02-24-2005, 02:56 PM
Sorry to be late to the thread jacking party, I was gonna keep my mouth shut. WAS gonna.
As far as my on-topic 2cents, I'd stick japanese as well. Since it sounds like you will usually be driving around empty, you might as well get something with good economy. While an F150 or 250 is cheap and fairly hard to kill, it's also overkill and those V8's are thirsty. Something small and 4cyl, maybe a 6, I think you're on the right track. Personally I would consider a minivan, something like the Mazda MPV, unless you think you might be picking up a fridge or something that would be tall.
Sorry we come off as elitist dicks sometimes. I don't know why you see it that way. We just don't want you dead. Or you killing others. Or ending up in jail. Or not being able to afford insurance. Or even just getting a simple speeding ticket now and then. It sucks.
You said, "you can't honestly tell me you've never done something stupid on the highway". That's the whole point. Most of us have. Some of us have the poor insurance rates, licence points, empty pockets, and minor life-long injuries to prove it. We're trying to share our experience with you instead of watching you suffer through it yourself. And we're by no means the best examples. Some of us still DO some stupid stuff. We STILL haven't learned.
So look at someone older. You'll have a very hard time finding someone over 30 that hasn't let his desire to be a jackass on the roads fade. Over 40? Good luck. Unless he's a backwoods hick with an IQ of less than 60. That's because they've learned that it just doesn't pay. And if they're still hard-core car enthusiasts that like to spend every dime on their car, they're at some kind of track, or at a car show.
So we're all learning together. Spend the $$ on the driver, not the car. Get it off the streets. And if you must spend $$, spend it on safety equipment and making the car reliable. THEN on making it faster. Sometimes hard lessons to learn. Hopefully you won't have to learn the hard way.
As far as the actual driver's school experience goes. Your car is plenty fast and capable. Probably already too much power for a beginner, which trust us, you are. We all are or were. But it isn't a race. If you're worried about who's going to beat you, and who you're going to have to let pass you, and you get your ego all tied up in it, you aren't going to learn much. You'll be working to "beat" people who weren't racing you. Guess who the loser of that race is? You'll learn more with less car to work with because you'll be forced to figure out how to keep up your speed without relying on an oversized loud pedal. You'll be able to more safely explore the "edge" when you aren't driving a car with very high potential.
Trust me. You will be able to scare yourself plenty with your car as it is currently. And then you'll have visions of the thing flipped over in a tire wall, take a second look at your budget, and assuming you aren't making big $$$, you might even decide to track something slower and with less value. Evan's experience is frightenly close. Why not listen to his reason why doesn't track his WRX anymore?
I hope you hang around. This is a good group of speed junkies, hopefully working to reform our dangerous street fantasies. And we're always open to having more join us in the fun. See you at the track. :?:
As far as my on-topic 2cents, I'd stick japanese as well. Since it sounds like you will usually be driving around empty, you might as well get something with good economy. While an F150 or 250 is cheap and fairly hard to kill, it's also overkill and those V8's are thirsty. Something small and 4cyl, maybe a 6, I think you're on the right track. Personally I would consider a minivan, something like the Mazda MPV, unless you think you might be picking up a fridge or something that would be tall.
Sorry we come off as elitist dicks sometimes. I don't know why you see it that way. We just don't want you dead. Or you killing others. Or ending up in jail. Or not being able to afford insurance. Or even just getting a simple speeding ticket now and then. It sucks.
You said, "you can't honestly tell me you've never done something stupid on the highway". That's the whole point. Most of us have. Some of us have the poor insurance rates, licence points, empty pockets, and minor life-long injuries to prove it. We're trying to share our experience with you instead of watching you suffer through it yourself. And we're by no means the best examples. Some of us still DO some stupid stuff. We STILL haven't learned.
So look at someone older. You'll have a very hard time finding someone over 30 that hasn't let his desire to be a jackass on the roads fade. Over 40? Good luck. Unless he's a backwoods hick with an IQ of less than 60. That's because they've learned that it just doesn't pay. And if they're still hard-core car enthusiasts that like to spend every dime on their car, they're at some kind of track, or at a car show.
So we're all learning together. Spend the $$ on the driver, not the car. Get it off the streets. And if you must spend $$, spend it on safety equipment and making the car reliable. THEN on making it faster. Sometimes hard lessons to learn. Hopefully you won't have to learn the hard way.
As far as the actual driver's school experience goes. Your car is plenty fast and capable. Probably already too much power for a beginner, which trust us, you are. We all are or were. But it isn't a race. If you're worried about who's going to beat you, and who you're going to have to let pass you, and you get your ego all tied up in it, you aren't going to learn much. You'll be working to "beat" people who weren't racing you. Guess who the loser of that race is? You'll learn more with less car to work with because you'll be forced to figure out how to keep up your speed without relying on an oversized loud pedal. You'll be able to more safely explore the "edge" when you aren't driving a car with very high potential.
Trust me. You will be able to scare yourself plenty with your car as it is currently. And then you'll have visions of the thing flipped over in a tire wall, take a second look at your budget, and assuming you aren't making big $$$, you might even decide to track something slower and with less value. Evan's experience is frightenly close. Why not listen to his reason why doesn't track his WRX anymore?
I hope you hang around. This is a good group of speed junkies, hopefully working to reform our dangerous street fantasies. And we're always open to having more join us in the fun. See you at the track. :?: