Hello all, I'm an NCO in the Air Force stationed in Korea, but originally from So Cal. I was born and raised in Orange County, and my wife is living in and from San Diego. After getting out of here later in the year, I'll be off to Vegas.
I needed a car, as my 2006 WRX Wagon is getting long in the tooth. We just had our third and last child, so my choices were either to go small for efficiency, or get some kind of minivan to help out the wife. Problem is, I can't drive slow junk, and my wife and I came to the conclusion that a small, efficient car would be better for my Vegas/California/Arizona commutes than getting another huge hauler.
A bit about the slow boring car thing. When it became time to get something for the family hauler, I got my wife a 2011 Ford Flex Ecoboost. It's a great hauler, with genuine three row seating for people at least 6 feet tall... but really I got it for the engine. I don't feel too bad about getting a new car, because my wife gets to drive around a tuned 420+hp, 5 second to 60 Flex.
My grandpa was a general foreman for Ford's engine plant in Lima, OH for 30 years, and most of my life we've had at least one Ford. The world-car strategy and the amazing fun of Ford's direct-injected ecoboost engines got me hooked.
I loved my Subaru, but as they've all but abandoned the turbo wagon segment, I figured it was time to move on. Hence the Fiesta ST. It's small, but spacious, fun handling (so I've read), decent fuel economy, and a tunable engine! I really hope I made a good choice. I've done tons of research and decided I want something cheap enough that I wouldn't freak out about every little ding and scratch like I did on my wife's car. I love orange, so the molten orange had me from the get go. However, the cost of the paint and knowing the pain of touching up or repainting tri-color Ford paint (Flex is White Platinum tri-coat), I settled on the stealthy Oxford White. Plus, with plain white paint and Rado gray wheels, I'll stay out of the cop's eyes, and have an easier time with brake dust and paint chips.
Back to the risky part. On base here we can order Fords and have them built and delivered to our place of choice, either on base, or to our next station. Only being here a year, with no need for a car, I elected to have the car sent to Vegas. I ordered up every option but the moonroof, as I will have no need for that in the desert, and being tall, I don't want to make the car any more cramped than it is. Sucks buying a car without even test driving it, but I've driven and owned plenty of sporty and turbo FWD cars, and this way, I pick up every incentive available until 30 days after the car is picked up. I figure in the end I'll have saved at least $5K off of MSRP.
From the get-go, I'd like pick up the Cobb stage 1 with motor mount, some Weather Beater mats, mud flaps, and Venture Shield. I came to the forum from reading Blue Bomber's posts on the Euro-Import headlights. The biggest disappointment about this car is the lack of projector beams. I can live with the relatively cheap (spartan) interior, especially the door cards, etc., but I would have paid extra for those Euro-style projectors.
I hated that my wife's SEL Flex came with the halogens, but I got an HID kit for it anyway. Before I get any hate, the cut-offs on the capped bulbs and digital ballasts at 55W and 4500K look great, and don't scatter or blind at all. I'd like to stay away from that with this car, and would much rather pick up those euro lights when possible. Hoping to learn a lot from the forum, while I wait for my car to be built and delivered to Vegas in October.
Thanks for anyone who stuck around long enough to read the whole post. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as I have good amount of time to plan mod purchases before I get to pick this car up!
I needed a car, as my 2006 WRX Wagon is getting long in the tooth. We just had our third and last child, so my choices were either to go small for efficiency, or get some kind of minivan to help out the wife. Problem is, I can't drive slow junk, and my wife and I came to the conclusion that a small, efficient car would be better for my Vegas/California/Arizona commutes than getting another huge hauler.
A bit about the slow boring car thing. When it became time to get something for the family hauler, I got my wife a 2011 Ford Flex Ecoboost. It's a great hauler, with genuine three row seating for people at least 6 feet tall... but really I got it for the engine. I don't feel too bad about getting a new car, because my wife gets to drive around a tuned 420+hp, 5 second to 60 Flex.
My grandpa was a general foreman for Ford's engine plant in Lima, OH for 30 years, and most of my life we've had at least one Ford. The world-car strategy and the amazing fun of Ford's direct-injected ecoboost engines got me hooked.
I loved my Subaru, but as they've all but abandoned the turbo wagon segment, I figured it was time to move on. Hence the Fiesta ST. It's small, but spacious, fun handling (so I've read), decent fuel economy, and a tunable engine! I really hope I made a good choice. I've done tons of research and decided I want something cheap enough that I wouldn't freak out about every little ding and scratch like I did on my wife's car. I love orange, so the molten orange had me from the get go. However, the cost of the paint and knowing the pain of touching up or repainting tri-color Ford paint (Flex is White Platinum tri-coat), I settled on the stealthy Oxford White. Plus, with plain white paint and Rado gray wheels, I'll stay out of the cop's eyes, and have an easier time with brake dust and paint chips.
Back to the risky part. On base here we can order Fords and have them built and delivered to our place of choice, either on base, or to our next station. Only being here a year, with no need for a car, I elected to have the car sent to Vegas. I ordered up every option but the moonroof, as I will have no need for that in the desert, and being tall, I don't want to make the car any more cramped than it is. Sucks buying a car without even test driving it, but I've driven and owned plenty of sporty and turbo FWD cars, and this way, I pick up every incentive available until 30 days after the car is picked up. I figure in the end I'll have saved at least $5K off of MSRP.
From the get-go, I'd like pick up the Cobb stage 1 with motor mount, some Weather Beater mats, mud flaps, and Venture Shield. I came to the forum from reading Blue Bomber's posts on the Euro-Import headlights. The biggest disappointment about this car is the lack of projector beams. I can live with the relatively cheap (spartan) interior, especially the door cards, etc., but I would have paid extra for those Euro-style projectors.
I hated that my wife's SEL Flex came with the halogens, but I got an HID kit for it anyway. Before I get any hate, the cut-offs on the capped bulbs and digital ballasts at 55W and 4500K look great, and don't scatter or blind at all. I'd like to stay away from that with this car, and would much rather pick up those euro lights when possible. Hoping to learn a lot from the forum, while I wait for my car to be built and delivered to Vegas in October.
Thanks for anyone who stuck around long enough to read the whole post. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as I have good amount of time to plan mod purchases before I get to pick this car up!