Seriously man, not to beat a dead horse, but your escalation scale seems a bit off. Did his girlfriend “get what she deserved” too?

You certainly have a point on the time/money/quality scale. However, from the science of it, ammonium nitrate was a bad call.

Thank you for bringing this light, Jason. I always cringed every time I saw an article here praising HPE. I have no personal, direct experience with HPE, but I always shied away from Hennessey.

Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t some sort of sketchy Illuminati-esque state-wide organization in Florida who’s sole goal is to troll the hell out of the rest of the country at any cost, consequences be damned.

I absolutely agree, if you are concerned about getting a good running car or are spending a decent chunk of money, an inspection by a qualified mechanic isn’t a bad idea. That said, this case, while terrible, could have easily been avoided.

No, you do not “just write shit on a contract” as you so eloquently put it. It is not quite that simple and any contract can always be challenged in court, with or without any addendum.

Yes, depending on the car, stipulations, and extra price, a warranty certainly can be a good deal. Amusingly, both of our examples were Dodge ;)

Oops, my mistake.

Great write-up! I have guided a few friends through the car buying process and a lot of what is listed here is extremely common. I did have a few comments though:

2014 Mustang 5.0, automatic. Yes, the manual is probably fine. it’s probably wonderful, in fact. But the auto was terrible. It felt like such a dated slushbox that dulled the Hell out of the wondrous new Coyote engine. It also lacked the track pack, the brakes were pretty crappy too.

This is why I am such a proponent of resto-modding these old cars. Restored to factory spec or not, those old parts made the car handle like a land yacht.

So I’m going to go super low rent here:

Which is 100% fine - but then don’t bitch about rent.

I honestly do not know how important location is to Jalopnik ,and Gawker as a whole, staff’s jobs. But if they can work from anywhere, I am envious. I wish I had a career that didn’t require me to be in a major tech center. I would move somewhere I could actually afford a house.

That’s right, I’ve got another project car!

Excellent write-up. You hit the nail on the head: CVT’s are inherently boring because they are supposed to be. If you have to simulate something your transmission simply does not do, guess what? You put the wrong transmission in.

Car enthusiasm and the desire to customize your car is something that is intrinsic to who a car person is. It’s not weird. It’s not dumb. It’s who we are. The rest of us car people understand you. Every one of us can relate to much of your story.

This is why I NEVER tell them the car I have. I ALWAYS tell them a car that I know the part IS in. I have 1967 Mercury Cougar with a 351 Cleveland in it. The Clevelands did not exist until 1970, so not late 60's Mustang or Cougar will ever show that.

Ya this is such a hit or miss situation. I was once looking for MSD brand ignition wires for the 6.2 in my 2010 Camaro. Bear in mind, these wires are identical for ANY LS motor. 5.7 in a 99 camaro? Same shit.

8.1L will do that. My build is designed to be a driver, a relaxed one at that. So no crazy horsepower figures. I will save that for my Charger ;)