production

It's been a while since I've updated here.  Not much to say but I've been doing lots of drives when I'm not busy at work.  Here are a few videos I've made using a GoPro Hero camera I borrowed from a friend.








I've been playing around quite a bit with video editing as well and come to the realization that I need better software/hardware. Windows Movie Maker running on XP just kind of barely does the job, so I think I need something newer. Thinking about getting a MacBook or iMac or something like that too.

flow

Wow it's been a while since my last update.  I haven't been terribly busy with work but I have been keeping busy with other stuff.  I did get one business trip to DC where I managed to make one outing to Ben's Chili Bowl, one of my favorite spots in DC to get a couple of chili half-smokes.  Oh so good, oh so bad.

Notwithstanding the indulgent eating that is de rigeur for the holidays, I've been trying to exercise more, ride my bike, take more walks and do more time on the elliptical.  It's helped me lose maybe 8-10 lbs.  I'm going to try and keep it up with a target of losing about 15 more.

Still getting a lot of use out of my new iPhone 5.  The camera on the iPhone is decent but not awesome.  I get a lot of lens flare or reflections but maybe that's just poor technique on my part.  Anyways I do find myself using it out of convenience a lot more than the Nikon DSLR now.  I've been snapping away lots of pics and even started doing little videos.  Nothing worthy of the cinema or anything but it's kind of neat being able to hold the camera in places you couldn't normally squeeze your head, like under the car.  I also finally made some use of the Kensington phone/iPod suction cup mount I bought a long while ago, and mounted it in the windshield. Holy crap maybe they don't make the one I have anymore but why is it $149 to buy it on Amazon??  Trust me I did not pay that much.     Kensington Dash Car Mount for iPhone and iPod

Since things have gotten pretty quiet at work, I decided to take an extended time off from the office... I basically told them, I'm taking December off, I will see you in January.  And then added a week in January to top it off.  I have 37 days off starting tomorrow, which sounds pretty epic.  Helps me burn off a big surplus of vacation days I had banked.

So what am I going to do with all that time?  Hopefully a lot.  I need to make a list so I can remember to do everything and set some goals, but generally... a bunch of car stuff.  Go driving.  Go for bike rides.  Go for hikes/walks/runs.  Take more photos.  Listen to music.  Watch movies.  Play games.  Go shoot my guns some more. Exercise and lose weight.  Eat some good food (but not too much).  Cook dinner for wifey.  Bake some pastries or cookies.  I suppose somewhere in there I will have to do some holiday shopping (gag).  Wow I have a lot to do!  But for now, I'm going to bed.  Tomorrow is the first day of my vacation.

UPDATE:  I've started a  new blog to specifically cover this 37-day vacation.  Check it out at 37DaysOff.

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.  

transmissive

I've been driving the BRZ for a week now, and here are my first week impressions:

Driving with a 4K RPM limit (during the break-in period) is a real bummer... I'd forgotten how difficult it is to baby a car in its early age.  This car revs really quickly and trying to stick between 2K and 4K all the time is not easy.  Thankfully the car has a programmable rev limit light that I set to 3800 and it reminds me when I hit that to upshift.  It really does feel like driving with one hand tied behind my back, knowing that the car should be revving up to 7400 RPM for the full experience.  Can't wait until the first 1000 miles are through with.  I can't really comment on performance and handling yet, as I haven't really pushed the car's limits very much... it's pretty much been just commuting to and from work.

Voodoo knob tested on BRZ.

Still getting used to the clutch and transmission.  Getting better with the clutch now but the 1-2 shift is still a little unsmooth.  All the other shifts seem fine.  Drove a few days sitting in stop-and-go traffic which is fantastic practice I guess.  I took the shift knob off to try some others I had available to put on there, and it is remarkable how heavy the stock shift knob is.  The Voodoo knob from my Spyder that I tried on there is pretty hefty but I think the stock one is pretty comparable.  The Voodoo doesn't fit perfectly so I am not going to use that one, but I might order another Voodoo knob specifically for the BRZ.  

