It’s funny how things happen sometimes. This weekend, I took a trip with my Mother and Brother to the Acura dealership in Greenlawn. A few weeks ago I totaled my CompG Grand Prix after I fell asleep at the wheel, so I have been in the market for a new car. I wanted to take a look at the Acura TSX and they had a pretty nice one in stock, but upon arriving we found that they were closed on Sundays. Since Greenlawn is a bit out of the way for us, we pulled into the next dealership to see what they had.
Yesterday, we picked up my new 2005 Scion tC. It’s silver with Carbon Fiber accents and interior. It’s not the huge supercharged monster I was used to driving, but it has a peppy 4 cylinder engine with a manual transmission. I should add, My first manual transmission.
It’s been a real adventure learning to drive it. Don’t get me wrong. I have three people to thank for my ability and confidence: My father, who taught me initially; Dave, who let me try out his souped up Mustang; and Casey, for letting me watch her car for her when she was ill, and even allowed me to drive it around locally. If it weren’t for these three people, I would not have even considered this car. Ironically, I’m told that the tC has the same engine as Casey’s, which I had driven the most recent (with in the past 6 to 12 months).
As most people starting out, I have the most trouble getting into first. Normally, I’m alright, but if I’m even the slightest bit rushed (at a light with people behind me) I tend to either release the clutch too soon, or give it too much gas. It’s a lot of fun trying though. and aside from pissing off a few people at stop signs, I enjoy driving it!
I’m tired but in a nitpick mode. You write Acura dealership in Greenlawn. I’m guessing you mean Huntington Honda, which doesn’t sell Acuras unless they’re preowned? lol. Now the truth comes out, I was wondering what happened to cause that much damage to your beloved Grand Prix. There have been many instances where it’s almost happened to me, or to friends of mine. Very scary stuff. I got a ticket in Va and was like 2 steps away from being asleep. Kept having micro naps, never want to experience that again.
You also mention the peppy 4 cylinder, about 161hp. My Altima is 175hp and after a mishap with my rotor installation (bold snapped when all the parts places were closed), my friend let me borrow his 97 3.3L v6 Grand Am. Only put out 155hp under old SAE standards. The car was very floaty, took a while for the power to really kick in. It also made quite a racket. Thought to myself, ok for all this noise the engine / exhaust is making, where am I going. Newer cars were passing me left and right.
I also have no idea how to drive a stick. I have a CVT, an item which I have a love/hate relationship with right now. It has a manual mode, but it’s not the same as shifting with real gears and feeling the car jerk / engaging and disengaging the clutch pedal.
In the end, what matters is that you enjoy the car and are in good health after the accident. I think you got a good deal for an 05, you’ll appreciate the four with each fill-up. For me it was like driving 25% farther on one tank of gas w/o having to put in premium. ok I’m tired now, haah
Not a problem. comments, questions, and criticisms are always welcome.
Oops. My bad. I meant Greenvale. We were headed to Rallye Acura (Roslyn, NY) which is right down Northern Blvd from Penn Toyota (Greenvale, where I got the car). The car is peppy. No, It’s not super-fast, nor is it a racecar. There’s plenty that I can do to it if I decide down the road I want to, but I doubt I’ll do much modding. If anything, I’m more into A/V systems than performance modding.
The Grand-Am is nice, but my old car was a 2004 CompG Grand Prix GTP with a 260 HP Supercharged V6 engine. That car could move! While still not the fastest thing on the road, it could definitely hold it’s own! Prior to that I had another Grand Prix and prior to that, 2 ’87 Firebirds and an 85 Mustang.
As for what happened to the Grand Prix, I was heading out to Holbrook. The last thing I remember was my GPS telling me to exit Sunrise Highway and then I woke up as the car hit the curb just after the ramp. I tried to steer back towards the street, but it was too late. The car continued forward through some bushes and finally stopped when it hit a tree. It was moving at the time, I’m guessing around 40 (assuming I didn’t sleep with my foot on the gas!). It all happened pretty quickly, though I had time to think, “Oh Shit” just prior to hitting the tree. Had I been on a straight road, I may have woken up when side-swiping a curb or guard rail, or even worse, another car, but possibly not completely destroying the car. I was very fortunate as I didn’t get hurt at all. I jumped out of the car and got scratched up by a thorn bush and strained a few muscles which were fine by the next day (My parent’s hot-tub helped!).
I do enjoy driving the Scion. It takes regular gas rather than premium and will be much better on my wallet than the Grand Prix was. I was filling it with Premium fuel twice a week. Perhaps once I get better at driving stick, I’ll consider suping up this car, or maybe get a true high performance car, but in the meantime, I’m happy with my tC.
But if you see me on the road ahead of you at a light, don’t honk at me. I stalled and will get going as soon as I can get the timing right on the clutch and gas!