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I literally just put in an order for my new car on Saturday.

I’ve already ordered things for it.

Just a couple things though. Most importantly, snow tires, from the TireRack. The 2011 WRX comes with summer tires only when new, so by the time it gets here, I’ll need snow tires ASAP. I ordered a set of Blizzak WS60s (235/45/17) for $121 each on closeout. The new models for 2010 are coming in now (WS70) so I imagine they’re clearing out the older ones. The new WS70s run about $156 or so for my size. So it’s a considerable savings. I just wanted to order them before they were out of the closeouts… because the Blizzaks are top notch snow tires – but I don’t need the absolute newest version to get a good tire.

I also ordered a set of mud flaps from Rally Armor. They technically didn’t have anything available for the 2011 WRX as of yesterday, but it is the exact same body style (in 5dr trim) as the 2010 STI, so I ordered those. Specifically I ordered the UR flaps with blue Rally Armor lettering to match the car. I see that they have them available for the 2011 WRX now!

Oh… and I was at a car show yesterday that had a very new WR Blue, 5 door, STI in the show… It was basically the same exact style of car I will be getting. Same color and same body – and similar engine. It looked sexy. I can’t wait for mine!

If you’ve read anything here recently, you’ll know I’m still in the process of tearing my car apart to get ready to trade. At least the interior and some other bits.

Two of the things I’ve removed are technically suspension pieces – front and rear strut bars. The rear one actually goes inside the car and is visible in the trunk. The front one goes in the engine bay and connects the two strut towers there.

It’s long been discussed that these two pieces do next to nothing to increase performance on the tC. Mostly because the areas they’re connecting are already supported quite well. I’m wondering though… perhaps at the limit (while autox-ing, for example), they may do more than first thought?

Here’s what I’m thinking…

There’s another guy I autox with fairly regularly… he has a decently prepped Mazda Protoge 5. Can’t say what he’s done exactly, but he and I are typically neck and neck on most courses. The only exception when I got beat by any extended margin was on a rainy course. Other than that one even, we trade top times on a regular basis. Usually only a tenth or two off of each other’s time.

Yesterday – after having removed both of those strut bars, he handily beat me by just over 1 second. Doesn’t sound like much time – but in autox, that’s like an hour in a day. My car felt OK overall I think. Didn’t seem as stiff as it usually was, but that’s incredibly hard for me to judge without being and expert driver or anything.

So it is possible… just possible, that the front and rear strut bars on a tC do more than initially thought.

But… would an every day street driver ever come close to noticing a difference? No. Don’t think so.

And then again, maybe I’m just trying to find a reason that I got beat so bad this time…

I still can’t really say that I’ve made a decision on a new car. I’ve got a few thoughts about it, but just haven’t really finalized them into an actual answer.

I suppose this is a good thing. I mean, I’m not rushing into a 20-some thousand dollar purchase… which seems like a good idea to not do. The one real variable so far though, is my current car. What to get on trade?

I’m trying to return it to as much of a stock car as I can… and it should be decent when I do finally hand it over. But what can I really expect to get for it? Here’s what some of the sites are telling me for trade in value:

• Edmunds TMV: $5410
  • “average” condition – may be a bit conservative on this
• Kelley Blue Book: $6025
  • “fair” condition – “good” condition is $7050
• NADA: $6325
  • “average” trade in

So I don’t know if the Edmunds price is just really conservative or the others are inflated. It’s really hard to tell. I’d like to believe I’ll get about $5000 for it. Anything less and I’d be a bit disappointed I think… anything more is just less I’ll have to pay every month.

I’m also trying to get a bit of cash together to put down with it. Obviously buying anything like this, the more you can put down with it and in turn, the less you can finance, the better off you’re going to be. You’ll get not only a lower monthly payment, but you’ll also end up paying a lot less in interest to the loan – no matter what your rate is.

That’s another thing that’s on the table at the moment. Financing. My credit is “ok” … but it’s far from great. I like to believe it’s good enough to get a new car, but it’s hard to tell what other banks are going to think. Though a word of advice (and again, stressing this), the more cash you can put down and NOT finance, the better the bank will look at it as well. If you’re putting down 1/3 of the value in cash, that’s less the bank has to cover and more equity that is instantly in the vehicle if it were ever to be repossessed. Meaning, if they ever had to take it away, they’d be more likely to get more of their money back from it.

