Get out the popcorn, this is gonna take a minute...
Where do I even start? I bought a Platinum Silver Metallic (PSM) 2002 Subaru WRX sedan. I sold my Roma Red 1999 Civic DX Hatchback. There it is! :) LOL What happened to the Civic you ask? Ya...about that...it's a long story. It started last June when I got a nice bonus from work. I got clearance to spend a good chunk on my car hobby. #partyhatemoji!!!! #allthehappyemojis!!!! Stoked, right?! Well, it started out great! So, the Civic was modified only minimally. With the coilovers, upper control arms with camber adjustment and lightweight 15x7 949Racing wheels, it had a good start. The obvious area needing attention to really become a performance car is more power and torque. Herein lies my problem. This was the beginning of the end of the Civic for me. "Just do an engine swap! Duh!!" Ya, engine swap. Well, there's this thing called Smog, emissions testing, CARB E.O., etc etc. Hhhhhhhhhh :( So, yes, I could do a swap and just skirt the system. Then get pulled over and get my car impounded, big expensive ticket, blah blah, basically big problems for me. Sure, others don't care and make it happen. So, I talked to a local Honda guru who works at a shop and does emissions tests, etc. I couldn't find much online. There's not many doing emissions legal swaps and each state is a little different, so hard to get good details on what engines are legal to swap and what is all needed. This being my daily driver, having the car down for weeks was just not an option. I probably could have afforded a B series swap. I really wanted to do a K series swap. I think if I saved a little longer, a K swap would have been doable. I even found the number of the Davis County Emissions Test Center supervisor who is responsible for emissions in my county. I called him back in December. It was my last push to make it happen with the Civic. We talked on the phone one Friday afternoon for 30 minutes. He mentioned that the rule has been that the engine needs to have been offered in that chassis. The only engines offered in my chassis, which was 96-00, was my engine, the D16 non-vtec which makes 106hp, the D16 VTEC which makes 127hp and the B16A2 from the 99-00 Civic Si which made 160hp/111tq. The B16 is a great engine. But its a 1.6L just like the engine already in my car. Sure, yes, no doubt its an upgrade. There are issues with it for me and my goals. First, its hard to find as it was only available for 2 model years. Second, its only 160hp. The "bang for the buck" is not enough for the time, money and effort. I was trying to figure out if that was really the only swap option. The Davis County emissions guy was a car guy. He knew what I was doing and why. He wanted to help me. He was busy with end of year audits and reports and most importantly, he had received a new regulations book from EPA and when he looked up my car, it was not the same rules any longer. He said he would need time to research it. I left him a message in early February. He called back and left me a message saying he hadn't figured out anything yet and he even talked to the Weber county emissions guy and he didn't know the answer either. I think that was my answer. Through in all the issues noted above and the Civic was not going to get a swap.
One of the last pics of the Civic taken by Keith
The other factor playing into my decision to sell the Civic was bringatrailer.com (BaT). In the first 2 weeks of February 2021 2 95 Civic Si hatchbacks sold for $9000 and $18000. The first was a white one with some rust and hail damage and yet still sold for $9k. The red Si that sold for $18k had 84k miles, clean title and an minor accident on the Carfax. My eyes saw dollar signs! These were both OEM factory fresh cars, not modified like mine. This ends up being my doom. I saw BaT my way to a different car with much more potential. I knew I could get $5-6K for my car locally, but thought if I could get $8-12k on BaT I could really get something cool.
So, if I sold my Civic, my biggest dilemma would be what to replace it with. Back in August and September, I actually test drove 2 Mustangs. Originally, after realizing back in June-July that a swap was not a good use of my resources for the Civic, I went down a V8 rabbit hole. My budget was in the $5-11k range (sell Civic for $5-6k, add $5k of "fun" money). Brent has a 2005 Mustang GT 4.6L 3V and its rad. He's done 5-6 track days (between Willow Springs and Buttonwillow). That was my first focus. I found a light blue 2007 Mustang GT 5 speed in Bountiful on KSL for $10,500 with 82k miles. Decent car. Mostly stock, just a catback. I wanted to get it. I made the mistake and had Christy run a carfax before agreeing on a price. Paid the $40 for clean carfax and then started talking price. I offered $9300 or something and he immediately said he already turned down offers of $9500. Huh? I offered $10k and he said he'd go down to $10300. I was out at that point. I don't think he wanted to sell it, his wife was making him get rid of it. I told him I'd think about it but I didn't want it at that high of a price. I walked away from that liking the power and torque, but not liking the handling and heavy weight. It drives like a truck.
