My new ride

One of the many things going on is my vehicular situation. So I had a pretty sweet ass MazdaSpeed6.  It didn’t have a ton of stuff done. But it was done right. It looked good, rode well, and had pretty good power.

My MazdaSpeed6

Well, being me, I decided that was not good enough. It was nice and fast. But it was 7 years old. I like new and shiny. So I decided to order me a 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STi. I ordered a dark grey metallic one with fog lights, bike rack, STI short shifter, and STi front lip. I ordered it around the middle of August. They told me it was scheduled for delivery sometime in December. OK, time to put my car up for sale. urns out my friend that watched me do the mods to the Mazda wanted the car. So about two weeks after putting it up for sale, it was sold. Now what?  I have nothing to drive to work. OK, shop for a beater. Turns out I found a red S13 coupe in Ogden for $1300. Perfect. I loved my old S13 and another project might be fun. That way, me and Cara can co-drive it at autocrosses and beat it up out on the track at Miller.

The beater S13

Well, it turns out this S13 required a bit of work to get it to pass inspection. Including an entire new exhaust from the engine back. After fixing it up and passing inspection, I was out at the track racing my kart, when a friend of mine asked why I don’t just buy my old S13 back from him. I was unaware that he still had it. And I heard nasty rumors of its demise. Turns out the rumors were all false. And since I loved that car so much, I had to have it. So I bought my old S13 as well. So my old black S13 that I did so much to was home again. You can read about it here. But for those too lazy to click that link, here is a picture:

My old, and new again S13

Well, it turns out my old and new again S13 has a rod-knock. However, it also comes with a freshly re-built engine. I just need to swap that baby in. So in the mean time I am still driving the red beater S13. My down payment on the Subaru is dwindling, so I need to stop buying cars. Well, after a few weeks, I get a call from the dealer telling me they have a black STi coming in that has a few different options on it. So wrong options and wrong color. However, black always looks good. And if I get that one, I have a pair of bad-ass black cars. Sounds like it was meant to be. Plus, I can get it in late October rather than December. So the beater is up for sale and I have another fun new car.

Front

Side

3/4 front shot

This black one came with these mods:

• SPT Exhaust
• STi shift knob
• STi short shifter
• Side trunk cargo nets
• Auto dimming mirror with homelink

And I had them throw in:

• STi front lip
• Custom fit sun shade (don’t do it, it’s a trick)

So I lost the fog lights and the bike rack. But I figured I wouldn’t use the bike rack enough to justify it looking goofy and messing with my aero and cg. And without fog lights, it opens up the possibility for brake ducting later. Although, I think a skilled person could make the ducting work with fog lights too.

Impressions so far:

The stereo sucks balls compared to the MazdaSpeed6. The power band is in dire need of some AccessPort love as it kind of surges a bit, like all factory Subaru tunes. Handling is of course awesome. I think it is night and day better than the 2008’s. I hate that Subaru switched to the chrome headlights. The 2010-2011 headlights look way better. The new ones are definitely old lady and ghetto hood rat approved. 35% tint all around is not dark enough. The sound of the SPT exhaust is great. I just wish the tips weren’t hidden so far under the bumper. SI Drive is the most pointless, useless turd of a feature I have ever had on a car. On S#, the throttle feels fine. Auto or the default setting feel like someone stuck a cork in it’s ass and plugged the exhaust, or just disconnected the throttle plate motor. And not only is it completely pointless, but it requires that this big ugly knob be stuck on the center console. It’s like they wanted a knob to try and be as cool as BMW or something but didn’t know what the knob should do, so they made it turn off your throttle plate just to test it, then forgot to actually think of a use for it before going into production, so they were stuck with this stupid stupid idea that was really just to test placement of a knob or something.

I love the way the car looks (especially once some chrome is deleted off the car) and I am excited to turn it into my own with some simple mods that will make it even more gorgeous. Already got the tint. Also, I ordered some horns because the stock ones are as craptastic as they were on my 1998 Subaru. Turns out they are only rated at 97db. I think I can fart louder than that. The new horns are rated at 118db. And every 3db is double the sound pressure. So yeah, you do the math. New ones will be WAY better.