I'm a 21 year old student from Madison, WI who's car addiction is like crack. I love almost all autmobiles, with the exception of 'normal'. This means I hate camaros, mustangs, civics, integras, corvettes etc. I like things cars that scream 'different'. Due to a high amount of watching 'the dukes of hazzard' as a kid, my first car was a 1968 Dodge Charger with a 383/hurst 4 spd. I bought it myself, worked 2 jobs for almost a year and bought it the summer I was 16. I learned how to drive stick in it, how to handle girls in it, everything.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a winter car, and someone vandalized my Charger so my parents deemed it 'unsafe'. My grandmother was willing to help me a little and so I purchased a used 1997 Dodge Neon 5 spd. It is an extremely fun car to DRIVE, but the shoddy interior really make it annoying to drive everyday. Earlier this summer I had to sell the charger, I couldn't afford to store it anywhere, nor did I have the time for it. Well, I've been pining over what car to get next, saving my pennies, and been looking all over the place. I sent a letter to my gf (who kinda digs cars, yeah yeah lucky me) and it went like this:
Alright. I got the car thing solved. I wrote down a bunch of cars that I liked (and could afford) and then sorta put them against each other, including performance, insurance, ROOM, and fun. The miata, while fun and affordable, suffers from almost NO trunk, and only 2 seats. The neon, while fun to drive, and cheap, suffers from crappy interior and I can't find one for a good price. Plus the above two both are quasi girly, but not really. So I wanted a car thats fun, bigger, nice interior, fast, and cool and different. For 2 days I was kinda thinking about an Eagle Talon, til I found out how crappy the interior is, but now I've found the answer:
The Subaru SVX.
This was Subarus entrance into the luxury/performance market back in 1992, and they built them til 1997. These things have All Wheel Drive (What snow?!), and an extremely interesting engine. The engine is a fuel injected 3.3 liter boxer engine (same style as a porsche engine, the pistons are 180 from each other). What's weird about it is that it has a special intake manifold, with variable volume. This means at low rpm, the intake manifolds characteristcs are different from when it's at high rpm; it effefectively has 2 intake manifolds to get optimum power/torque at any engine speed. The result? 230 horsepower, 224 ft lbs of torque. Wow. Automobile, the uppity grey poupon euro mag wrote:
"you ought to hear the exhaust note. It's so silky smooth that it makes the Porsche 911 (another flat-six, remember) sound utterly ragged. "
Another cool thing about this car is the abundance of options. Think almost ANY FREAKIN OPTION you can think of. Power moonroof. Power leather. Power heated mirrors. Climate control. Automatic A/C. A winter mode button for the windshield wipers, so they remain in hte upright position and won't get frozen down, heated seats, all sorts of things. This car is FAST too. 0-60 in about 7 seconds, plus or minus. I already checked insurance on em, and its cheaper than my neon, which is cool. And the price? CHEAP. Only 3-5,000, depending on the year. So the toughest decision? What color. I'm hunting for a black one. Anyway here's an article to read about em:
http://www.subarusvx.com/articles/article2.html
Good decision?
- $
Anyway, I've been on the lookout for a black SVX with the touring package, and I've found a low milage one on the east coast. If all goes well I'll be selling the neon in the next few weeks to a guy who's going to turn it into an autocross monster and taking an Amtrak out to go get the SVX. I CAN"T WAIT. I've always liked SVXs, I just didn't know I could afford one.
Anyway, wish me luck, and you'll probably see a lot more of me here.
Later,
Ca$h