My Spectacular Saturday

[Twist]

Yeah, yeah. i know it's monday (or maybe even tuesday), but this is the first time I could share...

This is very long in case you didn't notice, but it's a good story. if you want the best parts read the 2nd to first and 2nd to last paragraphs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had the best day on Saturday. I got up about 10 AM and booted up Gran Turismo 3 and went to the car dealership. I went through and made a list of all the cars that I would like to drive. 30 minutes later my best friend swung by and we went off to real life dealerships to test drive them. We had a huge amount of fun. Our story was that I was interested in purchasing a vehicle that was fun and sporty before I went off to college in the fall. So I definitely wasn't purchasing today, but might come back later in the summer if I liked what I saw.

We started out at the BMW/ Porsche dealership. My friend and I are wearing t-shirts and regular pants. (and both of us haven't shaved ina few days). Nothing fancy at all. We walk around the lot looking at the $90,000 Porsches (Boxsters and Carreras) and $80,000 BMW's (7 series). No one hassles us or even questions us. The only thing really of note was a Dinan M3 (which turned out to be an automatic) and a 2002 BMW M Roadster. We walk into the BMW building and give them my story and say I'm interested in one car and only one car. The M Roadster. I'm thinking i'd like to just sit in it and maybe pop the hood of this $50,000 315 hp monster. The dealer gets the keys and says "wanna drive it?" I started drooling. He pulled it off the curb and into the parking lot. I just wanted to drive it around the parking lot because I didn't want to wreck it. My friend (who drives a turbo ITR) wanna to play with it. He takes it off the lot with the dealer and is gone for 5 minutes. While he was gone I work up the courage to drive. The dealer takes me to a back road and says to me "have fun" just don't redline the thing since the car is so new. (it had about 50 miles on it when I got done driving it). I had fun with the car. I admit that i broke the speed limit and revved the thing HARD. It was sooo much fun. Great Suspension, brakes, acceleration. I love this car. We drop it off and get some booklets and then leave. Here's the weird thing. The dealer never once asked how old we were or even if we had licenses.

Next we went across the street to the Lexus dealer to try out the Altezza (IS300). They didn't have a manual transmission so I just got a booklet and left.

Next we went across town to the Mazda dealership. My friend just for kicks drove a Protoge5. He said it was zippy with it's 127 hp engine but not fast. The throws of the manaul transmission were horrible tho. I drove a special edition 6-speed Miata. That car was very fun. It was rev-happy tho and the 6 speed gear box was really closely gated which was annoying. I really liked the handling. I did a bunch of donuts in the parking lot. A side note: the dealer was being a real jerk with us. Didn't want to let us test drive wanted to know how old we were and if we were licensed. blah blah blah. He didn't want to deal with us until he figured out that we knew his son and then he was ultra-nice. The Miata brochure that they gave me was awful. It was like 3 pages and had a few specs, a lot of options but no performance info. :P

After lunch we headed out to the Subaru Dealership to test drive a WRX. My friend and I knew more about this car than the dealer. We had fun driving it. My friend thought the seat was a little close and the shifter was funky. I liked it very much. I am very attracted to the engine and exhaust notes. I also like the turbo and flat four design and awd. This is a car I could actually get and just might get. The dealer didn't have any real brochures, just some pamphlet about a Car & Driver review. so we moved on.

Lastly we drove out 15 miles to the Honda dealership. These guys were really busy with real people buying cars so we didn't really want to bother them, but one guy was very outgoing and wanted to help us. I told him i was interested in a Civic Si (hatch) and the S2000. He said only people who can drive the S2000 are people who are going to buy very very very soon. So he got out the info on the Si and showed it to me. I wanted to drive it and see if the rally style shifter was all that good. The dealer was really paranoid. He wanted to know how old we were and if we had licenses. Then he went off to check the insurance. He came back with the go ahead and we went to drive a white Si. THe dealer wouldn't let us drive off the lot wiht the car. Instead he drove off and got on the interstate. He drove about 9 miles to a shopping center and then we'd get to drive back. I wasn't interested in driving on the highway. I wanted to test out the handling. It was tight, not so much as the Miata, but very nice considering. The Rally style shifter works very well, i didn't really even notice after a few shifts. I did a bunch of donuts and figure 8's in the parking lot and then my friend drove it back to the lot. It had regular gas in it so i-VTEC was pratically non-existant. Back at the lot I wanted to drive the S2000, but I couldn't. I really wanted to start the thing up tho and use the start button so the dealer got the keys to the car and let me start it up. He got the keys to the one inside the building. He made absolutely certain that it was in neutral before he handed me the keys. The dealer didn't have any info on the Civic Si and only an accesories pamphlet for the S2000. We left after I grabbed that little pamphlet.

With that my test driving Saturday ended, but my buddy and I have another one planned. Next time we're going to go to the Acura dealership for the ITR, RSX Type S, and NSX (doubtful), Volvo for the S40 (turbo), Toyota for the Celica and MR-S (and maybe a Supra), a different Honda dealership (I STILL want to drive an S2000) and maybe we'll go to the Dodge dealership to see if they have a Viper we can sit in and maybe pop the hood. We're going to have FUN!

[Spec2 Girl]

Sounds like quite a Saturday. Not a bad way to spend a day at all.

[Jay!]

Awesome!!!

[Ando_Rules]

Wow didnt u have a nice day eh man, i cant believe the BMW guy didnt ask your age or anything thats soo weird well thats one wicked day man

[YellowMaranello]

mmmmmm, BMW M-coupe. Your a lucky man. I actually think that the shifter in the WRX is kind of wierd too, but I think that I only think that because when I sat in one, it was missing the shifter knob so it wouldnt get stolen. But its nice and crisp.

[Jay!]

Originally posted by YellowMaranello
BMW M-coupe.

psst... M roadster.

[HogieGT-R]

you lucky lucky lucky man...i would have done anything to do what you did...even give up sex for a couple of months....

[Twist]

That whole day was great. I'm still grinning from driving the M Roadster. I'm also still mad that I couldn't drive the S2000. Oh well, there are other dealerships. Also, I found out that at 21 you can sign some insurance papers and other papers and the dealer can let you test drive the car by yourself. Other than that as long as you have a license you can test drive. The older you are the more likely you are to be allowed. Some dealers won't let you test drive until you are 18.

I'm pretty certain my insurance agent would have died if he found out about my Saturday. MUHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[YellowMaranello]

Originally posted by jay@af
psst... M roadster.

bah, I've always called it the M-coupe for some reason. I dont quite know why though.

[Twist]

I still mix up the M Coupe and M Roadster when I speak. I know the difference, but I get them confused in my head and say the wrong one.

[YellowMaranello]

Originally posted by Twist
I still mix up the M Coupe and M Roadster when I speak. I know the difference, but I get them confused in my head and say the wrong one.

Yeah, they have too many "M" cars. And since they have too many to handle, they should give me 5 of each.

[darkness]

personally I'd go for the M5,

mmmmmm Luxury Power.

[moondog]

E36 M3 all the way for me :licker:

[[TWUBLE]]

Personally my choice would have to be the Alpina M5 (with a turbo & a supercharger on her!!)
mmmmm luxery power to the extreme!!!! (ooooh and dont forget those pathetic coffee club cup holders that stick on the side of your door! haha)

[Twist]

I really want the Hartge H50 V-8 E46 (E46 M3 with the M5's monstrous V-8 in it)! Check out these links!

HARTGE - E46 H50 (Based on M3)
Car & Driver Feature: Hartge H50
2001 Hartge E46 H50 V8 Videos