A few weeks later I'm on KSL hunting again. I find a 2000 Mustang GT (New Edge). The guy had a "clean" 1994 GT too in white, all stock. It looked just like my 94 Mustang. By the time he got back to me, he had sold the New Edge but said the SN95 was available and in better shape he said. I went and checked it out and drove it. Again, nice power/torque but drove even more like a truck. Just not enjoyable, not my driving style at all. I dug my own grave by telling Christy "I'm not a Mustang guy". I do love Mustangs. Mustangs are in the Hechtspeed blood. I love what my dad and brother have done with there's. Even my nephew has a sick S550 Mustang GT. But, my driving style is not very compatible with a Mustang. I'm not comfortable drifting, hanging the tail out, doing burnouts. I'm a sissy that way. I'm a "grip" driver. FWD and AWD are much more my jam.
So, a few months go by. I keep hunting KSL. I keep thinking maybe I just keep the Civic as is and slowly modify it, do Wilwood big brakes, maybe a Buddy Club or Corbeau race bucket, some sway bars and go autox it. You know, keep it simple, enjoy it as is with some minor upgrades over time.
I thought I had found my go-to, long termer, the BRZ/FRS/GT86. It is basically a newer version of my Civic, with a K swap (200hp) but with RWD without having to do all the swap work. They are going for about $13-16k. Win win! So, late January, early February I'm hunting KSL for a 86. I find a world rally blue 2013 BRZ with a Jackson Racing supercharger kit for $17500 with 2 sets of wheels or $16500 for just the winter set up (wrx wheels on Blizzak winter tires). I texted the guy and set up to go see it Monday, Presidents Day on a day off. Christy and I drove down to West Jordan to check it out. It was pretty sweet, pretty clean. Only 52k miles. I had equal length header and catback as well. So, it didn't have that suby rumble exhaust note, but it was pretty quick. Not as quick I was thinking it'd be, seeing as it was touted to be making 280whp. Felt more like 280 at the motor. Christy definitely noticed it had a non-existent backseat. When we got in the car and I put my seat in position, the back of my seat was literally touching the back seat. No bueno! I was thinking "we can make that work". I wanted the car, agreed on a price and a day to do it. I'm stoked, a supercharged BRZ is way cool! So, we head home and stop off at Costco to get gas and pizza. I check my phone and there's a text from the seller saying "Um, talked to my wife that you're serious about the BRZ (ya, I said I want to buy it, I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious!) and we're not sure we want to let it go, we're super attached to it." Ummmmmm..... ok? Let me know what you decide? Question Marks!!!???? Hhhhhhhhh Really?! Who does that?
So, this was the tipping point in me ending up with another WRX. We talked it over and considering I need an actual backseat to carpool kids to baseball #dadtaxi
So, the last chapter. If I'm not a Mustang guy, and now I'm also not a BRZ guy, what guy am I? Back to KSL I go..... Fiesta ST? Focus ST? GTi, GLi? Nope....WRX? Ya, let's look for a WRX. If you were to ask me back in June when I was starting to look for the next car, the WRX was the last one on the list. My thought was "Been there, done that". LOL Like that ever stopped me before. I owned 3 different 90's Civics. 95 EX Coupe, 98 LX Sedan and finally the 99 Hatchback.
I found a few 2008 and up WRXs in the $13-15k range with lots of miles and no mods. I like the hatchback models from '11-14 with the flares. The 2015 and newer are still too expensive and not very appealing to me with their looks. While KSL surfing for WRXs I spot this silver 2002 WRX. Honestly the 2002-03 Bugeye WRX is the best WRX in my opinion. But, I probably think that because the WRX came out when I was in college, at the beginning of my becoming a japanese car guy. It was so different and unique compared to anything on the road at the time. It responded so well to basic exhaust and boost up mods. I even convinced my Mustang loving dad to go look at one and he ended getting a 2003 WRX in World Rally Blue brand new. He still has it to this day, 360,000+ miles and a couple engine rebuilds later.
The night the BRZ was maybe no longer for sale, I found this WRX and texted the guy. It had a long list of new parts, including a newer crate engine, newer paint, STi injectors and VF28 turbo, bigger Top Mount Intercool, FortuneAuto Coilovers, and the piece de resistance, Enkei NT03 M+ wheels in 18x9.5 +40mm with wide 255/35/18 Falken summer tires along with Prodrive P7 winter wheel/tire set up. I drove it Tuesday night and agreed to buy it for the asking price. A clean, well modded bugeye WRX doesn't come up for sale often, so I felt like I had to jump on it. We completed the transaction on Saturday at the America First inside the Harmons here in Farmington. Ironic, because that is exactly where I sold my first WRB 2002 WRX back in December 2013. Funny how that works. That's just over 7 years ago, but it feels way longer ago than that.
I'm lovin' the car so far. The first thing I did was remove all the window stickers. I love Speedhunters but I don't need more attention than the loud exhaust note and white tire lettering is giving it already. I also used my E303 plastic/vinyl protectant spray and detailed the interior. Looking great! I'll have to do another blog to give more details on the car and how it drives, what's been done to it and what my plans are.
In the end, I basically broke even with selling the Civic, adding my "fun' money and buying the WRX. I need to tell some of the story of my experience selling the Civic. That was interesting...
