We put the money down on a 2008 CBR600RR (black, graffiti) last night. It's about the purdiest thing I'd ever put between my legs (haw haw haw), but it felt right. I've been driving the Ninja, Sandy's been driving the Ninja, and every time I get back into the STI, I just can't get enthusiastic about it. In fact, when I've been on the bike, and I get back into the STI, I want to lean into turns, and the car feels sluggish, like it's not willing to commit to the turn or something. It literally takes me maybe twenty minutes to get back into "car mode" again.
I've always been in to speed, stupidity, and anything I could do illegally on the road. I got a lot of speeding tickets as a kid. But I haven't gotten one in ten years, and since I moved out to DC, I've really become a much more relaxed driver, have far less to prove on the road, and I don't think I've ever really "raced" anyone on the road (that I can remember) since i came out here. Occasionally, it's that downshift to, you know, really get in front of that guy, but other than that, I wind the car out through first and second, shift to sixth, hit cruise, and the car drives me home. But really, I've grown up a lot, and while a bike scared me as a teenager (because I knew I was really stupid), it scares me a lot less now (despite having a healthy respect for our friend f = ma) because I just don't have that need to knee-drag around 110 on the way to work, or to do burnout donuts to be a prick.
Sadly, the most fun I've had with the car in the last year was driving it through all the mud and snow we had last winter, going absolutely nuts in a gravel pit at a construction site near my house, but the theme here is: not on the road. Sandy hates this. It makes the car filthy, it chips the paint, it costs money to clean (or time...), and so on. So I've just given up irritating her by abusing the car. (whether this is abuse is open to discussion)
I got the Falkens on the car, and intended to make those the rain/winter tires, and put slicks on the car for the sunnier months because I just know where the limits of the car are, can push right up to them, a little further, and then there's just no point. And no point in getting a ticket, either. The slicks were an idea I had to get just a little more out of the car on the road, but why bother? For that little difference? Is it worth it?
Then there's the bike. Sandy's Ninja, a "lowly" 250, has about the exact same performance of the STI. I've sort of "chased" her around a parking lot, keeping an eye on the bike to make sure it looked like it was in good shape (and of course giving her enough distance), but the entire time, I was thinking, god, what a pig this thing is. We switched, and while the bike weighs within 10% of what I do, plus or minus, and it was entirely different. You pick it up quickly. Or, at least, I did. Some people don't. The point is, there's just something about it that feels more intuitive. It goes where I'm looking. I feel, somehow, inexplicably, more in control of the bike, than I ever did in the STI, despite the fact that I think I know just about every ounce and inch of that car's abilities.
My dream, for years, has to get my Z back on the road in the shape I want it in. I've vacillated back and forth between motor choices, 2JZ, RB, SR20, 7M-GTE, and so on. But my goal with that car was always to turn it into something that felt – get this – like the bike does. And I didn't even know it. I wanted the car to be loud, stupidly powerful, dangerous, and yet controllable when I wanted it to be. That was the whole allure. Push it really, really, hard and it would do what it was supposed to do, and if you wanted to be silly with it, I wanted it to do that, too. I didn't know it, but I guess over the years, the ideal picture I had for the Z was a vehicle that performs almost exactly as a motorcycle does. Raw, powerful, responsive, tremendous road feedback, and a surplus of all of the above for when I need to get it out of my system.
Now, it's a chore to get in the car, sit in a chair, have these windows around me, and I literally feel more vulnerable because there's all this stuff around me that I can't really see or feel. I now understand why people call them "cages."
Sandy wants to keep the STI because she is very attached to it. So, we probably will. I have a deep sentimental attachment to my Z (it was the first car I built), and one day I may well resurrect it. And on those winter days when, dammit, you gotta go into work despite the "wintery mix" or snow or whatever, we'll probably co-commute, as we do now.
But, really, I look at Colin, and I get it. Ben joked about Colin complaining his old car always had a dead battery because he drove it every two months. Provided Geico gives us a rate we can live with (details forthcoming), I can't see taking the STI to work unless I have to, and it will sit. I can't really even see driving it unless we're going to e.g., get groceries.
I see so many people here buying bikes, and thinking, gosh, maybe we should get together and go for weekend rides (the end of the season approaches!). I'm not sure how we all sort of arrived at this decision at once, although I will definitely say Colin had a huge part in assuring Sandy and I it was possible to ride a motorcycle and not die by just getting on the thing, but it seems to be kinda going around. Maybe it's gas prices ($6 fillups ftw), maybe it's the weather, but even people in my office are buying motorcycles. It's like one more guy every month.
The four-wheeled variety, guys, it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I know I've rambled on and most of you either scrolled to here or just said (hi, Ben), oh god, there goes alex again, words words words words, but I think I'm done with 'em. We have to have something with four wheels for certain, specific "missions," but other than that, gosh, why would anyone drive something that big, that sluggish, that resistance to input, and lack of feel? I know I just can't go back to it.
Here's hoping I've got the good sense to keep the shiny side up, and recover gracefully and safely from any person-road interaction (or heaven forbid, any person-car interaction). I'll be around, but my interest in our STI wanes by the day, and has been for about a year. Since the snow went away last winter.
