Got my S at Easter
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Got my S at Easter
Hi All,
Eleven years ago when I got my first 'real' job, I bought my first 'real' car. It was a '95 Integra 4-door GSR. It has been, and continues to be, a great car, but it is getting a bit soft in the suspension and burns a bit more oil than I would like. Not bad really for a car with 150k miles, but it was time to have a replacement ready for that sad day when the Integra finally goes. That is the excuse I'm using, and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, the only car in my price range that my wife ever said she liked was the Solstice. I did a lot of reading, and went to check the car out at a dealership. It is a nice enough car, but people were paying MSRP or higher for them. That is just crazy. Still, I figured the Integra has still got some life in it, so I could wait it out, especially if that would give Pontiac time to lighten the thing up a bit and add a little power. Well in typical GM fashion, they are just shoving a bunch more power into the car. Aaarrgh. As an engineer, I was really annoyed. Anyway, since GM was not on the right track with the car that my wife liked, I started looking for alternatives. I was completely ignorant of the S at that time, but it didn't take much searching to find that the S was often the car that other cars were compared to. The more I read about the S, the more it appealed to me. Virtually everything about it shows that the engineers won the arguements. Normally the design guys win and force the car to have weird bulbous fenders and over-designed interiors. The S has a wonderful, functional shape and it is beautiful because of it. I love the interior too. I love the way the passenger gets nothing, no glove box full of distractions, no radio buttons to push, no fan knobs to fiddle with, nothing. For once the focus is on the driver. All the mechanics of the car are simply awesome too. No corporate "this car needs to have more power than that car but less than that other car" bs. All the components work together perfectly. After my first test drive, I was hooked. Maybe it was because I am used to the high reving engine in the Integra, but the S was just a kick to drive. I flipped through the brochure almost every night. My wife called it my favorite book. Purchasing the car took me months. I wanted to get a hardtop, and I wanted to roll that into the car loan, so I couldn't use Hardtop guy or other methods. For some reason, dealerships would just not commit to a price on the hardtop. I know that the hardtop comes from the parts department and not the sales department, but come on, it can't be that big of a problem. I went out to dealerships on rainy weekends. I went at the end of the month. I tried everything to get a good deal. It is truely bizarre to know that I could order a hardtop for $2700 and be told that it was $3500. Anyway, I finally got an '06 Silverstone, red/black interior, hardtop for $33500 +TTL. The break in period was pure hell. I must admit that I violated the rules a couple of times. I took it auto-crossing last week with a group of Elise owners. That was a lot of fun. I cheated and left the stability assist on, since it was my first auto-x. I got the rear out into the marbles a few times, and the car behaved wonderfully. The tail went out a bit, but it was easy to control and the car never tried to swap ends.
Sorry for the long post.
Eleven years ago when I got my first 'real' job, I bought my first 'real' car. It was a '95 Integra 4-door GSR. It has been, and continues to be, a great car, but it is getting a bit soft in the suspension and burns a bit more oil than I would like. Not bad really for a car with 150k miles, but it was time to have a replacement ready for that sad day when the Integra finally goes. That is the excuse I'm using, and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, the only car in my price range that my wife ever said she liked was the Solstice. I did a lot of reading, and went to check the car out at a dealership. It is a nice enough car, but people were paying MSRP or higher for them. That is just crazy. Still, I figured the Integra has still got some life in it, so I could wait it out, especially if that would give Pontiac time to lighten the thing up a bit and add a little power. Well in typical GM fashion, they are just shoving a bunch more power into the car. Aaarrgh. As an engineer, I was really annoyed. Anyway, since GM was not on the right track with the car that my wife liked, I started looking for alternatives. I was completely ignorant of the S at that time, but it didn't take much searching to find that the S was often the car that other cars were compared to. The more I read about the S, the more it appealed to me. Virtually everything about it shows that the engineers won the arguements. Normally the design guys win and force the car to have weird bulbous fenders and over-designed interiors. The S has a wonderful, functional shape and it is beautiful because of it. I love the interior too. I love the way the passenger gets nothing, no glove box full of distractions, no radio buttons to push, no fan knobs to fiddle with, nothing. For once the focus is on the driver. All the mechanics of the car are simply awesome too. No corporate "this car needs to have more power than that car but less than that other car" bs. All the components work together perfectly. After my first test drive, I was hooked. Maybe it was because I am used to the high reving engine in the Integra, but the S was just a kick to drive. I flipped through the brochure almost every night. My wife called it my favorite book. Purchasing the car took me months. I wanted to get a hardtop, and I wanted to roll that into the car loan, so I couldn't use Hardtop guy or other methods. For some reason, dealerships would just not commit to a price on the hardtop. I know that the hardtop comes from the parts department and not the sales department, but come on, it can't be that big of a problem. I went out to dealerships on rainy weekends. I went at the end of the month. I tried everything to get a good deal. It is truely bizarre to know that I could order a hardtop for $2700 and be told that it was $3500. Anyway, I finally got an '06 Silverstone, red/black interior, hardtop for $33500 +TTL. The break in period was pure hell. I must admit that I violated the rules a couple of times. I took it auto-crossing last week with a group of Elise owners. That was a lot of fun. I cheated and left the stability assist on, since it was my first auto-x. I got the rear out into the marbles a few times, and the car behaved wonderfully. The tail went out a bit, but it was easy to control and the car never tried to swap ends.
Sorry for the long post.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,605
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From: Chicago
congrats 
i felt the same way when i started looking for a new car. about the car that kind of appealed to me (ignorant of the S at the time) was the 350Z. but it just seemed off...a little too fat, small windows, high door, etc. started researching other cars and came across the S2K. reading about it won me over just like how you wrote it.
it took me about a month from when i decided to buy it to actually having one. i remember spending so much time at work on cars.com, autotrader, etc. looking for the right car.
i felt the same way when i started looking for a new car. about the car that kind of appealed to me (ignorant of the S at the time) was the 350Z. but it just seemed off...a little too fat, small windows, high door, etc. started researching other cars and came across the S2K. reading about it won me over just like how you wrote it.
it took me about a month from when i decided to buy it to actually having one. i remember spending so much time at work on cars.com, autotrader, etc. looking for the right car.
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,492
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From: Elizabeth, CO
Great post!! Congrats on finding the right car. Too bad you had to see the Integra go down the road 
. I felt the same way with my Prelude, only difference is - I ended up keeping the 'Lude. And one more thing - Welcome aboard!!
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