Good car for Long Commute

My family has owned a 1991 Dodge Spirit for around 7 years now, and it has proved to be an EXCELLENT commuter car. My father is the primary driver of our Spirit, which was roughly 2 years old when purchased and had about 20,000 miles on it at the time. At the time the car was purchased, my Dad had just switched jobs, resulting in a 140mile round trip commute three times per week, almost all of which was on the interstate highway, in addition to normal driving around town.

The Spirit, while not the most attractive vehicle, has a very roomy seating area. Four adults and a child can easily fit into this vehicle and be comfortable for more than just a short ride. The trunk is large enough to hold several large suitcases, or your golf clubs or other items. This is a big plus in my eyes because I travel a lot for work, and also because it makes the car better for family vacations.

The ride smooth, especially on highways, which is another point in the Spirit's favor where vacationing is concerned. Of all our Dodge vehicles (excluding our Caravan), this car has the most power and best pick up. We once took the car on a trip where we spent a couple of days driving through the Smokey Mountains, and the car had little trouble navigating the hills effectively.

As time has gone on and more and more miles have been added to the car, we have experienced some maintenance issues. Fortunately, our local Dodge dealer has been very helpful with all repairs and service. The car started to burn a good bit more oil than normal at around 95,000 miles(I believe at one point Dad went through a quart of oil every 1000 miles). In order to fix the problem once and for all, Dad had a rebuilt engine put in the car which works GREAT. Even though the car had 110,000 miles on it by the time we go the new engine, since the vehicle was still under extended warranty when our oil problem STARTED, the dealer put the engine in under whatever the terms of the warranty were.