New Car:
Posted on 6/6/2008 8:11:00 PMSo over the past year I haven't had the best of luck with cars, I bought a 2003 Mustang Mach 1 a couple years ago because I wanted to get into a high HP coupe and it caught my eye, the price was right. Had the car a little over a year and the only mod I had was an X pipe, and I ended up spinning 2 bearings on 7 & 8. Well that happened I got a scheme to make the Mach 1 a little better than what it was, I was going to build new engine, slap on a decent set of cams, and a nice little turbo for some more HP. Well that all ended when I was let go from a job that I had held for almost a year. That was just my luck, no car, and now no job so I had to scramble and get a new job, well I got one alright with less pay so the car project was on hold.
Let's fast foward to 6 months later. I got a buddy of mine working for the Marine Corp back in Kansas City, and he comes to me with a job that is over in Iraq doing biometrics for the US MARINES. So started to check it out, and I applied and rewrote my resume over and over just to make sure I was covered, and what do you know I got the job, and here I am 26 years old, in Iraq, and making over 6 figures a year (this is a year deal no more) So I had a lot of debt from just being a kid and being dumb with money so the 1st main check went to paying off all that debt and now I am paying to clean up the ooops on the credit report, by the time I am home for good I will have plenty of money in the bank and almost perfect credit.
So let's get to the point I am in need of a new car. Before I left I went to a Lexus drive event. Now hear me out, I used to own a 2001 IS300, was an awesome car, loved it to death and then I had to get rid of it due to personal and marital reasons. So since that day nothing was the same with any of the cars that I had owned after that. Well I wasn't a huge fan of what the IS had become over the past couple of years with the introduction of the IS250 and the IS350, okay I get it, I know that Lexus wants to compete with BMW and be on a higher level, but to me they got away from the purpose of the IS300 back in the day (coming from the Altezza in Japan) So I never really gave them a 2nd look until before I left. I went to the Taste of Lexus event, and got to drive the hell out of all of the line up, and I went to look at the IS250 and IS350 they look a lot better in person than all the pics I had looked at online, so I took them for a spin. I liked the 350 had plenty of get up for me, and everything was nice. I enjoyed driving the car. The IS250, it was ok, just didn't have what I wanted I suppose.
So fast foward to a couple months down the road and the introduction of the IS-F. Okay I loved the 350, and I was excited to see a V-8 get put into the IS chassis. So now I have a huge choice to make when I get back home, I don't really have a budget for the price of the car, I have the money and the IS-F is looking to be a winner to me.
Now a lot of people keep wanting to compare the BMW M3 with the IS-F that is fine, I am all for brand rivalry, it is good to have out in the market. If I wasn't set on a sedan I am sure I would have an M3 Coupe, but for some reason I want a sedan again, I like having the room I suppose.
-Jason