Back to Practicality- With a Fun Twist!

The Civic was fun while it lasted, but I had to be real. I'm entering a professional career, plus I currently drive for a living... reliability is a MUST.

As I've mentioned several times at this point, the Civic was fun... while it lasted.

No, the motor nor trans crapped out on me in this one... actually, she ran like a top till the day I let her go. The suspension and wheels on the other hand, OOF what a headache.

You see, when I mentioned she was "S L A M M E D," she was really slammed. And while this is definitely a cool look in the car scene today, to have your car looking "stanced" and "hella flush," man it makes driving a lot more complicated than it should be.

I had to swerve around every little pothole (and those of you from Jersey can just imagine the inconvenience that could be) and don't even get me started on speed bumps. Plus, since the tires were stretched and there was extra weight on the wheels (no) thanks to the pressure caused by the one-piece lowering springs, blowouts were plentiful. I went through so many tires in the few short months that I had the damn thing, that I was a regular face at a local used tire spot in Newark- UGH.

After dealing with these constant driving interruptions, I knew it was time to move on. As annoying as the car was, it was still cool as hell. By simply going over the suspension components, wheels and tires, somebody would acquire themselves a zippy little car. So, I took to Craigslist (and tried out the Facebook Marketplace) to see what I could do.

I ended up posting the car for sale or trade, just to see what kind of offers I'd get. The car was a MAJOR hit! I got well over 60 serious inquiries from thousands of viewers, as well as several trade offers (the Gas on E mentality must be doing something right *cough*).

It seemed to be a trend to offer third-generation Acura TL's, especially first year models, produce from '04-'06, for this ep3. I was offered four different examples, ranging from heavily modified to bone stock.

The one that caught my attention, well, it was this baby you see right here.

She had a lot of miles on her, but seemed to be in solid condition. Aside from the super-desirable and rare 6 speed manual trans paired to the navigation package and black-on-black color combination, the part that really roped me in was the extensive documentation.

The kid had a stack of papers from the original owner which bought the car off of just a few months prior. The car was completely gone over, with a slew of new parts including a replacement engine. This was a hell of a deal for my sweet-yet-annoying lil Civic.

The owner agreed to drive- over two hours- to come check out my car. He explained how bad he wanted an ep3 after selling his previous one, and realized how nice mine truly was (shout-out to pops for hitting her with that quick wax before he arrived).

Even though I was originally supposed to put money on top, we agreed on a straight trade. He got the ep he was looking for, and I got the perfect combination of sports and luxury. It was a successful trade, a true "win-win."

It must be because, well, it was done the Gas on E way! Unfortunately-yet-fortunately, this is where my car journey has brought me so far. Of course, there will be more where this came from. Until then, keep an eye out for posts in my advice columns to learn how to create your own list through mastering the Art of Bartering.