Category: Cars

I’ve been fortunate to own a few cars and some of them have been pretty nice. However, I think this is the best car I’ve ever owned and I only kept it for 2 years.

I was never really into convertibles, but the Honda S2000 is such a brilliant car and was only offered in a convertible, so I came to like them. I will say that there’s not much else like driving around a light-weight, rear wheel drive sports car on some windy roads. And if you’ve ever had a chance to drive an S2000, you understand why many people think has one of the best shifters ever made.

Not only do you have to drive the car hard and rev it to 9k RPMs (or close to it in an AP2 – the second version of the model), but you have to shift it often and that’s a good thing because it just feels so right. There’s an ever so slight mechanical notch to it but the travel is short and it just clicks into gear. It’s really hard to describe but I can still remember what it feels like.

I was so lucky to find a perfect example of one these, 30 minutes away from my home. And yet I sold it 2 years later.

Sometimes I wonder why I sold it, but I’m also not haunted by it either. For as amazing of a car that it is, it’s incredibly impractical. I knew that when I bought it and that was also part of the draw of it at the time. I normally drive a mini-van, so driving a roadster was the exact opposite of that. But I didn’t realize just how impractical it was either.

It hardly rains in southern California, but if there was a slight chance of rain, I wouldn’t take it out. I also learned that I didn’t like driving it with the top up, so I always had it down. But that meant driving it through some thick fog in the morning or late at night. And I didn’t like driving it much on the freeway either. There’s a lot of noise, exhaust and dirt on the freeway and you pretty much just go straight. It also doesn’t get very cold here either, but I felt a little strange driving a convertible with the top down on the 5 on a foggy evening.

And as a husband and father, I felt a little irresponsible about it too. The open-air is something I came to enjoy, but I also felt very exposed. There’s something about a light metal roof and some glass windows that makes you feel invincible in a normal car even though it’s exactly just some light metal and glass.

My oldest son wanted to ride in it and he probably could have because my model had an airbag cut-off, but I just didn’t feel comfortable with it.

So, I did the unthinkable and sold it to a nice young man who I hope is enjoying it. I will miss it and will always remember that car, but the truth is, I’ve had my heart set on my next car. The next one has been very hard to find and I missed out on one that was from a seller right near where I bought the S2000. I thought I had another great stroke of luck and things were lining up perfectly, but someone bought it before I had a chance.

So for now, I’ll think of the S2k. It’s such a beautiful car on the outside, inside and under the hood. And it doesn’t hurt that I was able to drive it for 2 years, had no issues at all (it’s a Honda) and sold it for more than I paid for it. It really was the best car I’ve ever owned.

At least for now…

This past June, I was lucky enough to pick up a 2007 Honda S2000 in perfect condition.  And for this post title, I could only thing of a bad joke from Trading Places 25 years ago…

I’ve had some nice BMW coupes before I was married and had kids, but I gladly gave them up for our growing family.  We fought the minivan for a long time, but we eventually gave in (and it’s surprisingly great).  But it’s still a minivan and I like driving.  I told my wife that I’ll drive the van every day, but one day, I’m going to get something fun to drive too.  I just didn’t think it would be so soon.

I was doing fine with the van until we bought my wife a new car (and I still had the van somehow).  It made me miss driving so I started looking around for fun cars to drive that weren’t going to be in the shop more than on the road.

One thing I learned about myself is that I don’t care about the prestige of more expensive cars and I’m actually more embarrassed by it.  I looked at a lot of cars, but I kept coming back to the S2000 because of it’s unique engine, classic looks and Honda reliability.

I missed out on one because I wasn’t ready and it was in Northern California.  I looked pretty seriously at ones out of state or even across country.  Then, I almost bought one from a seller who wasn’t prepared and the car had a weird title history.  I was still going to buy it until one day we went to eat lunch and I saw a listing for exactly what I was looking for.  I called immediately and happened to be about 15 minutes away from the seller.  He was the original owner and kept the car in perfect condition and only put 25,000 miles on it.

I hardly get to drive it, but it puts a smile on my face every time I take it out.  I still feel extremely lucky that I was able to find a perfect car from the best seller you could ask for.

And as a bonus, not only do my clubs still fit but they match too!

 

Somehow, my wife keeps getting new cars!  I’ve sold my BMWs, temporarily had an old 4Runner, and now drive a minivan…

But it was time.  My wife loved her VW Tiguan, but it was starting to have a lot of mechanical problems and other problems as well.  It was really a nice little car that seemed very solid.  However, they use a lot of cheap plastic parts that you don’t see, and these break and are costly to fix.  So we sold that and got an Acura RDX.

It’s a very nice car that I got to drive home from a dealership out in Riverside, and that’s about it.

I took these bad photos when I got home and the sun wasn’t in the right spot, but that’s the car.

It drives great, has lots of power and everything is very refined.  I’m hoping now that we have switched from German cars to Japanese cars, they’ll be much more reliable.

The only bad thing about this car is that it made me miss driving something other than a minivan…

I was ok selling my BMW for my wife’s car, but we held out on the minivan for as long as we could.  After our incident with the 4Runner, my mom insisted on getting us a new car.  I would’ve driven the 4Runner for a couple more years before eventually giving in and buying a van.

We’ve talked to other parents and everyone feels the same.  It’s something you fight and fight, but once you give in, you realize it’s great and you don’t know how you did without it.

