Feb 15, 2009
I was rear ended in December 2008, so the car is a mess. Still bearing Katrina scars, the exterior is pitiful. The rust on the sunroof is spreading, but luckily isolated. The interior and engine are amazing though, so I'm going to try to hold on to it until I can afford a car note. I've been interested in VW GTI MkV and Mazdaspeed3 (possibly Mazda3 5-door) lately; decided against the Subaru because I won't need AWD and can use some better gas mileage. I'm looking for a 4-door hatchback with Xenon headlights and preferably a 6-speed. I know I could get a base model Mazda3 and modify it with aftermarket HID, but honestly I just want a really nice stock vehicle. I'm leaning towards the Mazda because I don't want to pay for German maintenance.
By the way, the screeching fan was replaced.
Also, I removed my 12" subs and Kicker amplifier so I could have a trunk. And one of the rear Sony speakers cracked, so they've been replaced with Audiobahn. I really like the black metal mesh they came with, and laughed at the optional shiny speaker guards.
I had been driving without windshield sprayers for close to a year because one of the stems of the LED sprayers had cracked and was probably spraying washer fluid all over my engine. Plus, they had turned a nasty color since the paint had peeled off the plastic. Anyway, over the winter holidays, I installed new LED sprayers but painted them Milano Red to match the car and not call attention to themselves by being shiny (as they come). I should mention that I would prefer regular sprayers that do not light up, but those are hard to find at generic auto parts stores. I also replaced the tubing and the switch inside the car. I had always used skinny toggle switches, which were notorious to being shoved into the center housing near the parking brake cables whenever I got an oil change (workers cleaning my carpet or whatever would, I guess, accidentally lean over and knock it). So I found a rocker switch that is impossible to shove down in there. It's also less obnoxious, so less passengers notice it (which I prefer, because they usually assume it's NOS and when it turns out it's to control my LED washers, it's somewhat embarrassing). Plus, I don't really use them so a more subtle switch works well.
2007
A treebranch landed on my car during Hurricane Katrina, so I'm having difficulty finding someone to repair/repaint it for a reasonable price. The cheapest I found was $2500 to leave it at some guy's house. The cheapest shop price was $4500. I'm a college student, and I have no money.
My fan is going to die soon too. Not sure if that's because of the treebranch or not, but it didn't make that horrible noise BEFORE the storm.
I like Nissan, but I've also been looking into Subaru (WRX) as a potential next car.
These pictures are from 2004.
