Turbos, beaters, and the zen art of driving wagons (or why am I considering....)

So, we all know I adopted Miyuki the Corolla wagon some months ago. We first met on my birthday last year, which is almost 5 months ago now. In that time we've gotten to know each other well. She's shown me that she doesn't really like car batteries, as she's more or less eaten two and refuses to stay connected with a third. She's a little thirsty for oil, but I expect that out of any car I purchase that costs less than one car payment. I lock her roughly once a month, if I happen to be out on the town. My sons car seat is worth almost as much as the car. And...

I couldn't be happier. It's a strange thing. For all her little foibles and lack of creature comforts, she's...perfect. I enjoy every drive in her. I attack every corner I can, diving to the inside, conserving as much momentum as I can. She's definitely an old git, and has some body roll. Her economy level china-special tires (I've not swapped on the summer rubber yet....) are good at... well being round. But it's so much fun! I have a pretty neat little descending double left into a decreasing radius up on my way to work that I dive every day, and I drive it as hard as I can. The looks I get are priceless. What I'm getting at is, I really enjoy my time in this car.

Which has left me in an odd conundrum.

Enter... the ms3. It's time to open that can of worms for spring. She got new rubber last year. I've got that suspension dialed, and I spent a lot on it. It's pretty heavily breathed on, from a bolt on standard. Normally I can't wait to pull it out and fire it up. It's loud, it's fast, it's stiff, it handles extremely well, and I know that car like the back of my hand. It's been perfected.

And I just...don't really care.

It's odd. I bought another set of wheels for it (I do that sometimes) and I found myself pondering why. Now the wheels were a smokin' deal (FD lightweights and 80% Gforce rubber for 250$) and they will fit the mx6es..... but ostensibly they're for the ms3. And I'm not 100% sure I'll drive that car this year. Part of me wants to sell it. It's had a few run ins with inconsiderate drivers (parking lot, scrapes only) and fell off a jack so it's got a crushed rocker, but I can fix all that. The rear seat is basically new. It's got a ton of neat hard parts. The only REAL bad thing is the turbo is smoking. Stock k04's are known to do that. I can get another one, cheap. In any event, it's still a really good car. I just found myself falling out of love with it. Maybe i'm still on a honeymoon with Miyuki. Maybe I need to fire up the ms3 and take her up the highway to remind myself why I fell in love with that car. Or maybe I really am one of those people that's content to drive fast junk. Make no bones- Miyuki will be fast. I already have a motor for her. I'm looking at suspension now. But I have no real desire to drive a flashy car anymore.

I suppose there's no real consequence or method or anything to any of this- but I figured I'd share since I know many of you will see it the same way I do.

Hey remember that one time i had a really beautiful MSM?

Right there with you. I'm more excited about my nasty damn-near-challenged-budget-as-purchased purple beater.

I let the wife have the IS-F most days because I enjoy driving the prizm more.

It's the slow-car-fast thing. Driving the Lexus in traffic makes me road rage. Hard.

You have no idea how excited I am to get the new Civic legal for road driving. I want to raise it up three inches to ruin it for autocross and make it awesome on the street. I want 175 section rubber on 13 inch wheels.
But then again I'm all sweaty about doing One Lap in the V wagon and my wife drove the 911 three days this week and she's noticeably happier in the evening when she drives it. There's a happy place in this world for really good cars, but there's an equally happy place for crap.

iadr wrote: Don not put another K04 on it. K04 go in the garbage, replace with a real turbo.

I do actually have a completely new cobb AP for it.... so tuning is there. All i'd need is fuel.

You know, the more I think about it the more I think I like questionable cars. I loved my Taurus, that thing was not road worthy. Drove the E36 M3 out of it, not knowing if each ride was my last. The mx6.... Regularly left me stranded due to electrical. Pretty sure I'm reviving it, soon. My old escort? Good lord that thing was a death trap! I miss that car regularly. There's a certain zen in not knowing if you're going to make it, and being OK with that. There really is something to be said for just not caring. I think I'm meant to own terrible cars forever.

It's the subconscious fear of messing something expensive up.

Cars are tools to me. If that tool is so damn nice that I don't want to use, it's no fun to use. I like a screwdriver that can work as a prybar, a chizel, and occasionally used to unscrew something. When I can use a tool in multiple ways and not fear for its safety, I'm gonna grab that tool more often.

I like cars that when I mess something up I can say "oh well, just adds character!"

We need pictures of said Corolla

Storz wrote: We need pictures of said Corolla

Head over to his build thread

So lemme know if/when you decide to sell the MS3. I've really had a hankering for something to troll people on the highway with. Plus I've been meaning to visit MN.