[Zyzzyx]

Geez, its already been two weeks since I got the car. Still feels like I'm driving a nice rental car, or borrowing a friend's car; hasn't really set in yet that its actually mine. Traded up from an '89 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo; a damn fun little 1.6turbo hatchback that is quite rare, Mitsu only did 1500 of them. It was just getting a bit old, and a bit small for me.

I happened across the Avant from a guy I knew at work, he had been thinking about selling it for awhile. So when I was ready, I asked, and he sold. Its a very clean silver car, tan interior, 113k miles. He had bought it as a lease return back in 2002 and was a mild enthusiast with the car. It has an upgraded ECU, putting it ~180hp I think, with the boost up to .8bar. Had also put on PBR ceramic brake pads on slotted/drilled rotors; the braking is the biggest surprise difference from my old Mitsu, this thing just stops amazingly well.

Not going to change much on the car for now, but towards the end of winter I'll do some work on it. Along with the car I got the Bilstein shocks and H&R springs that he had run on the car for ~3 years; had taken them off to sell the car as 'stock'. Also got a set of 17" wheels and a set of the factory 16" wheels. Before spring rolls around I'll get the shocks/springs on the car and will have purchased tires for the 17s by then. Saw pictures of it with that setup, looked great.

But for now, I'm thoroughly enjoying the car. My first tank of gas (~380 miles) I got 27mpg; mostly commuting and some freeway jaunts around town, but with more than my usual amounts of full throttle fun. The old Mitsu would get 28-30mpg. If I can see above 26mpg in average use, I'll be quite thrilled.

So, now its time to hang out, read up, learn, and enjoy.



Z