Anyway… I decided to try to get preapproved through my bank (Corning Credit Union). The last time I asked them for money, I tried to get a personal loan to consolidate some credit cards – but I didn’t have enough equity in anything really to get them to do it. Oh well… hoped this time would be different. I talked to one of their loan officers after filling out the application online. Apparently the underwriters questioned one of my closed accounts (the collections one). I informed him it was just a collections account that I had finally paid off. He recognized that I had been at a low point in 2006 and everything was going a lot better since then. I hoped that part helped.

When he finally called me back he had good news and sort of OK news. The sort of OK news was that I could get the money… but he didn’t really seem to happy about it or sure of it. Like they were hesitant. I could have the money for 66 months at just over 8%. Frankly, for my credit score, I didn’t think that was too bad… However… if I were to get a cosigner (and again, it sounded like they really wanted me to go this route) I could get it down around 3.5%. That’s a HUGE savings. To put it in perspective, the difference on a $21k loan (plus tax, title, etc) at 60 months would be about $3000 in interest in almost $50 per month. Yikes!

Guess I need to look into that cosigner thing…

Though it is very likely that I’ll still look at the dealer financing options too. Who knows… maybe I can get 5% or so through them and not have to bother with the cosign?

Oh, did I forget to mention that I also test drove a 2010 WRX the other day?

After my first batch of test drives, there were an elusive couple of cars that were left to be driven. As of this past Saturday, that list has decreased by one more… and it was a dousey.

I went back up to Maguire on Saturday (while Jen was at some baby shower) to see what else I could scratch off my list. No WRX sadly, but they did have a manual Genesis Coupe (2.0t) in the showroom.

I should start off by saying that I had called on Friday to confirm they had one. The guy I spoke with (Mike) confirmed they did have one, but it was in the showroom and that he would get it out for me so it was ready to drive Saturday when I said I’d be up. Sadly, he failed in this simple task, and poor Justin had to painfully move a couple Sonatas just to get the Genesis out of there for me to drive.

Sure I could have driven the auto Coupe, but that’s just boring.

Once it was out, we went for a spin. I was actually kind of worried that I’d look like a douche and stall it or not be used to the clutch or transmission yet – but thankfully it was a very short learning curve. One thing that became apparent right away though was head room. I had enough to get in and be comfortable, but I was thinking ahead a bit more… like, me with a helmet on. It would be close.

Anyway, we took the usual Maguire route through Ithaca, up the hill, to some back road, and then circled back around to town. Let me just say that for only 210hp, this thing felt like it had a bit of kick to it. Not crazy power or anything, but you put your foot down and you start to hear that turbo spool and your back is in the seat. I’m not used to that. I didn’t even get on it THAT hard… but there was much potential there.

Now comparing to the GTI, this thing felt like it had at least 50 more horses… which is odd since the GTI is about even on power. Problem is that I drove the DSG version of the GTI and it felt a bit lacking. I’m still waiting to test a 6spd version, so we’ll see how that goes later.

Even the interior of the Genesis was quite surprising. I suppose that’s the point lately with Hyundai though… they just need to get people into the showrooms and give them a chance. They’re all quite good cars. Things felt fairly easy to handle – with the exception of the door/window controls. They felt awkward where they were. Everything else seemed OK though. Frankly, the features and gizmos play a minimal role at this point though. I want fun. I want entertaining. I need a good drive.

I really think the Genesis has it. At the moment I’m hoping to be able to take it on a longer drive next weekend with Jen. Justin said I could probably take it for a couple hours to really get a feel for it – which would be nice. Cause then I could play with all of the fidly bits inside.

Interestingly enough, it may not be necessary. The extended test drive I mean… tomorrow I’m hoping to drive down to Williamsport and test a new WRX. It looks like a dealer down there has a couple on the lot. I’d like to give one a go…

It looks like any car I choose to get will now have to be a 2011 model year.

With the GTI I’ve already driven, Chad pointed me to a VWVortex thread outlining the changes for the 2011 MY… including 18″ Detroit wheels standard. If you don’t know what these are, they’re THE GTI wheel. You’d know them if you saw them – even if you didn’t know the name.

