Well, we did a couple family outings in the Disco over the weekend as opposed to one of the others in the fleet. It really is nice to drive and kinda fun. The roof rack makes a good bit of noise, but it was able to cruise at 70-80mph with relative ease for a couple hundred miles as a whole. The brakes (despite being cross drilled rotors and high roller pads in great shape) are still pathetic and it is still really slow, but I don't push it- much to the chagrin of the absolutely amazingly oblivious simpleton drivers in Utah who are the worst I've ever seen in all my travels.
In any event, I've come back to thinking it's kinda fun and want to keep it for a while even as more than a toy. Here is the thing: the utility really is great and hard to argue with when you compare what it would cost to replicate. We've carried hundreds of pounds of stuff on the rack, used all 7 seats, and there are a number of little things like nice places to store stuff when you go on little outings that make things more convenient. If I were to get a blown L322, it would rock but those are still $30k. If I decided to order a new Raptor, it would rock even more, but optioned how I'd like its ~$70k. If I blow up the Disco I have now, I can get a replacement for a couple grand and worst case get a new engine for a few grand or get a strong runner and transfer things like the rack over to a new shell.
I've come to realize why I was ticked off at it: time. When I was an E30 nut, I knew how to take apart and put most everything back together (including a good portion of engine stuff) almost blindfolded. However, with a family, time is dramatically limited. As long as I keep a back up machine I know I can count on, I think I can put up with scratching the itch for a while longer...