The GPS/navigation is a bit of a letdown compared to the one in my Lexus.  The unit loses GPS signal often and it takes several minutes before it locks on again.  The voice sounds a lot more robotic than the Lexus lady's voice.  And the interface just isn't as smooth as the Lexus's.  You'd think after 6 years any ol' navi would be as good as a 2006-era Lexus navi.  But I guess it's not so.  Same with the phone/bluetooth function.  Maybe it's the old phone I'm using, but there is a 4-5 second pause when I get incoming calls and press answer, before the radio stops playing and I can start talking.  It's just a little unpolished and I expected a bit more from the 2012 technology.

Don't get me wrong, I think this car is pretty fantastic and it's definitely a step up from the basic feature set of the MR2 Spyder which it more or less is a replacement for.  Better seats, better stereo, better ride quality than what I remember the MR2 had before I modified the suspension.  Better information display and controls, better interior materials.  And more storage which is not hard to accomplish when you're comparing to the MR2.  One bummer I've found though is, my rifle case won't fit in the trunk without folding the seats down.  That could have some security implications, as I might not want to take this car out if I'm stopping anywhere else before or after the range.  Guess I should have just bought a big truck, eh?  No.

Well today's my birthday and I have to say I've got all the toys a boy could want.  New car, new rifle, and my  new iPhone is on the way.  Oh and my lovely wifey is making me stone crab for dinner.  Yummmy... OK gotta go!

reflections

My car is finally here!  Woot!  

Here is the truck delivering it to my house:

Since my car was going to be waiting around for a week or so before it got picked up, I figured I would get some things out of the way. 3M clear bra was applied to the front bumper, and window tint to the sides and back. The sales mgr at the tint place was nice enough to snap a shot of the car for me after the tints were done:

Here are some thoughts after only 2 days driving the car.  A lot of this is going to be duplicative or obvious to other BRZ owners, but this is more of a personal log of my impressions.  Perhaps it will be useful to future owners or people considering this car, who have similar automotive backgrounds to mine.

Day 1 impressions.  Exterior.  Car is very low to the ground, and the overall look is aggressive.  Very classic GT-car proportions.  A poor-man's Aston Martin Vantage.  Even when dirty the WR Blue paint is very shiny and eye-catching.  In photos I feel the BRZ looks a little awkward, the big "mustache" bumper in front and the the rear trunk lid/tail lights were in my mind weak points in the design.  In person these things seem to fade away as the overall look is very handsome.  I had been previously considering all kinds of cosmetic mods to improve the look, but now that I see it in person I'm not so sure I feel so strongly about needing to modify these things.  It looks fine the way it is.

Interior.  Getting into the car the seat sort of embraces you and it feels a little weird compared to most other car seats but it's still comfortable.  As everyone has said the basic controls are right where you want them to be and everything falls into place.  I was able to get in and just drive the car with minimal adjustment.  Move the mirrors, adjust the seat, ready to go.  Having driven mostly Toyotas all my life there was very little confusion about what does what in the Subaru, all the controls felt very familiar.  The interior style is very basic, subdued, functional.  I like that.  No fancy wood trim or excessive chrome/metal to distract your eye from the pure function of driving.  I might replace the shift knob with something a little heavier (and a little more flash), and call it a day.

Driving feel.  I have not really pushed the car much in my limited time in it, but am very pleased with how the controls feel.  The steering is tight and well-proportioned.  The brake pedal has the perfect firmness and responsiveness.  I feel the throttle is a touch sensitive but I probably just need to adjust to that.  Clutch as many have noted, has a very high engagement point.  I know it can be adjusted but I will leave it alone for now, starts were a little unsmooth to begin with but I think I am getting accustomed quickly.

Day 2 impressions.  Commuting with the car is very comfortable.  Ride is decent, certainly smoother than my MR2 Spyder which is on Eibach Pro Kit springs and Koni shocks.  Sound of the car is fairly mellow, especially since I am upshifting at 4K.  I imagine it will get louder above that, but for now it's definitely one of my quieter cars.  All my other cars have aftermarket exhausts on so I am probably used to more sound and enjoy it.  I went ahead and programmed my shift light/buzzer to come on at 3800 RPM to help keep me in line during the break-in period.

