Biggest Purchase to Date

Between my luck with great finds and implementation of bartering, you were probably wondering if I've ever actually purchased a car. Well, here's the story of that experience.

The summer was just about here, and I was craving a fun car. The Zuki was gone, and I'd been daily driving the Mercury for several months at this point.

As great as the car was, simply put- she was boring. I felt like I owned the road floating effortlessly down the highway in my full-size luxury sedan. Mercury's were typically marketed to the older crowd, and man did that reflect in the driving experience.

It had decent get up and go, but still felt sluggish. The design was big all around and the wide windows and high roofline made it look like the staple of "old man cars." I am a car enthusiast. I was craving to be reunited with my manual trans. I wanted something quick and I wanted something that could be modified.

One day, as I was doing my usual window shopping on Craigslist, I stumbled upon this 2002 Honda Civic Si (ep3). I wasn't a big fan of ep3's... but I liked this one. She had the perfect Type R lip kit and spoiler, Type R head and taillights and had a nice set of wheels. The best part of all? The owner claimed she had a swap.

BOOM. I was intrigued.

One day, I happened to be in the area so I gave the owner a call. He said he was around, so I headed to his house for a test drive. I pulled into his back lot and there she was. My first impression was simply that I loved the look.

He started telling me how he had the swap done. She had a K series engine as they come, but this version packed more power- about 197 hp compared to the stock 160. It was also paired to a 6 speed manual transmission out of an Acura. This car was small and light- so boy did she pull.

One of the new tires had a nail in it which caused a slow leak, so we filled her up and hit the road. This car was S L A M M E D. It sat on one-piece Tein suspension complete with a camber kit. I called her my street sweeper. I was definitely interested, but I wanted to feel totally confident in the purchase.

A week later, I took a friend of mine who is big into Honda Tuning to look her over with me. I've worked on several of his Hondas with him, so we had an idea what to look for. It was scary how well this car checked out.

The owner was asking for close to 4 grand, but he needed the car gone. His lot was filled with other cars so the landlord wanted to clear some space. I talked him down to about half of his asking price, whipped out my hard-earned cash, signed the title and was on my way. I just picked this thing up for less than the cost of the swap itself- everything else felt like a bonus at that point.

I drove the car about 30 minutes out of my way to my friend's job just to see how she drove. She handled the drive like a champ and it was a blast to bang through those gears. We traveled about 80 miles effortlessly in our first day together.

She was garaged and rarely driven for several months until the Mercury was totaled. She became my daily after that, and I felt satisfied in obtaining the fast, fun, stick-shift I was looking for- the Gas on E way!