|
I'll mix cars and bikes here, as the bikes end up playing a role with what cars I bought: (will track down and edit this post with pictures of the interesting stuff tomorrow.) 2002 : 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier: Black. First car, crappy base engine, 3 speed automatic, Tupperware interior, put big subwoofers in like a standard idiot teenager. 2003 : 1996 Pontiac Firebird: Black. 3.8 liter V6, 4 speed automatic, LEATHER, no t-tops. Had weird transmission issues that would manifest after highway driving. 2005 : 1998 Chevrolet Corvette: Black. Finally, something not awful. 6 speed manual, LS1, soft top. Screwed around with minor modifications...intake, exhaust, replica z06 wheels.  2007 : 2006 Subaru Legacy GT: Black. First car I ever bought new. Got a steal on it as it was a US import from a dealer in Hawaii to Canada - dealer was a bit confused by a 20 year old kid trading in a Corvette for a "family sedan". Manual. Modded the hell out of it - intake, intercooler, uppipe/downpipe/ceramic coated equal length headers, tune, gold OZ wheels, Brembos from a totalled STi, KW coilovers. Even imported an Aussie market center stack to convert the factory radio to double din nav. Considered going really balls to the wall and upgrading turbo/injectors, but this was a 5 speed...was too scared of grenading the transmission. This was probably my favorite car, and I still miss it. Never had a single reliability problem despite me driving it hard and modding it. It ended up at auction after I got rid of it, and a client's son worked at the dealer that ended up with it...And got me in touch with its new buyer to sell my spare winter wheels to him. The kid who bought it loved it, I hope he took good care of it. Had a coincidental meet up with a Seattle goon with the same car to swap trunks (mine was spoiler free, he had a spoiler and didn't want it). Can't remember his username - he later bought a GT-R?    2011 : 2005 Corvette : Black. Targa top, 6 speed manual, replica C6 z06 wheels, Z51 package. Owned this for all of 7 weeks. Had the Subaru paid off, had just bought a condo, and decided I wanted a "fun" car. Only had one parking spot, so had to pay to put the Subaru in storage. Turns out having a car payment along with a mortgage payment sucks when you're 25 and working a lovely job. Sold it at a 3k loss and was just glad to not be living paycheck to paycheck anymore.  2012 : 2007 BMW 335i: Black. Traded in the Subaru on this - was a US market model as well. Problem is, it hadn't been converted properly - gauges were still in MPH, which was annoying. However, it was a 6 speed manual...which coupled with its hard top convertible, meant it was stupid rare. Lightly modified with an Accessport tune. After the comparative reliability of my previous vehicles, this was an eye opener...injector problems, turbo problems, pixels on the radio that would fade to nothingness in warm weather. Dealt with the injectors and reprogramming myself...when the turbos began rattling, I got more concerned. This year had a recall on the turbos...And mine was manufactured 2 weeks before the recall, and didn't qualify, despite having the same turbos and problems. Took a bath selling it just to get rid of it before something big blew up.  2013 : 2006 Acura TSX: 2014 : 2003 Suzuki SV650S: Blue. First bike, nothing special. Enough power to get into trouble on, but not enough to be overly dangerous. Had annoying electrical gremlins, got tired of them, sold after about 9 months of ownership.  2015 : 2007 Suzuki GSX-R 750 : White/Blue : Got a great deal on this from a guy who supposedly took good care of it. Had to go to Vancouver Island to get it. Looked in good condition, but had no passenger pegs and didnt come with the rear seat (just had the cosmetic cowl instead). It's ok, seller said he'll ship them to me! (He never did, and later sent me an email telling me to gently caress off when I emailed again asking about them). Also didn't start well, but the seller assured me that was from it sitting all winter. Bought it anyhow...battery proceeded to die when I got it to the ferry. Proceeded to drop it on myself trying to bump start it. Got stranded overnight in Nanaimo at a lovely motel until I could get a new battery the next day. Then when I got back to the mainland, the license plate fell off due to the screws not being tightened enough by the seller who put it on for me. Good start, eh? Ran fine for about a year and a half, until it started eating regulator/rectifiers - went through 3, and a stator, continued having electrical problems. Said to hell with it and traded it in.  2016 : 014 Kawasaki ZX-14R: Black/green. This bike was a bad idea. Babied it for the first 2000 km and slowly built up my confidence on this absolutely heavy, insane torque monster...until I felt pretty good cracking the throttle on it and dealing with it wheelieing. However, the suspension felt way too sloppy, so I got it tightened up. What I didn't take into account was that now that it didn't have that looseness/travel in the rear, it'd stand up easier. Same day that the suspension got tightened, I went to open up on it...and the front came up way faster than I was prepared for. Bike pretty much did a backflip and chucked me off. I had full gear on and got hosed up... I flew off sideways, landed on my shoulder, and cartwheeled down the road. Bike was a write off. Amazingly enough, I didn't hit my head...but I did break my shoulder in 3 places and my leg. 18 screws in my shoulder and a plate, 10 weeks in a wheelchair, and a lot of rehab later, and I was at least ready to drive again.   