Took a coworker and a friend out for rides in the car, both commented on how low the car is.  When you are sitting in the car with the door open, it's easy to just reach over and touch the ground.  That is a huge component of how this is a sports car, the low center of gravity design is key to the handling and driving feel. I haven't really thrown the car into a corner at speed yet, but so far it feels very sure-footed and stable.  Cruising on the freeway seems easy and uneventful, the car needs nowhere near the amount of attention and correction that my MR2 does.

I'm no audiophile, but the sound system in the car seems decent, I have listened to music via FM, HD Radio, Satellite radio, and through an iPhone via USB.  A fair amount of bass coming from the door speakers, enough to feel the vibration hitting my left leg which is a little annoying.  I managed to pair my phone to the head unit, but haven't made a call yet.  I have a fairly old-school basic phone, the LG Chocolate 2, so the pairing seems to be a little wonky.  I think I have to hit OK on my phone everytime I get in the car to allow it to pair to the car. A little lame but I have an iPhone 5 coming and that should pair without issue.

I've noticed a few weird ergonomic issues.  Visibility seems compromised by the left side mirror when I'm making a left turn. And the pointy triangle window on the forward part of the doors that remains in place when you have the window down, seems like a safety hazard when getting in and out of the car, my face seems to get uncomfortably close to that pointy piece on the way in or out.  My old SW20 MR2 had a similar window piece but I don't think I ever had issues with it.  Maybe I have to train myself to move differently.  Or roll the window all the way back up first.

This is my first 6-speed manual, and I've been driving my old MR2 5-speed for over 12 years so I've gotten pretty used to driving it and this is a bit of a change.  For the most part the shifting is straightforward, but I do occasionally stumble on a shift due to the spacing on the shift pattern being a little wider on the BRZ.  The 5-6 shift is easier to get used to than I thought.  But one thing I tripped up on a few times already is thinking that R is where it was on the MR2, namely where 6th now is.  I have caught myself shifting into 6, then remembering that I have to lift the reverse lockout and shift back into where 1 is to get to R. I feel like it's a little bizarre that you back up in R, then you have to pop it back into neutral, the lockout ring pops back down, and then you put it right back into the same spot to get to 1.  Will just take some getting used to I guess.

Also, I woke up extra early so I could wash the car before work and was able to inspect all the exterior of the car more closely.  Cosmetically I'd say the car arrived in 9.5/10 condition.  Most of the cosmetic issues are actually with the clear bra and tint that I had installed -- there are a few small bubbles here and there, or some imperfections in the bra install.  Minor issues really, and I am not going to worry too much about it.  I'm still really glad I got them installed, the benefits outweigh the minor downsides.  One thing that kind of caught my eye though was the rear bumper film installed at the port, part of the Pop1B package, there seems to be a small fleck of something (dirt or sand or whatever) underneath the film.  A little disappointing that they flubbed that little detail on the install.  I am pleased that the bumper film does not have a big honkin' SUBARU lettering across it, there is only a very small discreet Subaru logo on one end to let you know it's a genuine Subaru part/add-on.  Also being really nit-picky here, but for some reason the wheel locks on each wheel (also part of the Pop1B) had some kind of white paint or residue on the face of the lock, that I had to scrape off of each one.

Passed 100 miles on the odo on the way home from work... 900 miles to go on the break-in!

reward for reading through all that.  Parked in a row of all blue cars at work today, including my friend's Fiat 500 that came by for a visit.  Interestingly they are all different shades of blue.

targeted

Back in July I sent off an email to Automobile magazine, one of the car mags I subscribe to and read fairly diligently. I kind of forgot about it until today... when I was reading the latest (Nov 2012) issue and started to read a familiar bit of writing... I suddenly realized it was my writing! 

I was pretty pleased to see they had published nearly the whole thing, with very little editing... it came out to nearly half a page full of text! I am pretty stoked about that. Even more so because it seems to have inspired or at least coincided with the column that Ezra Dyer wrote for this issue -- also about the sleazy tactics that dealers employ on unsuspecting buyers.

