Throwing Myself in Pile of Carbs

[Z-06]

Oh, why did I open my mouth?

Our firm hired a new safety director a couple of months ago. He seems like a good fellow, and knows what he is doing on his job. He is quite professional, amiable and good conversationalist. During one of the safety meetings, he told us that he raced his vehicles, and will be more than happy to start a club for at our firm so young dudes and dudesses (yeah there are a couple of gearheaded girls like our own GMpartsgirl) of our firm can race and enjoy. The conversation was going great. I asked him what vehicle he drove; to which he said a 2008 Civic Si, with some modifications in progress. I thought it was perfectly fine – different strokes for different folks.

He said that he will never buy an American vehicle for its poor quality or a Toyota for being overrated. While I heartily agreed with the second conjecture, I butted heads about the first one and went on to make him agree that cars from GM and Ford were not bad. I could not convince him about Chrysler's quality, since I am not convinced about its improvements either.

Well, the conversation would have been quite cordial, had I not made a mistake of blurting out that I had a 2005 Acura TSX, and that my girl currently drives it. He wanted to see pictures of the vehicle, and when I showed them, he went gaga over my choice (reg will disagree – he thinks my life has not been enhanced since buying a TSX). His professional talk soon became gibberish as the ricer child in him suddenly broke free. He said that I had one of the rarest TSXes in the country, and that Honda fans will be going bonkers to get one (graphite gray with stick, navigation and black leather – if that makes it special so be it). The next hour of my life that followed was a rice fest. He was telling me about how fertile a bed TSX provides for modifications, and how its chassis and components are meticulously developed for racing. He started talking the ricer mumbo jumbo of K24, K20, Hondata, J-something, Mugen, etc. My head started spinning by the amount of carbohydrates I was having in my system just by listening to this rice talk. I wanted to run, but I was sitting in my own office and he was standing at the door – it felt like being in a gas chamber.

Then he went a step further. He asked me to get the car back from my girl, start modding it and make it track ready. He said that he and his buddies know places where they get parts for cheap and will install the mods on my car for no labor charge – yeah I can imagine the level of excitement they will be having while they put those parts. And then he went a step even further. The next day he dropped two Honda tuners magazines on my desk and asked me to read them to get idea about the level TSX can go to with those enhancements. I glanced one of them, and the amount of tackiness I saw in the pictures made me faint on my chair. There was an article about a "gentleman" who spent about $10,000 on a $400 civic 1991 hatchback and had modified the guts out of that poor thing externally, internally, physically, sexually, and eternally.

Let us talk about my safety director's car. It is a red Civic Si sedan for which he paid $20,000 plus change. He saved about $3,000 of the sticker. He has since put in tighter ENKEI suspensions, sturdier headers and cams, upgraded intake and exhaust. All the car needs now is a turbo which he is going to get once the money is flush. The amount of dough he has spent on his car in modifications is about $2,500. He said that having this vehicle and S200 would be his ultimate dream garage with both those vehicles he can use for race duties, while using a Honda Fit for daily chores.

Which got me thinking why not get a Cobalt SS, or WRX, or Mazdaspeed3? All three already have the necessary suspension hardware and the turbos as stock for a price not more than $3,000 over what he paid for the Si. Heck, you can get the Cobalt for about $20,000 with GM's discounts. Furthermore, you are starting from a step above with the three cars if you still are interested in modifying, compared to the Si, for which you literally have to start from ground zero. Am I being unrealistic for thinking that way? I mean seriously, if I was in a market for a car to race on weekends, which I am, I would rather go with a Cobalt SS turbo or Poonthaiyak Solstice GXP coupe, rather than the Si or the S2000, for the hardware and price the GM cars offer for being almost track ready. Hell, I would even get the used E46 330i with ZHP package for about $20k with its RWD, OEM 4-piston calipers, track ready suspensions and a sumptuous inline 6. But then again I am a GM fan and BMW biased person and may be considered myopic for my car visions.

Oh why did I blurt about my TSX? Some people just like to bring on crap on them; I did that the other day. And boy I got a Fridgeline load of crap with the bed eventually crumbling under the sheer weight of the she-it. I guess I deserved it.

Has anyone of you been in a situation like this where you feel like Oh Why Did I.....? Let us share.

[Intrepidation]

The solution is simple: sell the TSX and buy a CTS.

[pow]

The best Honda is the Odyssey. Then the Fit, which is like a mini Odyssey.

[NOS2006]

I say get an LS1 car, beef up the suspension, and kick his ass.

Or an LS2 GTO. Or an '03-04 Cobra.

[Z-06]

I say get an LS1 car, beef up the suspension, and kick his ass.

Or an LS2 GTO. Or an '03-04 Cobra.

I was thinking more in terms of LS6 or LS7.

[Z-06]

The solution is simple: sell the TSX and buy a CTS.

TSX is really sold, girl took the payments over and is in Michigan close to where Frank is. I am not going to drive it back.

[ocnblu]

I know the feeling... your eyes glaze over, your mind wanders, you start to fidget...

[Oracle of Delphi]

I don't know why you are letting your Safety director tell you what you should be doing with your personal property! Have you no will of your own? You're not in love with him are you? If not tell him to Fu*k Off.

P.S. If he worked for me he would not be the Safety director long. Let me get this straight, he gave a safety talk, then after it was over, he followed you to your office, stood in your doorway to your office, and talked rice for another hour? I'd fire his a$$ if that went on and I saw it ... :twocents: