shine

I've decided to name my new car Stitch, after the blue Disney character.

He's blue and has a big smile.

Saturday was quite a day!  First of all I was approaching 1000 miles on the odometer, so I took Stitch out for a nice long drive through some of my favorite roads.  Here is the odometer just as I was about to break 1000 miles.

The moment of truth.

It was very hard for me to keep the motor under 4000 RPM during the break-in period.  But once I passed the magical 1000 mark, it was finally time to let 'er rip!  I took it down Palomares Rd, which I think of as my own personal backyard test track, and then out past the wine country vineyards of Livermore, to Mines Rd.  Mines Rd is one of my most enjoyable driving routes.  It goes out to the middle of nowhere and then runs up Mt. Hamilton to the Lick Observatory above San Jose.  If you're an Initial D fan, Mt. Hamilton is like Bay Area's version of Akina.  It's a beautiful mountain road but an incredibly twisty and challenging drive.  Pretty unforgiving too -- if you make a mistake and go off the edge of the road, you're going off a cliff and down a long ways.  So you have to keep it safe and sane here.  I didn't switch the traction control all the way off, but did go to VSC Sport mode to have a little more fun.

And oh man, what fun it was!  This was my first real opportunity to see what this car is all about, rev it like it was meant to be driven, and push it a little in the corners to see just how crappy the tires are.  To my surprise, they gripped the road fairly well.  I like to drive with the windows down so I can hear the tires and they gave very good audible feedback.  A little scrubbing sound as you start to turn in, gradually increasing in sound as you push it harder.  On a few tight hairpins I got on the gas a little more aggressively at exit and got some wheelspin but as everyone has noted, nothing too dramatic and very easy to modulate.  The whole package was very confidence-inspiring and I was able to drive the car harder than I did the first few times I drove my MR2 there.  With an MR-layout you really have to watch for snap-oversteer if you get too aggressive, but the BRZ's FR layout is much more forgiving and predictable.  The suspension soaked up most bumps very well and I found it much more comfortable to drive than my fairly harsh-riding MR2.  And it offers fairly comparable levels of responsiveness and balance.  I was very pleased with the performance of the car, bone stock -- so I'm not sure I even need to do much upgrading for now, if my main usage of the car is for the mountain twisties I don't want to ruin the comfort and balance it currently has.  If I start heading to the track frequently, then that is another story.

On the way to Mt. Hamilton I stopped by a popular rest point for bikers and cyclists -- The Junction.  Got a few compliments from bikers as I rolled through, but I didn't stay long.  I was having too much fun driving!  When I got to the Observatory at the top of the mountain, there were no other cars there, just a few bicyclists.  The view up there is fantastic on a clear day.  Again, after a brief stop to take a few pictures, it was time to head back down and tear up the roads some more...

That wasn't the end of my day though.  I also had to take Stitch in to get smogged, so I could register it at the DMV this week.  So I stopped by my local smog test place, the guy there is cool and we talked about the car for a while and he even snapped a pic of it after the test.  Of course, Stitch passed with flying colors!

Then it was back home and time to give Stitch a much-deserved bath.  My wife was nice enough to help me clean the interior while I dried the exterior.

Then I spent the rest of the evening applying the 3-stage Meguiar's Deep Crystal Shine system.  Paint cleaner, polish, then wax.  My back is a little sore and my arms a little tired, but man the shine on the car is so impressive, like a mirror.  Maybe in the morning I will take the car out and get some more shots of it in its oh-so-clean glory.