The Spec-B is Gone...What Now?

Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards understanding you have a problem. In my case, my insurance company denied my car coverage renewal due to suspicion of me running a car dealership. I have been through 5 cars in the past year. That is the most you can buy in the state of Virginia within a year before you have to declare yourself as a dealer, so no rules broken. I have a new policy and all is good, but this is what I have been up to recently.

So I only had the Subaru Legacy GT Spec B for a couple of months. I was able to put around 6,000 miles on the car during my ownership. In that time, I replaced both front wheel bearings, radiator, and all hoses along with the thermostat. I am sure the car was fantastic when they were brand new, but mine was constantly on the edge of being unreliable. The i-drive system (fancy know that adjusts throttle response) worked half of the time. In order to get it out of boring econo-mode, a firm smack of the center console would do the trick sometimes.

Handling was fantastic. The amount of confidence you can place in the car through the twisties made all of the issues disappear.

Power was okay. A tune would have been an easy fix. The Spec B did sound great thanks to a high performance washer-spacer exhaust.

For a daily driver, this car was not for me. Even if I dumped a ton of money into it and made it super reliable and faster, the car is kind of rare and parking it anywhere downtown would freak me out. The bottom line: the purchase price and cost of upkeep took away from any abilities to modify the car. Doing work on your own is a lot more cost efficient and self-satisfying, but the crammed engine bay and expensive parts made this not an option in my current living situation. Owning this car down the road with a lower initial price and a garage would be a different story.


What now?  A cheap daily driver that I do not hate, and is easy to work on. I decided to stay away from a car, because it would always disappoint me in terms of speed and modification potential. I have always toyed around with the idea of an SUV, but they get crappy gas mileage.

Solution? Get an older SUV, and the poor gas mileage cost is eliminated due to the dirt cheap insurance cost per month. I decided on a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. Once we get this Jeep up to speed with the Club Dirty standards, the hunt for an inexpensive-fun-easy to mod-manual car project will begin. Until then, stay tuned for some jeep updates!

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