Also a new head unit with better bluetooth integration. And the addition of “packages” now, instead of options. So instead of picking out a 2door with the options I want, I now pick the 2door with Sunroof and Navigation package (which you MUST buy to get bi-xenon HIDs). Kind of lame, but it’s basically stuff I’d get anyway.

Oh, and the price for all of this? If I priced it on a 2010 model, it would be somewhere just under $28k. But on a 2011, as a package, it is a bit under $27k. Good enough for me!

Even the WRX has some changes coming for 2011. This one was something I already knew I was waiting for the 2011MY – mostly for the redesigned body. They’re taking the squared and flared fenders from the STI and putting them on a the WRX for a bit more character. I’d rather have that. Also you now get wider tires and a wider rear track for (hopefully) a bit better performance. No word on pricing for the 2011 though.

After all of this comes word of a slight 2011 refresh from Hyundai to the Genesis Coupe. This includes some (apparently very needed) interior refinements. This alone is enough to get me to wait for the new model – even without having driven the current model yet.

I’m hoping to get up to Maguire soon and try a WRX and Genesis Coupe… then from there I can hopefully figure out wth I want to do…

With all of this talk of car shopping and driving, there are some things I have to take into consideration regarding my car… and if I were to trade it in.

First is to take out anything I can remove… my Pioneer AVIC unit (which may make its way to Jen’s car down the road), subwoofer, amp, scanguage, etc. That’s the easy stuff. There’s a bit more that I’d like to take care of before my car is really ready to go away.

The biggest issue by far is going to be seats. The seats and harness bar are going to be trouble. Well, actually getting them out will be cake. Getting my OEM seats back in and working properly will be another thing all together. That might happen as early as the end of July. Not sure yet.

Keep in mind that I still don’t know when I’ll be getting rid of my car. Sure, I’ve been shopping but I still don’t know when anything will happen. Regardless, I’m making progress towards a “nearly” stock tC.

Today I removed my front strut bar and am now shopping around for the OEM engine cover to cover up my safety orange valve cover and tone things down a bit. I’m not going to bother swapping the valve cover – because frankly, the engine cover is way easier and cheaper. Then there’s also the rear strut bar to remove – but that will be a while. Probably the same time I do the seats.

Pretty much everything else will stay the same (unless I can find a cheap OEM intake) when I trade it in. I’m not going to touch the suspension on the underside. The strut bars are simple enough to take off in a short amount of time and do not need any OEM part to replace them. Everything else requires sourcing OEM parts and the time/effort to swap them back. Not worth it.

Figured today that it was time I actually drove some of these cars I’ve been pining over. I had my list… and figured it was as good a time as any to take some for a drive – even if I wasn’t buying today. I needed to narrow my list down and see what I did and did not like.

Jen and I went up to Maguire in Ithaca after work today and I was able to get a few drives out of the way. For those that don’t know, Maguire is probably one of the largest dealers in the area. They have 5 brands just at the location that I went to – and another few down the road. This particular dealer is Toyota, Scion, VW, Audi, Kia, and Volvo. All under one (currently expanding) roof. Subaru and Hyundai are down the road.

Today I got to take a drive in 2 (sort of 3) of the cars on my list. They had each a 2010 VW GTI and 2010 Volvo C30. Sadly both were automatic – but at the very least the drive would offer a chance to see how they really felt… or how comfortable they were. And I don’t even mean physical comfort in sitting in them. I mean everything… perception, touch, sound… how does it really feel getting in and out of one? I was also able to test drive a VW Golf TDI. The salesman thought it might be a good one to try just b/c of the torque of the diesel and it was also a 6spd. Worth a shot… I figured. Keep on reading to see my initial thoughts and reactions to each…

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Going back to my previous post for a few minutes, I’ve been looking at a lot of different specs and stats on each of the cars. I’ve actually now started getting beyond manufacturer specs and looking at relevant details that might become important to me along the way.

The first thing I added to my spreadsheet was the current SCCA Solo (autox) class each car would be in. Currently I’m in ST with my tC but it is actually an HS car if in stock form. So what would I be doing with each of these cars? Well, here’s the list and their classes…

• Volvo C30: G Stock
• Mazdaspeed3: D Stock
• Mini Cooper S: D Stock (finally)
• Subaru WRX: D Stock
• Genesis Track: G Stock (no specific mention of Track model)
• VW GTI: G Stock

I was actually surprised there was such an even split. If you’re reading that wondering why a 170hp Mini is in the same class as a 265hp WRX and 263hp MS3, you’ve obviously never seen a Mini DESTROY everything else in its class when it was in G Stock. One word: gokart.

