Back in the day, I used to drive around Chicago in a crappy, old, maroon Dodge Spirit that I'd been given by my parents. I guess it wasn't too bad, considering it had 4-doors and didn't handle too badly, but since the air conditioning system had a leak that was too expensive to repair, it was a bit too much to handle during those hot Chicago summers.
Luckily, I got a well-paying job so I started looking into a replacement car. My friend had just bought a 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS, but I was looking to stay with 4- doors since I drove people around a lot. After considering the Audi A4 and the Infiniti G20, I ended up with a 2000 Impreza 2.5RS 2-door because I decided I couldn't live without all-wheel-drive, and because the other choices just cost a little bit too much.
Not too long afterwards, the Dodge Spirit died an ignoble death at the hands of a Range Rover driver who ran into the back of it at full speed because they didn't realize the stoplight was red.
As for the Impreza, it has served me well these past five years and 116,000 miles. I've had a few issues with it, but I'm looking forward to driving it another five years and another 100k+ miles (so long as it remains economically sound to do so). Actually, I've kind of set 250,000 miles on the odometer as my goal for this car.
Note: The '98 season of North American Touring Car Championship has been cancelled. You can find out more at Super Touring's Official Page or from my Save North American Touring Car page.
Once upon a time, I made the mistake of watching some tapes a roommate brought home of a bunch of races from a series called the Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship or BTCC for short. I've been hooked ever since. And now that the Touring Car racing series has come to North America (WARNING: Sound file embedded in page), I don't have to wait for those videotapes of the BTCC year-end summaries. I can watch the races here (though, so far, the races from the BTCC have been more fun to watch). Perhaps the best way to describe this series is to call it NASCAR but different. :)
Basically, the cars are four-door sedans, running on 4 or 6-cylinder engines (though the rules allow 5-cylinder engines) no larger than two liters. You can go here (or here if you'd prefer to learn about the British series) to learn more about the cars used in the series.
NATCC '98 season cancelled!
Links under this heading:
Super Touring Championship (NATCC) pictures
WRC
BTCC
Best Motoring