Some background...

Prior to the start of me posting my ramblings here on my own little corner of the interwebs, I had already put a decent amount of time and thought into the process of buying a new car and eventually competing in SCCA solo events. Here's some more background to catch us up on the decisions made prior to creating this blog:

My current daily driver is a 1997 Honda Civic LX. My wife and I purchased it brand new right after we got married and it's been a very good car. After all these years it's gotten a bit long in the tooth, so I decided a year or two ago to replace it. I'm a fairly indecisive person and I hate spending a lot of money on things (i.e. I'm cheap), so I went back and forth between getting a used truck, an SUV, a family sedan, a sporty car, and everything in between. All the while I would keep repairing the old Civic to get me through another 6 months or so. Most of these repairs were normal maintenance items like brakes and exhaust, but I knew it was getting to the point were "bigger" things were going to start failing.

One of my more significant motivations to get a new car was when something literally crawled up and died inside my Civic earlier this year. As the weather warmed up throughout Spring, the smell grew indescribably disgusting. No one in my family would get close to the car, let alone drive in it. Luckily I only work 2 miles from home, so I would hold my breath most of the way to the office. I tried to pin point the source of the odor, but could only trace it to somewhere in a tubular section of the frame. I jammed a hose into a small opening and flooded the area to try and wash away the smell. Thousands of maggots poured from various openings and were strewn across my driveway... creeping and crawling every which way. There were also some small chunks of what looked to be dog food, so I assumed some type of rodent (or family of rodents) made a nest and eventually died when I drove out into the cold, Winter weather. Surprisingly, forcing gallons upon gallons of water through my cars undercarriage had zero positive effect on the smell. Every few days, I would repeat the process and then leave the car outside my garage with the windows open to bake in the late Spring/early Summer sun. Finally, after weeks of suffering through nauseating drives to and from work, the smell began to dissipate as the creature(s) rotting up inside the car naturally decayed away. In the end the damage had been done and my decision was solidified... I was getting a new car.

By this point I also decided on getting a sporty vehicle. I had read a bit about SCCA solo autocross events and they looked like something fun to do a few times a year. Even though I wanted the new car to be fast, I still had a family to think about so it also needed to be practical. I had eventually settled on a Subaru Impreza WRX since it was AWD (better control for rookie drivers, and helpful in the Winter weather), easily upgraded, and relatively reliable. I narrowed it down even further to the 5-door hatchback since the additional storage would come in handy for lugging around a set of golf clubs, or for bags of sport equipment when taking my son and daughter to practices and games. For a short period of time, I had decided to get the higher end WRX STI. I could probably afford the additional upfront cost and higher insurance premiums, but it was still too much money to justify. I'm not saying the STI isn't worth the price of admission, just that it wasn't the right fit for me and my particular set of goals. Maybe a few years down the road I revisit the decision and feel differently, but for now I think I made a good choice to buy the WRX. After investing ~$3000 in modifications, I believe I'll have a nice performing car and I won't feel guilty for spending more money on a car I probably didn't "need".

Once I decided on the which model to purchase, I sent an identical email to four area Subaru dealers and asked for their absolute best price on a metallic silver 2011 WRX 5-door (the only option I asked for was fog lights). I let them know the same information was being requested from other dealers. I ended up choosing the one with the second lowest price ($75 under invoice) since they were very responsive and helpful, and the quoted cost was only $30 higher. After a few weeks of email exchanges, they called me so I could put down a refundable $500 deposit and place the order. I was told it would take 6-8 weeks before arriving, but the good news is that Subaru fills special ordered cars before dealer stock so it might get to me sooner. Sooner definitely equals better in this case.

The car decision was out of the way and it was time to sit and wait. A few weeks earlier I had added a regional SCCA autocross event to my calendar so I could stop down and see what's up. It was on a Sunday in the parking lot of a local University. I arrived just before the driver's meeting so I could get a feel for how that all went. I stayed for the first hour or two of racing before I needed to leave and do some things with the family. The overall impression I left with was that it was a very well organized event, and both the drivers and staff were equally friendly and helpful. The competition was low-key and not overly intense. It had a great family-type atmosphere too, which was a bit surprising to me although I admit I didn't really know what to expect. I felt good about the whole thing, and even more excited to get the new car and begin learning how to race in the Solo events.

So far, so good. Now I needed to get back to researching how I was going to spend my $3000 budget on WRX upgrades...