Hello Everyone!
Long time lurker and excited to start my project thread!
A bit of car background, I've always been into JDM cars and never really looked into anything European. In 2017, I was in search of a nice wagon to serve as my road trip/adventure car and discovered the E46 Touring. I fell in love with the platform after purchasing a 325XIT. I also discovered the ZHP at the same time but couldn't justify owning one since I already had a "fun" car (2016 STI) at the time. So I became a wierd lurker here and kept an eye on the market.
Fast forward a few years to 2020 and due to an unfortunate accident, I lost my pride and joy STI. I eventually replaced her with an IS350 but it just wasn't the car for me. Amazing daily driver with lots of creature comforts but I just missed the have a manual. Cars are also getting way too big and I missed having something a little smaller. I sold the Lexus and began hunting for a smaller compact car with a 6MT. After failing to find something interesting (GR86 was at the top of my list), I decided to finally start looking into the ZHP again.
After searching for a few months and missing a few deals, I finally found the one for me and picked her up over the labor day weekend! I flew with my wife to Seattle, WA and drove the car back to San Diego, CA. What a blast! Definitely a keeper car! Plans are to keep up with maintenance and to keep her as OEM as possible (maybe aftermarket shocks/struts like Konis?). Not many photos yet as a I was rushing home to pick up my dogs (dropped them off suddenly with friends to make the flight to Seattle).
Picking her up in Seattle
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Rest stop at my folks home
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Washing off the road grime at home
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Some photos of fun cars past:
2021 IS350: Comfy as heck but also pretty boring. Thought it was a more mature move but just ended up not liking it...
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2016 STI: The first car I ever purchased new and paid off. Called the dealership to place an order the moment I was promoted to a full time position from an intern. Still upset that she's gone from my life.
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