How much of your car do you 'use'?

[addyguy]

Do you use your car to it's full capacity?

When I was younger, I was usually alone in my car, and I never carried or hauled much stuff. I had a small raod kit in the trunk/back, and if i was travelling, I just had a bag on the back seat.

My buddies had cars, so I didn';t actually carry passengers that often, and it was usually just one person. I didn't eat or drink in my car, so cupholder never got used, and the car was clean and clutter-free.

These days, I practically work my car to death - it's often carrying 3-4 people, and when we travel, it's loaded with stuff and our two dogs. Even in everyday life, we store a lot of stuff in the car that we are figuring out what to do with. We do more shopping, and buy stuff in bulk, so we are always loading and un-loading the car.

We eat and drink in the car all the time now, and don't clean it nearly as often as we should, so it is often cluttered and dirty, and the dogs track stuff in all the time, as dogs are wont to do.

My cars used to look pretty darn good for their age, now my 9-year old car looks like an extension of my closet, as is as worn around the edges as it can be.

How about you?

 

[d00df00d]

On average, probably 1/2 at most -- when I use it at all, which is not often these days. I do give it WOT and redline where I can, but opportunities are rare on public roads. I rarely approach the limits of grip and never get near top speed.

One of the reasons is that I can't take the car to track days because I don't fit comfortably inside it while wearing a helmet. Maybe when my financial situation takes a significant upward turn, I'll be able to change that...

 

[crw]

With a wife and 5 older kids, my Suburban's vast interior volume is completely used. Nearly 140K now, and not one serious issue. It just goes and goes.

 

[meangreen01]

I do my best to keep my cars clutter free. Short of a snow brush and fingernail clippers, everything comes out after every trip.

Whatever car my wife is driving is another story. Books, blankets, kid toys, papers, reciepts, etc. Gotta go in every so often to straighten things up.

Food is to be eaten carefully. No tacos from Taco Bell, only burritos(less mess). No ice cream or open cans of soda(occasional road soda permitted under certain circumstances).

 

[The_Jeff]

All of my buick. I sold my truck and van and now the buick is the "biggest". I just hauled 11 boxes of tile probably 40-50 lbs apiece back from home depot in it. Should have put a few boxes in the passenger footwell as the rear axle was sagging rather fiercely.

It also has my dump sticker and car seats in it right now, as a matter of scheduling and their entertainment my kids ride with me to the dump. I stuff a 35 gallon trash can in "shotgun" so I can't even see out that window all that well. And the trunk is full of recycling. Speaking of which I managed to bring a Xmas tree home in the trunk-- they stuffed it through this "netter" machine and I just had a little pokey end sticking out.

Commuting in a couple saturn s-series, yeah the rear seats are empty. Would get an even smaller car if they made it. Use a motorcycle in the summer. I have hauled 10 foot pressure treated 4x4s in my saturn wagon with the lift gate open and the other ends up against the dash/ passenger air bag.

I've also fit a snowblower in the back by collapsing the handle. It was tight loading; almost had to take the gas cap off for clearance.

 

[SLCraig]

Usually just me, commuting to work.
I did get the wagon though because there have been times I wish I'd had more space.
Already had a back bumper and a few other parts for a Dodge Neon in the back of my wagon.
I've had 6 people (including myself) in the SW2 also. One person was riding in the back of the wagon! It drove fine still

 

[Colt45ws]

Most of the time it's just me; but the occasional trip pops up and makes me glad I have the space. Once last year, I had four people and a full trunk. Literally could not fit another item in it. Now this is a CV trunk, so you can imagine. I had my auxiliary air bags at max pressure and the car was 'just' level. I'm sure I was technically over door plate load at that point.
I bought the car knowing most of the time I wouldnt need all it's capability, but my requirement list included me being able to move with just my car, if need be.

 

[bradepb]

My Escape is my daily commuter,any car could do that, but with the back seat down and a small utility trailer it hauls stuff back and forth from colleges for the kids. During hunting season it hauls my camper so it gets uased to its fullest capabilty.
My last vehicle was a chevy astrovan and I miss it sometimes but for everyday use it was too "oldmanly" for a guy in his fifties wishing for the thirties.

 

[opus1]

Depends.

Last summer I was doing some music on the weekends, so the trunk was pretty full and the back seat somewhat full with my stuff. Traveled by myself for the most part, but with a carload of stuff.

