I had a 1988 GLS 5-speed, bought from the original owner whom I knew well, who got it as an engage-able commuter car for four real seasons. For that it served him well for 15 years & 189k miles, and when he needed something larger, I picked it up cheap. The engagement part comes from the manual transmission. He'd have never bought an autobox (he also had a BMW E-12 at the time). As a stick shift, it's still not a screaming meanie, but you are the one in control of the power band. It wasn't a "crapbox" like some who never had one bemoan; it was utterly reliable and the only thing that irked me was that front camber was fixed. As this one got rustier, said camber got more aggressive, so tires lasted about 10k miles max. I didn't need yet another car around at that time, and moved it out for cheap (shortly after it was scrapped), but that general vibe re-emerged when I ended up with my sister's 2004 Hyundai Elantra 5-speed when I did need a disposable commuter bomb a few years ago. I'd have junked it by now if it had an automatic; with the 5-speed, it stays around as the odd errand car. So, I "get" Jack's well authored piece. Besides, who are we (especially as owners of cars bought out of passion rather than utility) to ridicule anyone else's sense of automotive nostalgia - be it for Tempo's, Porsche's, or Honda's?
