’t get me wrong; Studebaker Larks are very cool old cars, but I highly doubt any were ever actually cop cars – though there was a special long-wheelbase taxi version, so I guess anything is possible. At any rate, this one was turned into a cop car by someone with a vinyl cutter and no spell-checker. “Heros,” honestly. Come on.
The early Audi Quattros, with their lockable diffs and mandatory five-speed manuals, were way cool cars, and much simpler machines than you think. They’re just a little weird, so you have to approach them on their own terms, kind of like Saabs. Get a good repair manual (Bentley, none of that Chilton or Haynes nonsense) and some decent tools, and dive in. The drive is worth the maintenance learning curve.
All right; we all know the game, so let’s recap the contestants:
2011 Mazda Mazda2
This little green Mazda was Tuesday’s winner by default, after a bunch of you pointed out that its Camaro competitor was a bait-and-switch deal. They say cheaters never prosper, which sadly isn’t necessarily true, but not on my watch, they don’t, bucko. This Mazda2 is beat-up – and worse, automatic – but it’s honest.
Obviously, this would make a good daily driver, especially in the city, with its compact size and good fuel economy. But small front-wheel-drive economy cars like this make pretty good amateur rallycross cars too, and the automatic doesn’t matter so much there. Or, I guess, if you really can’t find anything redeeming about it, it’s probably pretty flammable.
2017 Ford Transit Connect
When you’re waiting on delivery of something cool – a vintage Genesis concert T-shirt, maybe, or a Funko Pop figurine of Bill Nye The Science Guy – what vehicle delivers it is the last thing on your mind. But a lot of those delivery vehicles end up on the used car market like anything else, and you can buy one. This Ford van has delivered all sorts of cool stuff, and probably a lot of lame boring stuff as well, all over the upper Midwest, and on Wednesday, it delivered a narrow victory over a pale yellow VW Beetle.
You might think the idea of putting a big, boxy vehicle onto a race track is silly, but there is plenty of precedent, including from Ford itself. Since this is based on the same platform as a Focus, technically you could shoehorn the drivetrain from a wrecked Focus ST or RS into this, and create a little mini-Supervan of your own. When it absolutely, positively has to be there right now… oh wait, that was FedEx, not DHL.
1985 Audi 4000S Quattro
I admit it; I was really hoping this Audi would win yesterday. I grew up with VWs and Audis of this era, and I’ve always liked them. Several years ago, I was actually on the hunt for a 4000 Quattro, and had this one been around then, I might have jumped on it. It’s closer to stock than most inexpensive Quattros you see, and despite some rust, it’s actually in pretty good shape.
Obviously, with its racing pedigree, this car would be a natural for autocross or rallycross, or even track use if you really wanted to. But personally, I think it would be a tragedy to pull out that nice interior to make this a race car. Lots of folks are afraid of German cars this age, but not me; I’d daily this thing.
So there they are, and you know the game: choose one as a daily driver, one as a track toy (keeping in mind that “track” can mean any motorsports activity), and one to set ablaze. I’m not doing a poll, because it would have nine entries and be really confusing. So you’ll have to just put your choices in the comments. You’ve got all weekend to debate, discuss, and decide. See you back here on Monday!
Daily the Audi. Track the Transit. Burn the Mazda.
I don’t think any of them are worthy of actual burning, but that’s just MHO. I don’t know if it’s the exact same generation as this Mazda 2, but the Toyota Scion iA I test drove when my sister was car shopping in the late teens actually drove really great for what it was. I liked it a lot (not the way the nose looked, but all Toyotas suffered from that at the time) so much so that’s it’s on my (longish) list of used cars to keep an eye out for. I think it even had a manual option too, though I’m too lazy to google right now. Though I always prefer hatchbacks to sedans, the Mazda 2 pictured above isn’t exactly cute or pretty. I’m not a fan of that color, and it’d be much more interesting as a manual.
The Ford Transit looks good in yellow IMO, and it’d be great for hauling appliances and whatnot around LA as I’m wont to do. I did test drive a couple of Transits when they finally came stateside, and they sort of drove like older Rangers: very trucklike and not particularly refined or comfortable. I know that’s not the Transits mission statement of course, but they’re a bit slow/noisy/primitive to use as a daily, unless your job/hobby requires it.
And of course the Audi 4000: I already replied in its original thread about my own 1980s Audi experience, which was a sort of love/hate relationship thing. Despite their flaws, I’m really fond of 80s Audis and if a remarkably preserved one crossed my path for a decent price, I’d be hard pressed not to buy it, even though experience has taught me better.
All three are interesting cars to me. 🙂 If pressed to categorize them, I’d track the Transit (for yuks, especially in that shade of yellow), daily the Audi (until it broke down, which it absolutely would, probably frequently), and burn the Mazda (but only because it’s that shade of green and has an automatic).
🙂
BURN THEM ALL! FIRE HEHE FIRE FIRE!
Track: Audi
Daily: Mazda
Burn: Ford
Daily: The Audi. It’s not too old to be unuseable but old enough to be cool. It may not have a touchscreen and massaging seats but it’s a German car from when they meant business.
Track: The Mazda. If it were a manual it would be a different story. It’s not. So to the track it goes, probably with an ECU flash and a lightened interior.
Burn: The Transit. It’s a good car, but not good enough to make my list.
Daily the little Mazda 2. It’s the perfect little commuter car for me. Track the Audi 5000. Burn the van? Heck no it would carry the stuff for track day…tires and spare parts. So it would be my Burnout van!
Daily: Mazda 2
Weekend: Audi
Burn: DHL
I could honestly do every single of those with every single one of these cars! Daily each one for for awhile until tracking them… which would probably lead to them getting burned lol
Track Audi
Daily Mazda
Torch old crappy van
Daily: Audi (and by daily, I mean…..every weekend day)
Burn: the other two
Track: Audi – previous owner of 2 Coupes, so…..
Daily: Ford – It’s commuting, plus, my EVO era trials bike would sit comfortably in the back along with gear + tools.
Burn: Mazda – It says MAZDA right on the trunk lid FFS. You KNOW it’s already past the rust point-of-no-return. Roll the credits.
Track: Audi. History and all that.
Daily: Mazda. Panhandlers would leave me alone at intersections.
Burn: Ford. I could use $50.