Why a change of plans?
Back in January this year I wrote about my plans for 2009, which included modifications to my XR6 Turbo. And then a couple weeks ago I mentioned my intention to buy a new car… I just realised I haven’t actually explained why things have changed. So this post is my explanation.
I ended up recently deciding (thanks to discussions with a friend of mine) that modifying the XR6 Turbo wasn’t worth it because of a range of potential negative side effects to the quality of the engine and other mechanical parts, and that it voids any warranty claims I might want to make in future. He suggested that ‘if you want a faster car, just buy it’. That way you get a car that’s factory-built for the performance you’re after, and has all associated warranties.
A change of plans
As you probably remember, I was all excited about the F6 Typhoon as my next car, and was looking forward to test driving it. I finally got around to it just a few days ago on Saturday. There it was, a BFII F6 (same model as mine, but a year older). I was all excited as I was getting into it, turned the key and pressed a red button on the centre console to start it. (Why you have to turn the key and then press the button is beyond me… seems pretty silly. Why not just turn the key, OR just press the button?)
It sounded just like mine, which was a little surprising, but not… I mean, it’s the same engine, just engineered better to get 270kw out of it instead of 245kw that’s in mine. But I thought it would sound different.
Do they really want to sell cars?
On Saturday I drove past the Ford dealership out at Belconnen and saw a Ford GT in the lot. I decided I’d take it for a drive, just to see what it’s like. However, it was a 2003 model, and the salesman correctly pointed out to me that it just wouldn’t be suitable for me to even take for a drive, as it wouldn’t even rate with the Ford XR6 Turbo that I currently drive. I knew that, which is why I happily agreed with him. So I asked him if he had an F6 Typhoon available.
After a quick phonecall to the Woden dealership (Belconnen and Woden are suburbs of Canberra, just in case you didn’t know), he confirmed that they had an F6 and it was available to drive. So I went to pick up my friend Ken, and we went off to Woden for a drive. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the weather was just right for test driving an awesome car.
Car repairs
I’m sitting at the service centre while they’re taking photos of my car, using my iPhone to write this.
Back in 2007, shortly after getting my car, I noticed a scratch on the passenger side rear door. I was immediately pissed off at car parks and people opening their door into mine.
By mid 2008 I saw that it had seemed to get worse. I was wondering why a scratch seemed to be getting worse, but thought nothing more of it.
Then late 2008 I noticed one of my friends about to get into the car and I just happened to be on the passenger side as well. What the hell? The mark was in perfect alignment with the edge if the front passenger door.
I did a quick check, and sure enough… Every time the rear passenger door opened, it impacted slightly against the edge of the front door. My car was damaging itself!
Plans for 2009
I hope you all had a merry xmas and a great new year. Did you do anything special or interesting for xmas?
I travelled to Adelaide, catching up with my own family and Deidre’s. It was good. It involved lots of driving, though, but oddly, that was also good.
When I’ve driven in the recent past, I’ve usually ended up with stiff and sore shoulders, where they held the tension while driving. I really don’t know what was different, but I had none of that this time around. And if you knew my shoulders, you’d be as surprised as me…
I can only imagine that I was a lot more relaxed than I have been in the past, holding less tension inside of me. I think that had a lot to do with it.
