Quoting broxma:
Which car do I want to drive. The Galant. Why? This is where I cannot be objective because I will be unable to make you understand or experience the same thing. When I get in my GVR4, I am happy. It has no AC. I'm elated. The seat is still ripped, Wonderful. It reeks like gas inside. Breath it in buddy. I would wager if there was a happiness test, and the test involved me driving my noisy, smelly, seat ripped up, no AC having GVR4 and random citizen with a new Vette, I win every single time. The satisfaction and enjoyment I get from knowing how long and hard it was to get my car in the shape it is in, the time, the money, the research, there has thus far been no greater experience in my automotive career which is now well into it's second decade. I love my Evo, I am sure that Vette owners love their Vette's, but dropping 50K to buy happiness and creating happiness out of what should have been at the junkyard do not compare.
/brox
Brox,
The first few times I read this, I couldn't really agree with you. If the seat was ripped, I'd have to fix it. If it stank of gas I'd have to sort that out. No A/C (in a tropical climate like here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif), no way man! But after a while it finally dawned on me what you were getting at. New cars are nice. They look good. They smell good. Everything works, there are no rattles and squeaks anywhere. But you EXPECT that! It just doesn't mean the same as a car that runs like that because 'you' rebuilt the throttle body or fixed those boost leaks or changed the CV joints.
I also like the fact that the VR4 is for driving and enjoying and not for looking at. I want to enjoy nights overlooking the pier with my 3 year old sat in the back seat eating McDonalds and not care if he drips ketchup on the seat. I want to park in that tight space left by the fat lethargic short sighted TWAT who couldn't fit his Lambo between the white lines because I know he'll be more worried about dinging his own door than I will be about him dinging mine.
But it is more than that even. When I first came to Hong Kong years ago, I used to hang out at the Jazz Club. It was a dark, dingy place hidden away in the back alley staircases of Lan Kwai Fong. It was old and musty, the clientele looked like something out of the "Cantina" bar in Star Wars and it smelled. Despite a valiant battle against change and Government Bureaucracy, it eventually died a death. The new Health and Safety Regulations, the Smoking Bans in public places, all took their toll and finally the New Jazz venue was opened. And it was spectacular. A huge sweeping staircase, marble floors, a real stage. But it wasn't the same. There was no atmosphere. No cigar smoke turning the air a hazy blue. No cigarette burns in the sofa from true jazz connoisseurs that had frequented the place for decades. No beer stains on the floor. No faded black and white prints of Count Basie, Nat King Cole or Louis Armstrong on the walls.
What am I saying?
The EVO is the weekend fling or one night stand. She draws you in, rekindles your passion, makes you feel alive. You begin to relish your new found manhood, you cannot get enough of her, you jump into her every opportunity you get and every time you discover something new and exciting ... until there is nothing new and exciting to discover anymore, because you find out, that 'that' is all that she has to offer.
But the VR4 is a that long term lover, whose familiar touch and comforting embrace draws you back over and over and over again. You never get bored of her. She's interesting and captivating. She's no beauty queen but god she still looks good, and when she smiles at you from that parking lot, you know there is no other you'd rather be taking home. It is a life filled with ups and downs but every day is an adventure and no day is ever the same. She has personality. She has charisma. She has that je ne sais pas! ...