Here is the full text of the email I sent them:

As a sports car enthusiast and fan of small, lightweight vehicles, it's been great to see widespread positive coverage of the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ in your magazine and others as well. As you mentioned in your New Cars 2013 feature, they are meant to be a "low-cost, lightweight sports car". But as I began my pursuit of the Subaru BRZ by calling and contacting various Subaru dealerships in Northern California where I live, it seemed that the low-cost aspect of the car is being undermined by the incredibly greedy and sometimes ridiculously sleazy actions of the individual dealerships. Some of them are asking for as much as $5000 over MSRP, as "market value adjustments". And to add insult to injury, some of them add questionable options and accessories and price them at a point where you would have to be a moron or incredibly wealthy to be willing to pay their exorbitant markups. I attach a photo found on the internet, documenting one such dealership's attempt to gouge its customers: $7685 in addons and markups to drive what was originally a $27,000 car into the $35,000 range. Maybe that kind of thing is normal in the Porsche dealerships, but we're talking about a 2.0 liter Subaru here.

Now I realize that to some degree it's all about supply and demand, and dealerships are free to ask for whatever they think their customers are willing to pay. I witnessed similar markups and gouging when I bought my 2000 MR2 Spyder back when those first came out. Don't think that the Scion dealerships, with their "Pure Price" so-called no-haggling policy are any different. Several of the Scion dealerships I visited are adding ludicrously priced add-ons to pad their profits, like $700 window tint or woefully ugly $2000 chrome wheels. But surely the bigwigs at Toyota/Scion and Subaru have to realize that they are letting their dealers undermine their own marketing efforts here. You can't in good conscience be touting your new vehicle as the return of affordable, fun-to-drive sports cars, and then sit by silently as your dealerships extort their customers like this. I know from various media coverage that Subaru/Toyota plan to produce as many of these little cars as they can sell, and most likely in a year or two from now there will be tons of these cars sitting on the dealership lots, available for much less than MSRP. Thankfully there are still some dealerships I have talked to who are doing the right thing, right now, and offering the limited allocations they expect to receive at MSRP or less. In fact after searching and contacting numerous dealers throughout California, I finally decided to place my order and bring my business to a Subaru dealer in Colorado, who will let me order the car with only the options and accessories I want, and in fact are giving me a price so low that it is still more cost-effective to order from them and have the car trucked back to CA for me than to purchase it in CA.

To seasoned car guys/gals and purveyors of limited-edition or limited-production vehicles perhaps none of this is any news and I have no doubt that car dealerships have, and will continue to engage in this kind of behavior whenever a new, or rare vehicle hits the showroom floors. But I hope that letters like mine, and perhaps the occasional coverage or discussion by magazines like yours, will bring some exposure to what is almost universally agreed upon is part of the seamy underside of the automotive world -- the actual car buying experience. Perhaps you've done it in the past, but you could and should do a piece on buying a car and all the various tactics, shenanigans and practices that happen at a typical dealership -- in sales, finance, and even in the service departments. I still look forward to purchasing and driving my BRZ soon, but the whole overall purchasing experience will probably be tainted to some degree by the ordeal I and many of my fellow BRZ enthusiasts had to go through to get there. Subaru of America, are you listening?

the Editor's response at the end of my letter: "You might want to check out this month's Dyer Consequences on page 28. -- Ed."

I love Ezra Dyer's writing as well and feel pretty honored, that perhaps I inspired him to write this month's column. Or at least we are on the same brain wavelength...

Ironic that this just got published now, just as my new car is about to finally arrive.  Perhaps all will be forgiven once I get behind the wheel...

in other news, I have a few other new toys, on the way and just arrived!  One of the big ones is that I will be getting an iPhone 5, once Apple's backlog is caught up.  I've been carrying a Blackberry for work the past few years but this will be my first personal smartphone.  Finally gonna give up the old-school LG Chocolate II and move into the 21st century.

I also picked up another new firearm thanks to my gun-buddies showing me their toys -- fell in love with the SIG522 rifle and after shooting one I had to get one myself.  This is my first rifle (though I've spent a fair amount of time shooting friends' rifles).  The great thing is it has very low recoil and it fires the very economical .22LR ammo and will be lots of fun at the range.  

arrival

My BRZ just arrived at the dealership in Colorado Springs. I am super excited about that. I just need to finalize the paperwork, fork over some dough, and the car will be on its way to me via truck by sometime next week. Almost as exciting for me, and almost perfectly timed, Digital Polyphony has just announced that the BRZ will be available as a downloadable car in GT5 next week! For only $0.99, that's a must-buy for me... ok, can you tell which ones are the real car and which ones are GT5? :)

determination

I have been agonizing over my next car purchase for a while now, but I've finally come to a decision.  For a while it was trying to decide between the Scion FR-S or the Subaru BRZ.  I actually went back and forth on this a few times.  Then it was time for perhaps an even more difficult decision, choosing what color to get.  I had narrowed it down to either World Rally Blue or Satin White Pearl.  Both look equally awesome and I think for the lines of the FR-S/BRZ the brighter/lighter colors come off better than the darker ones.  In the end, I chose the WRB BRZ Premium 6MT.

