Cars

Cars are freedom, fun, and what gets me to places I'd rather be (or away from places I don't want to be). Cars sort of matter to me: they were freedom and the ability to go where I wanted. For a while, they were sort of an extension of my personality, or at least reflected it a little -- though as I got older, I got more utilitarian and they're more a transportation device. These are pictures of cars that I've owned: or like make/model/color substitutes if I can't find pictures of my actual car. ℹ️ Info           ~ Aristotle Sabouni Created: 2018-11-17

My Cars

2021 Tesla Model Y

We didn't need a new car. But I was considering buying a Pickup (to fit into our new home in Houston). Well, I wanted an EV Truck, and they were going to be a year or so out. So why not try an EV to see if we'd like them. And while we didn't NEED a new car, we had moved from Commiefornia, and as a reward for selling our home there, and generally getting more ready for retirement -- I wanted something to acknowledge success. So Model Y until an EV pickups were ready. Best car we ever bought.

2019 Hyundai Kona (Iron Man)

Bought my first new car, for myself, ever (at 55). I’ve bought Melissa a few new cars, I leased one, and I have bought many nearly new cars. I just never brand new. It was a Hyundai Kona: Ironman Special Edition. I’m not even that much of an Iron Man fan (the Super Hero that is, I like the song), but the black and red two tone was cool. So I bought it sight unseen, got it below sticker (Costco Discount), and it came in and was an even better Dark-Grey and Dark-Red. Nice, but short lived.

2010 Mazda CX7 (2008)

When the Infiniti came off-lease, I needed to pick something up. I was in frugal mode, and needed something fairly quickly. The CX-7 had good reviews, was similar to what I was driving in size (not luxury), and was affordable, so I found a low-milage used one, and bought it cash. It was basically the poor man's Infiniti. Not the nicest or worst thing around, and it got me from A->B without too much trouble. I went with silver, again. And Melissa was like "Silver or Blue" you are predictable.

2007 Infiniti FX35

My 2007 Infiniti lease. Since the Great Recession was hitting, car leases were absurdly good deals. While I loved the BMW, I had gotten a brake job at 50K miles and it was $4K, and I was approaching 100K miles: time to sell. The car may drive great, but the maintenance/parts were absurd. And I wanted a little more space -- so for like $299/month I could drive a $50K car for 3 years. The Infiniti was a nice car (basically the same motor as the Z), but while everything was good, nothing was great.

1996 BMW (E36) M3

One my favorite cars: my M3. I test drove this car, and the dealer said, "you can push it", so I drifted the car through a windy road, keeping it on the edge of cohesion while the dealer turned pale. I just knew intuitively what this car could and couldn't do from the first drive. He shat himself, but knew he had a sale. I test drove a Z3 M (too squirley), and an 8 (too heavy), this was the Goldilocks car for me. I had it for 10 years, because I kept looking for something else, and nothing came close.

1994 BMW 533i

My parents moved to the UK, and left me to take care of their house (with rent and my brother), they took two cars, and left me their 1984 BMW 533i as sort of a thank you. The car was in OK shape, but my Mom wasn't great with maintenance, and parts were expensive. And "giving it to me", meant that they would invite people to stay in my house, and they could use "my" 2nd car (for weeks at a time). It started getting due for some pretty expensive maintenance due to the neglect. Well, since it was "mine", I sold it (and my Isuzu), to help with get my 1996 BMW (E36) M3.

1991 Isuzu Amigo
My Little Isuzu Amigo, with a shell. It was a cute, loud little Jeep-like thing. Totally gutless with the handling of a snowplow - but I enjoyed it anyways. We drove this to San Diego for our Honeymoon. After I had this loud, cheap, clunky thing, I totally got the Jeep lovers out there.

1990 Acrura Integra (1989)

So I went back to a Blue Hatch, this one longer and sportier: the Acura Integra was the love child of the Civic and the Prelude, with a spoiler, little nicer interior, and sporty wheels. I like Honda's reliability. A little underpowered unless you ran the revs high, but I shifted late, and liked them. I did go through clutches on them though. In the end it was stolen from my condo, and when I got it back, it had bad Ju Ju, so I replaced it with an Isuzu Amigo.

1987 Honda Civic SI

After the GLC, I went back to a Honda. A Civic SI hatchback, that I was sorta scammed on. Kinda the hot hatch of it's era. I like hatches because they were small and functional -- this one in black, with mag wheels, limo-tint, sunroof, and a fancy key-fob alarm that would roll up the windows and sunroof (that I convinced others was voice activated, because key-fob alarms were new, and they didn't know to check my hands.

1985 Mazda GLC

I was downsizing to go back school, so Dad sold me his little 1980 Mazda GLC: he charged me high blue book, but I could do installments, and it got my expenses way down. It looked like this but silver, with a silly decal. Dad seemed to love factory racing decals. "Sport" is misleading as it had 68 horsepower, if there was a tailwind. The school didn't stick, as I got another job offer, and Parents flaked on helping with expenses (as they promised, again). So I went back to work.

1985 Honda Accord (1984)

Since I was working, the Prelude had problems, and the dealer helped me out, I decided to upgrade to a Burgundy colored Honda Accord (near-new). It had all the amenities and was luxurious for its day... I liked it briefly. But then started focusing on going back to school, and needed to cut my expenses -- so I took over my Dad's Mazda GLC (and paid him a $3K for it), and got out from under the Accord payments.

