Car lovers?

Ah, I'd not payed attention to your location. I'd love to have the Focus ST brought here at an affordable price, but I bet it would be close to $25k by the time all was said and done. At that point your options for a vehicle have increased considerably.

There was a very well-off guy here locally a while back selling an '05 Infinity G35 Coupe, loaded, with 4k miles on it for just under $16,000. In the pictures it was parked next to the fountain in between the two arcs of his driveway's cul de sac and the house in the background looked like it was worth a couple mil, so I'd imagine it was well kept, and was obviously very seldom driven. Never have I been so close to such an incredibly stupid impulse purchase.

As it is there's a supercharger kit from Powerworks designed for the SVT Focus that runs about $3k. I'm leaning towards doing that a year or two down the road after the car's payed off and I've taken care of a couple of other things. That'd put me in the 240hp range and still keep me around or above 30mpg on the interstate according to impressions of the kit I've read, which would be absolutely awesome.

*edit*

Austin! I didn't know you read the boards here. Not surprised to see this thread get you posting

I bought a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 back in October. I loves it but I wish at times -- like when I fill it up -- that it had a button on the dash somewhere that said "Prius" :(.

Yes, they do. *cries*

Muhahahaha. Big mistake! Now I know what to look for.

Assuming nothing was wrong with it, you probably could have re-sold it after a few months and made a couple grand, so it wouldn't have been that stupid of a purchase. That is assuming you were willing to let it go once you drove it =). But why dwell on missed opportunities, right?

I sometimes hear stories of the "angry wife sells husband's car for 10% of the actual value" stories and hope that one day I'll get lucky enough to be on the buying end of such a deal.

This is my car, a 1988 BMW 528E, the picture taken about 30 minutes before I forked over the cash two years ago. Since then I have replaced all the emblems, bought large snow tires for it, waxed and washed it with love numerous times, bought a stereo and speakers, partial exhaust system, and a full tune-up done.

I love her. Her name is Hans. She ran me around $6,000 total and only had 97,000 miles.

The raw HP of the Turbo is unmatched if you set up your car to still launch correct. My 100ft times suffered at first when i switched from the super to the turbo but once I reset up the car it came back to where I needed it to be.

Then again I only drive strait in the Cobra.

I used to consider myself somewhat of a car enthusiast, but chronic lack of time keeps me from pursuing car thinkering as a hobby. I don't drool over aspects of breakneck speed or sexual attractiveness of the visual styling. The thing that fascinates me the most, I figure, is the mind-blowing amount of all kinds of design, engineering, and manufacturing wizardry that goes into making a modern car.

This is my ride:

I still lurk at VWvortex.com, the net's major hangout for the VW and Audi fans. Some of my early mods, such as MD headunit, integrated Bluetooth handsfree, and some climate gauge, were one of the very first in the community. These days, I barely have time to just keep the car clean. Here's a sample wax job pic.

The ride is 7 years old now and as much as we like it, we're contemplating an upgrade. We feel strongly about making do with only one car (some of our neighbors have more cars than family members), so that means a replacement. I like sedans, but my wife needs something roomier to transport her scaffolds sometimes. I am looking towards fall and the expected release of turbodiesel VW Tiguan. If the pricing (TBA) or availability aren't favorable, I think I might go with a Nissan Rogue or Mazda CX-7, or wait till the end of the year and get the new Volvo XC60.

I managed to get a few seconds of driving just BEHIND a Ferrari (F430 Spider, or something similar) on I-95 this evening, just after rush hour traffic had subsided... does that count?

On a vaguely related topic, what do you guys think of the Tesla Roadster? With largely Lotus-derived running gear and some very impressive figures on the electric drivetrain it sounds like it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to drive. I'm intrigued by the way they're promoting electric cars and slowly build a market for them by producing something aspirational to start with, and worrying about making something practical and affordable further down the line.

This thread makes me said. I used to have two loves I don't get to exercise anymore: driving and flying. I was never much of a car nut, I was a driving nut. Over the course of the dotcom era I owned a Toyota Supra Twin Turbo, a WRX STI, and BMW M3. Loved them all, but nothing really beat the Subaru, especially driving on dirt roads in New England at speed. Sigh.

Now I love my wife's minivan, or "the little blue bus" as all the neighborhood kids call it.

Wired: deep abiding jealousy.

You can reserve one for the 2009 production run for $60k.

Up until last november, I had a 94 325i. Then I got rear ended, and it was totaled I had a 2003 Ford Ranger Edge after that. Currently, I'm driving an 04 Malibu after trading in the Ranger. Next up on my list is the wife's 06 Focus, which will be getting traded on an Odyssey of some sort.

But in all of this, I wish I had my bimmer back