I’m getting desperate…

Whilst going for a run this evening after work I saw someone get into a Nissan 300zx and drive away, and I felt a little bit jealous!  To my mind this is  a definite sign of desperation.

To explain, I’m a bit of a car fan – without a car.  I love cars and I love driving. I look at cars constantly whenever I’m near a road and I often think about various car models and how they would suit me.  As a teenager, seemingly not interested in much at all, my dad was quite surprised when I got my first car and started taking a distinct interest in it and spending time on it.  By the time I was 19, having had my license for 2 years, I was already on my third car.  Each successive vehicle was a substantial upgrade to a better vehicle and I spent more time and money on each one to make it more to my liking.

As soon as I finished uni and got a full time job I bought what I considered to be my “dream car”.  I didn’t have unrealistic expectations of buying a super-car but it was certainly sports car with a hefty price tag.  I was happy to be in debt and paying ridiculous insurance fees to keep it on the road.  Over the three years I owned it I had awesome fun with it, spent huge amounts of money on it, crashed it significantly once, and turned it into an awesome looking car which I miss daily.

For those interested, my car history is as follows:

• 1983 Subaru L Series 4WD Sportswagon
• 1985 Holden Camira JD SL/X
• 1987 Holden Astra (Nissan Pulsar Clone) – pic
• 2002 Nissan 200sx (Siliva) Type S GT Spec – pic

In 2007 my girlfriend moved in with me and bought her first car, a 1994 Honda Civic VTI hatchback.  Living in the middle of the city meant that owning two cars was overkill and I was starting to get ideas of buying ourselves a house.  I decided to sell the Silivia.  It took many months and several price drops but I eventually sold it and we now own an awesome house in South Hobart.

Whilst undergoing the house purchase I always had thoughts that I would buy an good car again at some stage.  I’ve got nothing against the Civic.  Its a great little car and I’ve always loved small cars.  It looks good, runs well and is a bit unique due to being a VTI.  However, it doesn’t quite have the “wow” factor that I appreciate in cars.  It deserves a bit of respect but is still a small hatchback with a few additions rather than a sports car.  Now over a year after buying the house I am itching to get myself back into a good car.

Over the last two years I’ve had to reassess my thoughts on cars and what I would like to own.  The Civic offers some great practicality (we can fit two bikes in the back) which would never have been possible in the Silvia.  Maz and I both ride to work so we only use the car on weekends really, and the Civic is also cheap to run. However, in all honesty what I really want is another sports car.  A sports car shows that you love your cars and are willing to make some sacrifices to obtain the driving experience you’re after.

Unfortunately there’s a bit of reality to deal with however and realistically speaking however, what I need is a practical car that has some decent sports car characteristics. There’s a few options in this category, mainly newer versions of what we have in the Civic (ie – sports car/hatchbacks).  For example, the Subaru WRX, the Ford Focus XR5, the Honda Civic Type R, the Audi S3 and also the VW Golf GTi.  All of these cars have their various good and bad points.  The VW Golf GTi is certainly my pick of the bunch but is way out of any price range I can imagine affording right (as are all the examples really).

The thing that continues to surprise me is my passion for cars.  It still feels weird not owning a car and I am seriously looking forward to one day owning a “sports-car” again.  I think the reason I was jealous of the 300zx (even though I don’t actually like the car) is because it reminded me that I used to be in the position where I could drive a sports car and appreciate it.  Wildly impractical and probably expensive, the owner has made the decision to purchase a sports-car and enjoy driving it.  Not only that, but sports cars look pretty sweet on the roads and certainly catch my eye, and I assume the eye of others like me.

As a side note, you can see some pictures of the Silvia here:

Nissan 200sx s15