Imagine, if you will, showing up to the valet line at Spago Beverly Hills circa 2007-2009 on a Friday night in this finely preserved 1989 4Runner (actual street view picture of the 4Runner in question from ~2011, parked up the street from my old apartment in Santa Monica):

This is more of a story about how taking an “embarrassing” car on first dates in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills helped me meet my wife.

Amazing what you can do without any intellectual property law enforcement...

Unpopular opinion: I loved Mazda’s “hateful” infotainment control knob (at least... in its 2017 manifestation). Positive engagement, tactile feedback, didn’t have to stare at a screen and poke around to navigate menus.

I drove like a grandma, and my Mazda6 2.5l 6 spd manual returned an average of 41 mpg. When I hammered on it, I’d get low to mid 30s. I was OK with that, too. Far too many folks think they need some hybrid penalty box or diesel to get into the 40s, when Mazda has been making decent cars that can get 40 mpg or close to…

I’m also counting down the days until I can afford to swap in a Tremec.

Not sure about Illinois, but here in nowheres-ville, cars over 10 yrs old are odometer exempt.

This solves the luggage part of the equation, but there is still the question of where to safely stow the small humans.

I get the spirit of this, I really do, but uh... I’m not stuffing 2 kids in the back of a lowered, straight-piped, caged 240z for a 9 hour drive. Outside of the fact that they can’t safely fit back there (no seats...), where would we put our luggage?

So what you’re saying is, Tesla needs a better Bitchin’ Betty?

I bought a CPO 2017.5 Mazda6 Touring 6spd M/T in an unpopular color combo (blue exterior, white leather interior) Jan 2020 for $14,500.

I drove it for 18 months.

I traded it in on 2 October for $18,000.

Dealer sold it in 3 days for $22,500.

Right now its 2 adults & 2 kids. Kid w/long legs sits behind wife, kid w/short legs who can still sit cross-legged sits behind me b/c my seatback touches the rear seat bottom.

Counterpoint: get a 2 dr/4 seater while you still can. Once the kids get bigger (10+ yrs old), they won’t fit anymore.

Caveat: I’m far from an audiophile.

Uprated (DOT approved!) lighting. Specifically headlights, low beams. If nothing DOT approved is available, the aftermarket may have a solution in the form of an upgraded wiring harness to get the most out of your potentially dim/crappy headlights.

I put a bluetooth/usb-in/aux-in Retrosound unit with uprated-but-not-crazy speakers in the footwell of my ‘72 240z. Coupled with some decent 6x9's in the tool boxes, its drastically improved my driving enjoyment when I’m just putzing around town.

I didn’t think I regretted any of mine until I had a near death experience (not car-related). And in that flash of a moment, the first (and, for about 5 seconds, the only) thing that popped into my mind was “man, I regret buying that salvage title Integra LS back in the late 90's.”

I’ve been here 40 yrs give/take, and my dream car du jour (it changes almost daily) is a Tipo 115 Alfa. I must be doing it wrong.

I see what you’re doing... trash talking them to pull the market price out of the stratosphere. Keep on keepin’ on. One of these days I’ll be able to afford one.