Why I'm Getting an STi or The Auto Enthusiast Defined

Let me begin my saying that I consider myself a legitimate car nut. Since before I could drive I’ve drooled over the curvaceous sheet metal and stared slack jawed at the performance figures of sports cars. I love memorizing the horsepower figures, engine configurations and 0-60 times of exotic supercars like Ferrari and Porsche. I thoroughly enjoy arguing the supremacy of my favorite cars against those of my friends.
So when I got a decent paying job I decided to get a car that a car enthusiast such as me would enjoy. My choice would be familiar to anybody who has paid any attention to the low priced sports car market over the past few years: a Subaru WRX. It’s quick, it handles well, it looks good and it has AWD which is a nice thing up here in VT. I bought the exact year (2005) and color (Black Obsidian Pearl) that I wanted and I haven’t been disappointed by the car once since. I love it. For 2 years now, I have loved it. However, I’m going to sell it.
Allow me to explain why I’ve decided to sell a car that I just confessed to loving. Like Brutus, it’s not that I loved my WRX less, but that I love the STi more. The Subaru WRX STi is the top dog model in the lineup of the Impreza line. It’s essentially my car with an improvement in everything; from the engine to the suspension to the interior. Basically, it’s much faster.
I knew, after my first test drive, that the WRX was the car for me. I’d driven perhaps 3 or 4 other cars that I was interested in, but none of them provided the feeling of “right” I got when I drove the WRX. So I got one. But when I drove the STi, it was as though that feeling of “right” had been ratcheted up another 5 notches. It seemed somehow “more right”. Many things between the two models were similar, and that familiarity made me instantly comfortable in the STi. But the things that were different seemed, at least to me, different for the better. So I have longed for the STi since that test drive and debated internally whether or not I should get one.
It’s taken a few months to come up with a final answer, but I did just the same. The answer is yes, I should. But it wasn’t a straight up answer to a simple question. The problem is, the decision makes almost no sense. Because I have inherited from my father an overly developed logic center, I had trouble convincing myself it was a good idea. This small doubt was fueled by friends and family telling me that I already had a nice car, one that I liked very much and it would be stupid to get a car that is so similar at this point. After all, I’ve paid off 2 years of the loan on my car. My favorite year for the STi is 2005, the same year as my car. So it’s not like I’m trading up into a newer vehicle. On top of that my car doesn’t get fantastic gas mileage as it is and the STi’s is even worse. In the world of $4/gallon gas ,that matters. Also most STi’s come with high performance summer tires to take advantage of the handling capabilities that the car possesses. But in Vermont, I need a good set of dedicated winter tires, especially with 300hp spinning my wheels. Since the STi has bigger, wider rims, those are going to cost more than my WRX’s. Then there’s insurance to consider, because the STi costs more to insure of course. And the ride is stiff, some people complain that it is uncomfortably so, which might matter since I do about 75% of my driving on frost heaved highways. It’s got a great set of Brembo brakes but the pads are very expensive to replace, and they cause a lot of brake dust which requires cleaning the rims and car frequently. Aside from brake pads most of the fluids are more expensive on the STi, either because they require a higher quality or simply a larger quantity. To finish it off, my WRX has the Premium package including a power moonroof, heated seats, heated rear view mirrors and windshield wiper defrosters (surprisingly useful). None of those things are available on the STi, and I really do enjoy each feature.
That is the list of Cons on the Pro/Con list in my mind. It’s fairly long and it makes a good argument against selling my car to get an STi. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the WRX has great aftermarket support and I can spend some time and money modifying my WRX to be almost as fast as the stock STi. So considering this, you may wonder why I’ve chosen to make the move anyway. Well that would be the list of things in my Pros column. There aren’t many, but they’ve got weight where it counts. It’s faster, it handles better, it looks more aggressive, but most importantly: it puts a bigger smile on my face. Yup, back to that feeling of “right”. In a contest between two cars that feel it, the STi feels it much more so. I can point to the reasons but they don’t matter. It’s like asking why you fall for a certain girl. She’s pretty, she’s funny, she’s whatever. What matters is she makes you happier than you would be without her. It’s the same with the right car.
After mulling it over for a while I looked at it like this: I’m an auto enthusiast. I love cars for what they are and what they do and I want to own the nicest car I can for these reasons. For me, that means owning the car that performs as close as possible to the cars I hung on my walls as a kid and still buy car magazines to read about. I need a car anyway, why not get one that fulfills a desire for a hobby as well? Being a car guy means being passionate about automobiles. Does getting an STi make logical or financial sense for me? Nope, not really. Am I going to get one anyway? You bet. Because when it comes down to it I don’t give a damn what makes sense. Since when is that the only good reason to do something? Because passion and practicality can exist separate from one another. Because having more of one often means less of the other. Because I know I place more importance on passion. And because I’m not promised a tomorrow. Who knows if I’ll be able to afford a car like this 10 years from now. Maybe I can get a nicer, faster car. Maybe not. But knowing that I can do it right now, that maybe this is the only chance I’ll get, I don’t think I have much of a choice. Being passionate sometimes means getting what you want, not what you need. But it also means that maybe, in the case of the car guy, those two mean exactly the same thing.