11-04-2011, 11:28 AM
I will tell you it is NOT an STi, and it does NOT share a color with any of the other 3rd gen WRX's in MM.
I will also go through the reasoning. It pretty much went like this:
While I liked my Bugeye, liked it a lot, actually, in the end it wasn't really fast enough, or nice enough. I was spoiled by my Speed3, but disliked it for its traction problems (and absurd tires.)
So after I sold the bugeye, I thought long and hard about what to get. I came up with the following requirements:
4 or 5 doors (I do intend after all to reproduce at SOME point, 2 doors is no bueno)
Manual Transmission (I don't think I need to justify this)
Somewhere around 200 horsepower, although more is always nice. (Because)
Some level of luxury (Hey, I'm getting older. Nothing wrong with a little softness.)
And finally, Not Front Wheel Drive.
So with that in mind, I plugged all that into Deep Thought and meditated. IS300? Too slow. And if I'm going to drop anything that ends with "GTE" in it, all I'm going to have is an IS300 I paid too much for. (Although it'd be fast, for sure.) Plus, it's a lot of work. Almost did it, though. Looked at BMW's of various types, and determined that You People Are Crazy, to put up with such horseshit on a daily basis as justification for driving der ultimate driving machine. RX8, again, tempting! But the horsepower vs godawful fuel economy numbers were just too much for me to swallow. Thought about an S4, you know, with the sexy V8? Then I realized that no matter how many cylinders it had, it was always going to be an Audi and lolfuckthat. A G35 sedan got some attention, but in the end it was too difficult to find a manual trans AND decent mileage AND not be a million bucks.
So what I kept coming back to was a new WRX. Combine that with us (that is, MM) getting VIP pricing from Bob Wade, and it kept looking better and better. I didn't really want a new car, but I also had a firm "project" in the Jeep, so I didn't need something I was gonna dive balls deep into right off the bat.
So I thought about an STI. I really did. I wanted six forward gears. I wanted little world rally elves inside my differentials, making sure every single pony was going to the appropriate corner for maximum hoonage. I wanted big fat brembo brakes. I wanted my asscheeks gently cupped by alcantara, my love handles compressed by race-inspired bolsters. Hell, I wanted USD shocks and aluminum suspension bits. But damn son, those things cost fat stacks I ain't got, (or rather, don't want to give up) and that's doubly true for the 5 door. Combine that with none of that STI pixie dust actually mattering for shit and you've got a recipe for me not being able to justify an extra 6 grand.
So there you go. I was too late to order a 2011, so I had to wait and order a 2012. I suspect that this (the third gen) will actually end up being the "greatest" WRX generation since the GC, when it's judged over time.
I will also go through the reasoning. It pretty much went like this:
While I liked my Bugeye, liked it a lot, actually, in the end it wasn't really fast enough, or nice enough. I was spoiled by my Speed3, but disliked it for its traction problems (and absurd tires.)
So after I sold the bugeye, I thought long and hard about what to get. I came up with the following requirements:
4 or 5 doors (I do intend after all to reproduce at SOME point, 2 doors is no bueno)
Manual Transmission (I don't think I need to justify this)
Somewhere around 200 horsepower, although more is always nice. (Because)
Some level of luxury (Hey, I'm getting older. Nothing wrong with a little softness.)
And finally, Not Front Wheel Drive.
So with that in mind, I plugged all that into Deep Thought and meditated. IS300? Too slow. And if I'm going to drop anything that ends with "GTE" in it, all I'm going to have is an IS300 I paid too much for. (Although it'd be fast, for sure.) Plus, it's a lot of work. Almost did it, though. Looked at BMW's of various types, and determined that You People Are Crazy, to put up with such horseshit on a daily basis as justification for driving der ultimate driving machine. RX8, again, tempting! But the horsepower vs godawful fuel economy numbers were just too much for me to swallow. Thought about an S4, you know, with the sexy V8? Then I realized that no matter how many cylinders it had, it was always going to be an Audi and lolfuckthat. A G35 sedan got some attention, but in the end it was too difficult to find a manual trans AND decent mileage AND not be a million bucks.
So what I kept coming back to was a new WRX. Combine that with us (that is, MM) getting VIP pricing from Bob Wade, and it kept looking better and better. I didn't really want a new car, but I also had a firm "project" in the Jeep, so I didn't need something I was gonna dive balls deep into right off the bat.
So I thought about an STI. I really did. I wanted six forward gears. I wanted little world rally elves inside my differentials, making sure every single pony was going to the appropriate corner for maximum hoonage. I wanted big fat brembo brakes. I wanted my asscheeks gently cupped by alcantara, my love handles compressed by race-inspired bolsters. Hell, I wanted USD shocks and aluminum suspension bits. But damn son, those things cost fat stacks I ain't got, (or rather, don't want to give up) and that's doubly true for the 5 door. Combine that with none of that STI pixie dust actually mattering for shit and you've got a recipe for me not being able to justify an extra 6 grand.
So there you go. I was too late to order a 2011, so I had to wait and order a 2012. I suspect that this (the third gen) will actually end up being the "greatest" WRX generation since the GC, when it's judged over time.
1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442