1983 Kawasaki GPZ-550

My Parents and I had battles over me getting motorcycle. Eventually, I got tired of the gamesmanship and just bought one, and kept it at a friends house. It took a few months before they found out -- and they threatened to kick me out over it. I told them just let me know when. They backed off for the moment, but I was out a year or so later anyways. I didn't do well with dumb-authority or hypocrisy, and my Parents weren't always wise about the battles they picked. Still, I'm a forgiving person, so we didn't have a horrible relationship, when they weren't trying to tell me what to do.

1983 Honda Prelude (1983)
I came back from College (I'd lasted 1/2 a Chicago Winter and 1 semester), I bought a Honda Prelude. It was only like 1 year old but had like 50,000 miles, and I didn't drive it long before the clutch went out. So I was able to get a good dealer upgrade to a newer Accord.

1982 Opel GT(1972)

My future College Roommate and I made a deal: he got to drive my car in California all summer, if I got to drive his all winter while going to school in Illinois. He drove mine, and blew it up the last week of summer (another head gasket), so I had to sell it for scrap. The "reciprocal" agreement turned out to be not completely reciprocal... but I did get occasional use of the Opal GT, so I considered it partly mine.

1980-1982 Cellica

After the Corona went away, I had been preparing to buy my own car (working and saving). My Uncle and Grandparents had chipped in, and found a totaled Celica -- and my Uncle had it rebuilt, stuck a truck motor in it, and tricked out for me. My Little Plumb Celica: I fell in love on first sight. It was an unreliable piece of junk, that I adored and drove to death. It was the best gift I've ever gotten.

1980 Corona

After Dad killed my Subaru, my Grandma's neighbor was selling a 1972 Toyota Corona for cheap. It was the fugliest car I have ever seen. When she asked, I literally begged her NOT to buy it and promised I would drive it. So she bought it for me. (It's an Italian thing). I smiled, thanked them, and after a drove it home, I never drove it again. I was heartbroken because I couldn't sell it and get what I wanted, and I would rather die than drive that car to the ER.

1979-1980 Subaru

My parents extra car became a Subaru Wagon they'd had. My Uncle was resold a ship full of Subaru's that got damaged in shipping (my parents had 2). They had no resale value, so this was "My" first car. I put big speakers in the back, painted the wheels, and put shag carpeting in far back (my little shaggin' wagon). I wasn't getting "any"... but like the condom I carried, it never hurt to be prepared. 6 months later, my Dad blew up the motor and so I was carless, again.

1979 Cadillac

My parents had a Cadillac Coupe De Ville (1973 or 1974) that had become their 3rd car... and was sort of "my car" for a few months in 1979 or so. It was huge, it floated over ditches, handled like a snow-plow got about 8.9 mpg. And I had to cover operating costs. So the Caddy wasn't practical to drive... even with gas @ $.90/gallon. And the insurance priced me out of it. Thus it was a brief bridge car, while my parents sold it, got themselves a new primary car. And I got a Subbie as a hand-me-down.

Melissa Cars

           Main article: Melissa Cars

2002 Mini Cooper S (2002)

For her next car, we bought her the Mini Cooper. Melissa was looking at different cars (still wanted a hatch), and I convinced her to try a Mini. The dealer asked me to drive it hard, and I drifted that little go-kart around -- it does handle off-the-hook. Melissa got to customize and pick everything, and the dealer experience was top notch, even if we had to wait months while it was built and shipped over. Buying a Mini back then was kinda joining a friendly cult: people waved at each other, and knew each other by the customizations they had. While consumer reports rates them low in reliability, other than some stereo issues, and a dozen flat tires, it's been rock solid. As it got older she kept considering trading it in, but couldn't find anything she liked better.

1995 318ti (1995)

While I'd never bought myself a new car until I was over 50 (I usually buy 1 or a few years old), we bought Melissa a few. In 1995 she wanted a new car, so we went down and bought her this little BMW 318ti (before I bought my M3 a year later). She liked hatches, so talked her into test driving. She didn't think she was a BMW girl, until she drove it. Then we bought it. They cancelled it (in the U.S.) a year or so later. Everything broke the first year: replaced a transmission, 3 stereos, fuel sensor in the engine, struts for the hatch -- the dealer knew her by name. After 6 months she was thinking of using lemon law to give it back. And all of a sudden, everything was fixed. She kept it for nearly 10 years, and other than some struts for the hatch, it was reliable as heck.

• Honda CRX
• MR2
• Navajo
• Mustang

Car Stories

These are stories about me and cars:

• Grand Theft Auto - Some kids tried to steal from a car in my lot, I was having none of it.
• There are the 4 times I got hit by a car: Cars greatest hits -- (1) Objects in the sideview mirror, (2) Driving while stoned, (3) You never see it coming, (4) Paved Paradise and ran me over in a parking lot
• The time I was T-Boned, and had to get in a lawsuit to get my money out
• Someone did a swoop and stop scam on me in San Jose
• Got into a little fender-bender with someone stupid, who happened to work with me at Adobe

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About Writing gives me peace. It gives me an excuse to research and question and refine. And once written down, move on.

Aristotle Sabouni This section is all about me (Ari Sabouni). The initial founder/creator of the site.

Favorites Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, these are a few of my favorite things.

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