Motopythons - What this car means to me?

[Motopythons]

It started as an interesting notion, seeing that Toyota/Subaru were trying to bring back the tuner scene that left an impression on me back in high school (think late 1990s-early 2000).

I wasn't particularly interested in cars, but where I hung out, there were lots of car guys with modded out supra, eclipse, integra type-R. Next few years, everyone kept talking about EVO, GTR, STI... to the point where even a non-car guy like myself learned all the names just by word of mouth. There were street racing that you hear about every so often, flashy group of 4-5 NSXs that cruise together to the chinese malls all the time, I even got high beamed once for a race by this modded out Prelude (for the record, I was in my humble Matrix XRS and didn't race him).

That was the scene I remembered back then in Vancouver. As I read about the Toyobaru, I thought to myself: Yeah, whatever happened to "THAT"? It wasn't because there were less car guys today. Manufacturers simply stopped making these cars.

As soon as the FT-86 concept II came out, I followed car's development more closely, watching every step it was taking. I loved the way it looked, particularly the aggressively styling... I didn't like the 1st concept so much but to be honest, "Monkey Ass Red" do make for a good conversation. This was around the same time I got hooked on motorcycling. At this point, I still can't say I love cars... but being influenced by these new buddies I met from motorcycling, I got more interested in cars, finding myself reading more and more about them. Late last year, I even went to a mini car meet with my co-worker and his friends.

From that experience, I almost went and bought a genesis coupe because at the time, running 2 cars is proving to be not enough for our family. The Genesis was the only affordable option for a RWD coupe. I even asked my car friends "What RWD cars can I buy with $30,000?" and miata and Genesis were the only two answers. In the end though, I didn't go through with the Genesis because I really wanted to see where this Toyobaru thing was headed. So I waited patiently. I was sold on the concept of less power/more fun. Coming from the world of motorcycling, I was much happier on my 250cc learner bike, or my 50cc race bike, than my 1000cc street bike.

Fast forward to the past 2 months, I thought I made up my mind, but I ended up cross-shopping for a used S2000 AP2. Logically, it is the better choice to make. A used S2000 is cheaper than an FRS/BRZ ($20,000 vs $30,000), it packs a bigger punch (200HP vs 240HP), less depreciation, and best of all I have no problem with it being a 2-seater convertible.

So why did I dropped a deposit on a BRZ sport-tech (limited) last week?

I think numbers aside, it was a decision made somewhat by emotion. I sort of justify it as I'm getting more comfort with all the gadgetry since I do plan to keep this for more than 5 years. The people who are purchasing this car know it can't out run a S2000 or Genesis coupe. We know it's not the perfect package (eg. getting ****-blocked by Scion's lack of options. Would have bought one if it had OEM HID!). But for the entry price you pay for this amount of performance, it's a very good bang for the buck I think.

At a broader level, I hope this car is the 1st step towards another golden age of auto-enthusiasm. This car speaks for all the people that wanted an affordable ticket into that world that I described at the beginning of this post. We want manufacturers competing once more to create another benchmark like the S2000. We want to meet one those nutcases who engine swap and turbo charging everything.

So here I am today, waiting for my car like the most of us on this forum. This car will be the 28th Birthday present to myself for getting through the hardships of the last few years, and finally stabilizing my life for a change.

Needless to say, I can't wait the press that push start button!

[azian_advanced]

good read.

congratulations with your life getting back in order. i feel that i'm on the same boat as you.. faced years of hardship to set a good future. soon i will be making nearly 3x more than my POS job that i've had for over 10 years. i also think that getting this car is not just for the car but an investment for the fun things that lie ahead (enjoyable driving experience, toyota/subaru reliability, FRS/BRZ car meets, modifications/tuning, etc.). while buying a new car is not the most logical and cost-effective way in owning a car since they depreciate so fast in the first few years, but this car is so good that you instantly have a dying need to just own one! f*ck depreciation!

I was in new westminster 2 weeks ago picking up my 95 gt-four from the docks and saw a couple of BRZ's sitting there in the lot. there's probably more of them by now. so it's just a matter of time before you own one.