So this site was initially a spot for me to clear my head during the pandemic. The fact that it still exists four years later is kind of crazy, considering the need for the site has all but disappeared, however, the fact that I can look back on all of this later when/if I reach retirement is exciting. Per Fidelity, I should aim to save 1x my salary by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60 and 10x by 67. If I include all assets to my name, I am ahead. If I include only liquid assets, I am behind. I guess it will be a judgment call. It will also depend on whether I am interested in downsizing when its retirement time. Many decide to do things like this once their nest is empty.
The rather beautiful feature photo for this post is Gainesville, FL. The photo is of the rather famous Century Tower at the University of Florida. My wife hosted several bright scientific minds for the Florida Science Olympiad regional competition. It really was a beautiful day and I couldn’t help but snap a photo or two of the campus. I spent what in my opinion were the most important years of my life at this university and I must say it was quite nostalgic seeing what had changed over these past twenty years. As I understand, acceptance to this university has become much more competitive since I was a student to the degree that with my SAT scores twenty years ago, I don’t believe I would be accepted today, which is interesting. I guess that just means later generations are smarter than mine was? Or perhaps more of them understand the value of an education?
Between November and today… I do have a new car. Future Dilemma lead to a… drum roll…
2024 Toyota… GR Corolla.
This vehicle was not even on my list. The short version of the story is, I left full well intending to purchase either a GR 86 or an Integra Type S. The Porsche was pretty well done for, as well as the Nissan Z. Fortunate for Toyota, that dealership was closer than the Acura dealership, so I ended up passing it first. They did not have any GR 86s on the lot, but they did have a shiny red 2024 GR Corolla. In fact, they had a red one outside and a slightly older white on on the showroom floor. They were strangely the same price, while the white one was a year old and the red one was brand new (like 5 miles on the odometer). Not sure what that was about. I was not ready to commit without exploring other options, and it was early.
I beelined for the Acura Dealership and they had qty:0 Integra Type S on the lot, however, they had at least a couple in transit. They were attempting to sell one to me with no less than $5k markup over MSRP. They were not willing to budge, which tells me that either they would have found a buyer fairly quickly, or that they were willing to let the car sit in the showroom for an undetermined amount of time. On top of all of this, I noticed a rather smug attitude with the sales guy, which is unsurprising given the dealership is A-OK with dealer markups. The only way I would get the car would be at another dealership, however, I told him I would wait and check it out. Spoiler alert–I did not wait and check it out.
Third (lastly), I still visited the Porsche dealership. They had a number of Boxster GTS 4.0s on the lot, however, none of them were remotely interesting to me. One had canary yellow interior trim with a light color (possibly white) exterior. That one I started up and it honestly sounded wonderful. On a convertible, you bear the full brunt of that 3.0 liter straight six motor. Wow. Porsches really are tailor made for impulse decision makers. I spoke with my brand ambassador/representative and he took my information as well as giving me unfortunate news that Porsche was actively discontinuing the Cayman/Boxster internal combustion motor in favor of full EV, meaning that glorious straight six motor was going away and that order potential is limited to a waiting list of other sad saps like myself. I did not join the waiting list as I knew I was not going to wait for the opportunity to plop over six figures on a Cayman or Boxster. The primary issue is my lack of willpower and need for instant gratification. If anything, I was more likely to drive 100s of miles to another dealership to look at and purchase a gently used one off the lot for a minor discount.
So I had completed my plan of visiting Toyota, Acura, and Porsche, and still felt unfulfilled. I went home and discussed my findings with my wife. I told her that I was planning to visit it to test drive it, as it was the only real candidate after a day of review. I knew that if I drove it, it was probable that I would commit to it.
I forgot to mention–the Acura dealership was adjacent to a VW dealership which happened to have a GR86 on the lot, so I walked in. Turns out that vehicle was an auto transmission, so I wasted my time, but in typical salesman fashion, he attempted to sell me a used BMW M2 Competition, which I did test drive. It was OK, but it was not what I was looking for at all, so I did walk.
So anyway, I headed back to the Toyota dealership and spent some time with the GR Corolla. They started it up and set me up with the test drive, and I did enjoy it. It was exactly what you expect out of a hot hatch (in my opinion). When I had my Mazda3, it was what I really was going for, and then some. The boy racer in me absolutely adore the factory designed turbo and wastegate valve, sports exhaust, and tight steering response. It reminded me much of my Civic Type R, which I also adored. That reminds me again… The VW dealership had a white Civic Type R, similar to the one I sold. I could have replaced the one I sold for the Tesla, but I wanted to try something new, and the GR Corolla had everything the Type R has with AWD.
So the GR Corolla was on point. The sales guy did not attempt to mark up and the car had roughly 5 miles on the odometer before my test drive. The asking price was MSRP for a brand new car. We know the deal by this point–it was going to happen. So I navigated the extra finance fees but still ended up purchasing some of their add-ons such as extended warranty, which I suspected would happen. I also unfortunately signed for a crappy loan from Toyota Finance, but I managed to pay it off to avoid most of the poor interest.
Matter of fact, I’ve had the car for roughly 5 months now, and as a secondary vehicle, I have about 2-3k miles on it. I split my commutes between it and the Model Y for variety. I also tend to treat the Model Y like a utility vehicle given its size, and I prefer it when there is traffic to cycling through 1st and 2nd gear in a traffic jam. I do want to track the GR Corolla, but I don’t want to do any of the work setting up the trip. I also don’t really want to pay for the track trip nor the maintenance activities (like tires/brakes) that surround it. Guess I don’t want it bad enough!