This is our 2015 Toyota Sienna XLE and it’s been awesome.  Really.

We had to take it on 4-5 trips to northern California already.  Some of the trips were pretty rough but the van made it as comfortable as it could be.

And on a side note, I had a great sales experience with Tustin Toyota.  I don’t mind the car buying process, but they made everything as easy and didn’t try to add anything extra.  They have this old Land Cruiser there so I sent a picture of this to my wife to tell her I bought it instead.

My father-in-law got another new car so my wife wanted his old ’98 Toyota 4Runner.  Her siblings weren’t sure why she wanted it because it was so beat up and dirty.

I was pretty surprised with how bad it was but I thought I could fix it up a bit.  The paint was so dull and lifeless and interior was really dirty.  It was also used a farm everyday so it was full of this fine dust in every crevice.

I don’t remember where I started but I threw out the old mats and vacuumed it a few times.  I sprayed it down and left bowls of vinegar, which is supposed to absorb smells.  I then took out the seats and cleaned the carpet with some spray cleaner and a power drill with a brush attachment.

And I used my Porter Cable and supplies that I bought for my BMW and it cleaned up great.

And of course, all of my cars have a USC license plate frame!  I’ve never really liked gold much, but it definitely fit on this car.

The best compliment I got was when we parked it at my father-in-laws and he didn’t even recognize the car!

I drove the 4Runnner for a couple of years until this happened:

This was shortly after my second son was born.  My older son and I went to pick up food and then it felt like the car just dropped.  I was pretty surprised to see the front tire like this.  It wan’t as bad as it looks, but it was a little scary.  I got it fixed and it drove better than ever, but my mom didn’t want me to drive it anymore.

It was originally my brother-in-laws car, so I gave it back to him.  He’s fixed it up even more and it looks great.  Despite this accident, I really think this 4Runner can last for ever.  I had to almost 200,000 miles and I felt like it would hit 300,000 easily.

This 4Runner and my wife’s Tacoma from this era are some of the best cars they’ve ever made.  The only knock is that they seem to have a bad clear coat that you’ll see on just about every one of these cars.

I sold my e36 to buy this e46 – a 2004 330 CI.  I didn’t like the early e46 models but they were refined over the years.  This was the last model and I still think it’s one their best designs.  It had good power but I also kind of regret not buying an M3.

I tried to have some sense of financial responsibility so I shied away from the M3.  I didn’t own a home at the time, so I didn’t think I should spend even more on a car.  But now that I’m settled in a home with 2 young kids, I wish I bought the fast car back then!  Although, I drove this car so hard I probably wouldn’t be here if I had the M…

The 330 had good power and it was joy to drive.  The shifting was as smooth as could be and it handled like no other.

Although, there was always a part of me that missed how the e36 drove.  The e36 was more traditionally German and everything was stiff from the pedals to the steering, which I loved.  I believe this is when BMW really went from being a “driving machine” to being another luxury car.  They had to complete against the smooth and easy driving Lexus and Acuras of the world and became much more of a status icon than driver’s car.

In any case, this was my favorite car I’ve owned to date.

I bought this car used and it was hard to track down the 330 with this particular dark blue color.  When I found one, it was in good shape but the paint had some blemishes.

So I did what I do and read and read online forums and researched some more.  I ended up buying a Porter Cable random orbit buffer and lots of high end products.  I must’ve spend 2 days detailing this car and my hand were vibrating for a few more.

This is a before shot:

And this was after an aggressive abrasive, a minor abrasive, a glaze, a sealer and a wax.

When I was young and single, I was able to do this one a year.  But all of these products didn’t go to waste.  I’ve used them many times over the year with great results.

My father drove Mercedes and his first baby was his ’69 Porsche 911, which I totally understand.  The story goes that he bought it on my parent’s honeymoon in Germany.  He told her he’d sell it when the got back home and make some money, but he still had it 20 years later!  As with most financial things, he would’ve been right too because that car would be worth quite a bit today.

But this post is about my first new car.  I’ve always been a fan of BMWs ever since I was a kid.  My mom drove an ’88 325, which has also become a popular car again.  I learned to drive on it, but my first car was my uncle’s ’79 Honda Accord hatchback.  It was actually a cool little car but it was really for my brother.  I got my other uncle’s ’84 Toyota Celica.  I really liked it, other than it was gold with a tweed interior, but like most young kids, I totalled it in a few years.

I then bought an ’85 1/2 Toyota Supra and drove it to the ground.  I always liked the Supras when I was younger and was able to have one later.  It served me well up to 215,000 miles, but it’s also one of my great car regrets.  In retrospect, I should’ve bought a Datsun 240z for dirt cheap at the time.  Like most young kids, I wanted some as new as I could have, so I looked at the mid 80’s Nissans but didn’t like them and didn’t think to look farther back.  So, maybe I’ll correct this during my upcoming mid-life crisis.

Getting back on point, I was fortunate enough to be able to buy the car I always wanted- the E36 (328IS).  I still remember the feeling I had when I first drove it.  I lived in Marina Del Rey and drove it down PCH to Manhattan Beach.  I loved it but I was also a little embarrassed to park it front of places because it seemed too nice for me and I’m not a showy guy.

These pictures are right before I sold it in 2004.  I regretted selling it for a little while because I took care of it and it had low miles, but I became a fan of the e46s.