2.3L, MZR-L, 16V DOHC inline 4 cylinder (VVT), 160 HP, FWD, 5-speed automatic

Term driven: 2008-2017

This marks the first car that I purchased on my own. There were some regrets as I did make concessions from my goal.

  1. I knew I wanted a black car, and I came back with a silver one.
  2. I knew I wanted manual transmission, and I came back with an auto.

I ended up with this silver one because they took a considerable amount off of the price for this particular vehicle. At the end of the day, I did like the car, and proceeded to do what I do personalizing it. I changed the exhaust to a MagnaFlow cat-back unit within the first year or two. I believe I got an AEM CAI and installed it myself. I updated the head unit and interior speakers. I installed Rockford Fosgate twin 12 inch subwoofers. Then I was off!

I kept the car like this for the most part while I slowly paid it off. Once it was paid for, I decided to update the wheels to aftermarket wheels. I opted for OZ Racing Alleggerita lightweight Italian wheels in anthracite finish. The car was now unique. Shortly thereafter I decided that I was ready to mess with the suspension. I pulled the trigger and ordered Racing Beat front and rear sway bars, Eibach lowering springs, and KYB street shocks/struts. I installed them at the same dealership I bought the car. The car proceeded to handle as if on rails.

I drove the car and immensely enjoyed the experience for a number of years. By 2017 I was in a financial position where I could by a dream sports car as I had recently put a down payment on a new house. This freed up funds that I had otherwise allocated to saving for a home. The time had finally come after over 30 years.

I ended up purchasing a brand new, custom, fresh off the boat, world rally blue 2017 Subaru BRZ in a manual transmission. This car was the result of all of my deliberation and I was ready for the upgrade. I was also finally switching to manual transmission after 9 years, but I didn’t want to learn with this brand new car. So surprisingly, this is where the 2006 Nissan Sentra enters the scene. Note that this Subaru would subsequently be traded towards my current daily driver as of this date in January 2021.

For the sake of closure, I purchased the Subaru and briefly switched to daily driving the Nissan, but did not sell the Mazda 3 as a trade-in. I ended up keeping it until I finally sold it to my brother for the same price CarMax offered for it. My brother still has the car at the time of this record in 2021.