Right now, I'd say not much of its capacity. I'm mostly commuting, by myself, and only carry in it what I can take on the train with me, and/or workout clothes for my stop at the health club after work. If you were to peek into my car at the train station right now, all you'd see in the interior are a box of Kleenex, a container of Wet-Ones (probably frozen in this weather), ice scraper, a bottle of liquid heat to thaw the ice off of my window if I'm in a hurry, a garbage bag, and my travel coffee mug. Oh, and two velcro-ish strips for my I-Pass, the actual I-Pass unit being in my truck at home.

 

[IndyIan]

I like dOOdfOOd's interpretation as "performance envelope" usage.

The Neon lives pretty easy in day to day driving, just me and my kid in the mornings to daycare. I try to keep it relatively empty of junk. The odd time I'll have 240lb of feed in the trunk and it will fit 10' pipe through the trunk up onto the dash.
On the average day it might see 1/2 throttle and 3800 rpm?
I did 7 autocrosses last year and 1 track day which used 3/4 of a tank and the plan is to do more track days this year, so performance wise its going to give 100%.

The Tracker is the family trip car right now and gets filled right up for camping or ice fishing. It's also the "farm" vehicle and tows too much hay at once, or has 3 goats in the back with the rear seats folded down. I've used it to skid logs and pull cars out of the snowbank. A bigger 4x4 SUV or crew cab pickup might be in our future too, but the mileage hit might be a deal breaker if gas prices go way up. We'll see.

 

[dparm]

I use my car for its intended purpose: hard driving. I take it to the track several times a year and autocross it twice a month when it's warm. And in the winters I take it ice racing on frozen lakes.

 

[123Saab]

Jeep Cherokee sees full time family/commuter use, Ford Ranger for Home improvement projects and as a Backup commuter (contemplating a snow plow for it).
Saabs for For Fun (1985 900 SPG and 2006 9-3 Aero vert)

 

[calvin1]

About the only part of the '94 530i I don't use is the power band. Going to work and back I can't get past half way into second gear. Even on the interstate it's time to lift before it gets good in third.

I do use the back seats, trunk and most of the gizmos it came with. I hardly ever use a sunroof on any car but I haven't owned this one in warm weather yet so we'll see about that.

 

[Eddie]

~ 25% of usable space (people & luggage space)

 

[Vikas]

On similar topic, how much of the gas pedal travel do you use? On mine, it is at about 10% for most of the time with short burst of 15% Of course you need scangauge/ultragauge to actually monitor it.

Does it really mean that I am only using 10th of the available horse power?

- Vikas

 

[JT1]

I almost feel guilty using my caprice as a commuter vehicle because I'm usually the only one in it during daily usage, 8 cylinders and enough room to fit 6 comfortably seems a little excessive at times.

It does however average around 20mpg and is really nice to have for the occasional road trip, also no car payment and cheap full coverage insurance seems to make up for any over indulgence of steel.

 

[sciphi]

Most of the trunk and the passenger seat on the Buick with work stuff. 1 passenger and a small bag in the Fit.

The Buick also gets used for skiing duty, so it often sees the back seat covered in ski gear.

 

[CivicFan]

I don't use the Z4 and the A6 to their full capacity because i try to stick to the speed limit +10mph on the public roads. I sometimes take the A6 to have some fun in the snow but it's not a daily occurrence.

The Civic is a winter car and doesn't have much going in terms of 'full capacity' so I guess lugging it around could qualify as using to its capacity (wife refuses to set foot in it so I am usually alone).

 

[fdcg27]

If by full capacity, you mean four up plus gear, none of our cars see that in typical use, although most will see it ocassionally.
Once in a while, yeah, but they are all used daily as commuters.
Back when our old Aerostar was fairly young, it was used as a commuter by either me or my wife.
It was also the vehicle of choice for trips with our two growing sons and Great Pyrenees.
Most of us use most of our cars as daily drivers/commuters, and rarely need all of the passenger space available.
Now, if you are talking peformance, none of our cars are really fast, and I would guess that in good weather, every car, except that driven by my wife, gets run pretty close to its potential.
I've always thought that the ocassional WOT run to redline was good for the engine.
Even my wife has had a few speeding tickets over the years, and they weren't punk ten mph over citations either.

 

[HM12460]

My Ranger is my do all vehicle. I drive it daily to work, trips to the land fill, hauling outdoor power equipment, and i drive it to church on Sunday morning.