Here's a fun little game I like to play:

If I could have any car in the world, all practical issues such as availabilty, cost, leagality, practicality, and repair cost aside, a few spring to mind:

-One of the Group B Rally homologation specials would be nice...I'll take the Evo version of the Lancia 037, please. Longitudinal mid-engine supercharged Fiat-Abarth twincam...rear-wheel drive, looks beautiful, and sounds cool. Drive it anywhere, sideways, fast!
-Hmmm...or perhaps a Ferrari 250 SWB...3 liter V12 with 100 naturally-aspirated per liter...a nicely-balanced front-engined, rear-wheel-drive coupe. Classic lines. Drive it to the track, drive it at the track, listen to the V12!
-Or perhaps a historic Lotus 11 racecar with Coventry Climax power
-A Caterham R500 (really ferocious Lotus Seven replica) would fit the bill nicely.
-A mildly-tuned Japanese-spec Toyota Altezza RS200...Toyota four-cylinder RWD lives!
-A Subaru Impreza 22B would be sufficient to scare the s**t out of myself.
-Suzuki Cappucino-How could you not have fun driving this tiny FR roadster!
-Autozam AZ-1 (Mazda)-Another Japanese micorcar, midengined, under 1500 pounds!

These are cars where a mere mention of their names makes my blood run cold. Logic doesn't exist where these cars are concerned, just emotion. My interest and desire is to the point of lust. Will I ever own any of them? Maybe an Altezza someday, but probably none of them. So, when I tire of this game, I play a new one.

If I had to have a ___, but had to buy it myself, and actually deal with all aspects of ownership, what would it be?

If I had to have a FWD Toyota:
-AE82 FX-16 GT-S (I bet this is still one of the fastest FWD Corollas Toyota has made yet)

If I had to have a Nissan/Datsun:
-2-door 510 or
-S13 240SX notchback coupe with SR20DE conversion (essentially a U.S. Silvia Q's)

If I had to have a front-wheel drive Nissan:
-NX2000-All of the fun of the original Sentra SE-R, but wierder/rarer, and maybe lighter

If I had to have a Honda:
-S800/S600 coupe (probably a later one with the 800cc motor and driveshaft instead of chain-good luck finding one!) or
-S2000 hardtop (good luck affording one of these either!)

If I had to have a front-wheel-drive Honda
-EG Civic hatchback with a B16+TypeR tranny swap (sort-of Type-R Civicish)

If I had to have a Subaru:
-Previous-generation 2.5RS (late-90's) with an EJ20 swap (essentially a U.S. WRX)
-Maybe an old 80's GL 3-door hatchback with more modern running gear?

If I had to have a Mitsubishi:
-80's Starion Turbo, no question. While I am not to thrilled about the motor, you gotta love the RWD and the styling...man, I dig those fenders, and you could always swap a 4G63 in.

If I had to have an Isuzu:
-Impulse (RWD) but I hear these don't handle too well, so maybe
-the AWD turbo model (the one that led to the Geo Storm) these are really cool, and super-rare or
-the Lotus-handling-package Stylus (FWD, but so wierd and rare you gotta love it!) or
-the Lotus-handling I-Mark...a rare, and often underrated performance hatch...this one really is a tough call, so many funky cool models...help! I am becoming a closet Isuzu nut.

If I had to have a Mazda (my old boss would be so proud):
-323 GTX (rare AWD turbo rally model) or
-First gen. (SA22C) RX-7 GSL-SE or
-Miata hardtop (First gen. bodyshell with the second gen. 10th Anniversary 6-speed tranny, 1.8 liter motor drivetrain...if only these damn things weren't so common and popular, I would be all over them...but you have to have something to set you apart from all those other car-nuts, something better only you know about...no, there are just too many of them.)

If i had to have an Italian car:
-Alfa Romeo GTV-preferably GTV 2000, in blue, with Campy alloy wheels....did I mention that my dad used to have this car? :-)

If I had to have a British car:
-Lotus Elan FHC (Fixed Head Coupe, non-convertible-a driveable classic from Colin Chapman, the master of designing a lightweight car with superb dynamics and handling.)

If I had to have a German car:
-1st-gen BMW M3 (the four-cylinder E30...man I love these cars!) or
-BMW 2002tii

If I had to have a FWD non-Toyota Japanese car:
-first-generation Suzuki Swift GTi (This 16V 1300 makes 100hp, alloy head, forged crank, revs forever, sort of like a little Suzuki 4AG-Hehehe!)

If I had to have a Swedish car:
-Volvo P1800 coupe or
-A nicely massaged, lowered, but otherwise plain-looking Volvo 242 GT

If I had to have a brand-new, U.S.-legal, showroom stock car:
-Lexus IS300 with the manual! or
-I would consider the Toyota Matrix when it comes out; if it comes with the 180hp 2ZZ-GE, 6-speed, and AWD. If the 4WD version has only the 1ZZ-FE as rumored, forget it! Or do an engine swap.

Okay, that was fun...but now let's make it tougher and move on to some categories of cars I don't even like:

If I had to have a brand-new, U.S.-legal, showroom stock, non-Toyota car:

-Tough call...probably Subaru WRX sedan in white but
-I would consider the Focus SVT when it comes out or there is a remote possibility of
-One of the smallest, sportiest BMW 3-series (if I could afford it...and sorry, but I lost all track of the model names when a 323 bacame a 2.5 liter and a 325 became a 2.8 liter...what the hell?) I am looking forward to the BMW 1-series with eager, eager anticipation, especially if BMW can deliver on their hints and promises and keep the weight to a minimum. The gossip in car magazines seems to indicate that the BMW wants a performance edge over the competition, and has two means of acheiving that: RWD and far-and-away the lightest car in the class, even though the weight-savings will cut into traditional BMW features and comfort. Several things are funny about this statement. "Tradition." Do you know what is traditional for this type of BMW? A bare-bones, loud, bumpy, minimally-equipped, cheaper-build-quality 2002. And man, is it fun. Build another one for us and I will be happy. The other funny part is that the competition will be cars like the VW GTI and Audi S2. Why can't BMW recognize that there is competition outside of Germany? Japanese cars these days are very, very good. There isn't a stigma or shame associated with competing with the Japanese makers anymore.

If I had to have a six-cylinder car:
-MA70 Toyota Supra

If I had to have a Volkswagen:
-First generation Scirocco with a 16-valve drivetrain and all the handling goodies-I almost bought this exact car once! (A GTI would be fun, but is a little too popular to be my favorite.)

If I had to have an American car:
-Late-80's Ford Mustang notchback coupe (In case you hadn't noticed, you can keep your hatchbacks-I'm all about the coupe) with a built 2.3 liter four (Pinto motor) and four-link rear end, shocks, springs, swaybars, bushings, the whole autocross/roadrace suspension shebang.

If I had to have a FWD American car:
-Ford Focus hatchback (the best part is, it is actually European Ford, shhh!)

If I had to have an SUV:
-I'd leave it in the driveway forever and ride my bike instead, but it would be the latest generation Toyota RAV4. :-) OK, maybe I would drive it once in a great while. And if it couldn't be a Toyota, it would be a Suzuki, OK? And if it had to be a full-size SUV it would be an R-series 80's Toyota 4Runner with a 5-speed.

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