2016 : 2013 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe: Black. 6 speed automatic - given the state of my left leg post crash, I was unsure if a manual would work. In hindsight, it would have...big regret buying the auto. This car was otherwise immaculate - no accidents, gorgeous 3 stage paint, and pretty much every option available ; sunroof, Recaro seats, yellow calipers, some fancy wood trim. Even discovered after purchase that the prior owner had put a Corsa exhaust on that the dealer wasn't aware of. Accelerated like absolute hell. However, in the long run, this car started to really piss me off. In classic GM fashion (and having come from my last 2 cars being a BMW and Acura, this was highly noticeable) - it started rattling like mad. In particular, the sunroof rattled endlessly. It probably didn't help that some idiot in a Mitsubishi Delica ran a red light and t- boned me doing $15,000 of damage to it. Granted, it was rattling well before that. Ended up taking it into the dealer for a recall on the supercharger, paid extra for them to fix the sunroof rattle. They didn't. It went back. They didn't. Repeat times 6...at which point the suspension started groaning and creaking until it warmed up, and the dealer said they couldn't troubleshoot the sunroof til that creaking was dealt with. Remembered I had extended warranty that covered suspension, told the dealer to go nuts. They "tightened some bolts", charged me $150 which (good news!) was below the cost of the deductible...and it did jack poo poo. It creaked terribly leaving the parking lot. At this point, I lost it. The dealer said they couldn't schedule me back in for 3 weeks - I called Cadillac Corporate and went off. Ended up back at the dealer for 2 weeks while they replaced suspension bushings and pulled the headliner. Rattling finally stopped. In the back of my mind, I was always pissed at the car though.  2017 : 2002 Honda CBR600f4i: Red/black. Wanted to get back on a bike, but wanted something more manageable, cheap, and without problems. Bought it on the 1 year anniversary of my crash. Can't complain about this bike, it did all that fantastic...brakes were spongey, other than that, rode great, put some track days in on it too.    2017 : 2017 Cadillac ATS: Red. Not really mine, bought for my wife. Great platform, but the interior is crap...have had issues with the speakers, and the dealer is useless. Probably the last GM we'll own for a long time. 2018 : 2015 Honda VFR800: Red. Wanted something with a bit more power than the CBR, and a bit more comfortable. This ticked both boxes, and had hard saddlebags too...and the V4 sounded great. The 800cc is deceptive though, if anything it was quite a bit slower than the CBR. It also bored the poo poo out of me. To be quite frank, it felt like the bike equivalent of a Camry. I probably rode this thing less than 15 times.  2018 : 2018 Kawasaki H2 SX SE: Green/black. Getting back on something green, and with as much power as the 14R scared the poo poo out of me. That being said, the power band is much more linear, and it feels a lot lighter and smaller despite only being about 30 pounds less. The supercharger scream on it is intoxicating. It's relatively comfortable, has all the creature comforts/gizmos - heated grips, hard luggage, quickshifter, digital dash, traction control, cornering ABS...but, it's too much. After riding it for a year and a half, I've realized I don't really enjoy it much more than I did my lovely beat up CBR. Probably going to sell it and step back down to a 600 or 750.    2019 : 2016 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid: Carrera White. With the bike around to scratch my itch for speed, I started to get the motivation to ditch the CTS-V. I also got spoiled by being able to take the bike in the carpool lane, so I started giving serious thoughts to plugin hybrids. I wanted something with a nice interior, but that still handled somewhat decently and had acceptable power. This ended up checking all the boxes...though I do miss the raw "gently caress you" power the V had. 
TeamIce fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Mar 19, 2020 |
#
¿
Mar 19, 2020 06:53
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 19, 2024 15:31 |
|