Personally I’m a bit surprised the C30 is in G Stock as well – I may have to look up some national results and see if any of them ever run. It’s got decent power and torque (227hp/236ftlbs) so I would think it should be quick – but I cannot speak to the handling yet. Interesting info either way.

I also looked at tires. If I’m going to be autoxing this thing, I’ll want good tires – but I don’t want to have to spend a fortune for a set of tires if I can help it – especially if they’re only end up lasting me 1 season. So I priced a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE-11s for each car to see what I’d be paying. The RE-11 is kind of a random selection – I mean, it’s a damn good tire but I may end up with something more budget friendly anyway. But here’s what I’m looking at right now (this list may not be 100% accurate – but was made from what I could find)…

• Volvo C30: $988 (215/45/18 – for R-Design wheels)
• Mazdaspeed3: $876 (225/40/18)
• Mini Cooper S: $692 (205/45/17 – for 17″ w/ sport package)
• Subaru WRX: $836 (235/45/17)
• Genesis Track: $1006 (225/40/19, 245/40/19 – 19″ staggered wheels w/ Track package)
• VW GTI: $772 (225/45/17)

Quite a range there… the lowly Mini Cooper just under $700 to the top of the heap Genesis Coupe just over $1000. Of course a regular Gen Coupe would be much cheaper without the 19s… but those are the stock wheels for the Track package (which I would be getting).

So there it is… even more info to make my decision harder. Sick thing is that the $1000 set of tires really doesn’t push me too far away from the Genesis. Guess that means my data is kind of useless, huh?

My tC will be going away.

I’m not sure when yet, but it will. It has been good to me and a lot of fun – but I need to move on. I need to upgrade. More power, more fun… just something different. Whatever I end up with, I may even keep it mostly stock. Maybe just some minor cosmetic stuff (wheels? tint?).

So far I’ve been working on a spreadsheet of possible options (as I’ve mentioned in the past). Many of my previous considerations are still in the game for the most part. I currently have 6 cars in the running – though some more than others. In no particular order, I’m currently considering

• Volvo C30 R-Design
• Mazdaspeed 3
• Mini Cooper S
• Subaru WRX (2011 body style)
• Hyundai Genesis 2.0 Track
• VW GTI

And that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. I mean, I’ve gone through and priced them all with the options I’d want and have compared… but I’m still left scratching my head. I really don’t know what I want. I’ve compared warranty coverage (Volvo and Hyundai rock here). I’ve looked just at power (the WRX and Mazdaspeed 3 destroy everything else here). Even gas mileage is factored in (nothing is close to the Mini).

They have some negatives too… The C30 is kind of pricey – but am I paying for better warranty and stylish looks? The Mazdaspeed is quite small inside for it’s exterior appearance. The Mini tries too hard to be quirky on the interior and really pushes me away. The WRX is only a 5spd with not fantastic warranty coverage. The Hyundai is the RWD out of the lot and long term reliability is still up in the air. The VW may also have reliability questions.

I still have a little while until I REALLY get into this and start test drives – but even narrowing things down to that part is hard. I’m going to spending way more money this time than with my tC (possibly as much as $10k more) so I want to make sure I nail it.

It just might take me a while…

As of this week, my car is officially paid off. There is not even a record of it on the Toyota Financial website anymore – it just shows that my account has been closed and gives me the option to add a new one (ha!).

Now I just have to wait and see what I get in the mail for it. I believe that I should receive either a whole new title or a letter stating that it is paid off (which would allow me to request a new title).

I also plan on checking with Progressive to see if there’s anything I need to do with my insurance to indicate that it is now paid off and no longer will have a lien holder (or whatever you would call it).

The goal now is just to keep paying other things down before I decide to make another purchase. I do want another car at this point, but it’s just not a good time. That is of course, aside from the fact that I really haven’t decided what I want yet. Some day…

Until then, it is quite nice knowing that no one else owns the rights to my car.