Unfortunately, this is not my car.  But this is what it will look like.  I snapped a few shots of this one at a recent car meet at Blox Racing in Fremont.  Seeing it in person, ultimately helped me make up my mind and confirmed that it is indeed a pretty awesome looking color for this car.  It's also the signature color for Subaru.

So why am I taking/posting shots of someone else's car, instead of mine? Well, I don't have my car yet. Subaru is limiting the production of BRZs to only 6000 cars this year. At the moment because this car is so new, the demand heavily outpaces the supply. Most of the local dealerships in Northern California are all sold out, or have pre-orders and waitlists filled until 2013. Those dealerships that didn't take pre-orders are for the most part  severely price-gouging when their cars come in, marking up the price of the car by $4,000 or more.

 

 So what to do?  I started reaching out further and further, to places like Redding, CA and Reno, NV.  And eventually caught wind that a dealership in Colorado Springs, CO was actually offering some great deals.  They, unlike everyone else I've talked to in the Pacific NW region, are selling BRZs for less than MSRP.  No markups, no sneaky tactics, no unwanted addons.  Almost too good to be true.  I fired off a few emails with questions and made the plunge this week, putting down a deposit for a an order to get a BRZ just the way I want it.  They say my car should arrive in 2-3 months.  So now it's time to wait patiently yet again to get what I want...

...

Well, seeing as it's going to be a while, how's about I share a few photos of some of the models I ran into at the show.  Enjoy.

knockoffs

The new 2013 Porsche Boxster features a new design, and while it's quite attractive and a great update to the iconic Boxster style, it does look a little familiar to my eye... what it is?  Somehow it looks like it may have borrowed a few styling cues from... the lowly Toyota MR2 Spyder?

Porsche Boxster

Toyota MR2

What,  you don't see it?  In the shape of the doors and side vents, and in the shape of the headlights?  Maybe it's just derived from the common shapes that all mid-engine sports cars tend to share.  Or maybe it's an attempt on my part to justify somehow keeping my little MR2 instead of trading it in for a sexy, newer model like the Toyobaru.  Certainly as more of the new Boxsters start to hit the streets, my MR2 will look a little less passé.

passing

Carroll Shelby

1923-2012

Race driver, sports car builder and all-American automotive legend Carroll Shelby is dead at 89.  Father of the Shelby Cobra, the iconic Ford GT350, and plenty other fantastic amalgams of sheetmetal and horsepower.
For more of his life story and tribute, visit Autoblog:
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/05/11/carroll-shelby-1923-2012/

The newest production Ford Shelby GT500 was recently unveiled, and it offers an unprecedented level of performance-for-the-buck.  $55K, 662hp, and the ability to go over 200 MPH.  Just wow.
http://www.leftlanenews.com/new-car-buying/ford/shelby-gt500/

Speaking of over 200 MPH, one of my favorite Shelby stories is actually a comedy routine by Bill Cosby, entitled, appropriately, "200 MPH".  "Oh wow look at them PIIIIIPES!!!  Coming out of the car, oh wow!"  Worth a listen if you're either a Shelby or a Cosby fan...

designs

The design and style of cars, and particularly sports cars, has been on my mind a lot lately.  Let's take a visual look at some of the beautiful design ideas that have been swimming through my head lately.  I would love to own any one of these cars someday:

Acura NSX

Alfa Romeo 8C

Aston Martin Vantage

Audi A5

BMW 507

Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic

Chevy Corvette Stingray

Ferrari 458

Ferrari 250 GTO

Ford Mustang

Lotus Esprit

Lotus Evora

Porsche 918

Toyota 2000GT

And if I were to design my own sports car, I would probably borrow heavily from the shapes and lines you see above.