9 and 3

This week I bid adieux to another of my childhood favorites, my 1993 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo.  I spent the last 3 years tweaking it, upgrading it, and making it better than what it was when I bought it (as I tend to do in this expensive hobby.) But the time - and the right buyer - had come along. A little background for context: Like a recurring dream , and because I can't seem to live for very long without a Japanese sports car from the '90s, I searched long and hard for my Z for nearly a year in 2016.  In fact, it was my second go around with the Z32 generation, as I had a 1995 Twin Turbo back in 2011.  The 1990-1996 300ZX (or "Fairlady" as it's known in Japan) was among the first of the golden era of Japanese sports cars that turned the automotive world on its head upon its debut. It is also among the last to have avoided the hyper inflation in market values that its rivals have enjoyed on the secondary market, namely because it outsold all of the ot...

Who doesn't love perfect lighting? (Image c/o Mazda USA.) It was 2018. My wife and I received the news that we would be expecting our first bundle of joy by Thanksgiving.  What does that mean to most suburbanites?  Well, in the U.S. it apparently means that its time to shop for an SUV.  No matter that a traditional sedan can still handle almost everything you need, or that a modern luxury-sport wagon (see 5-series and E-class) can haul everything a crossover SUV can, while being 10x better to drive. Nope , apparently the high seating position and road presence of these modern family haulers lends itself as the default answer for your soccer-mom needs. Are we going off-road with all this ground clearance and utility? Oh, you meant the speed bumps at Whole Foods....sigh... I know a little about cars and what's available out there. I also know that a modern day car-based three-row crossover is not the do-it-all answer that most people think it is. In fact a mini-va...

So we have a Tesla in the family. After plunking down the requisite pre-order deposit in 2016, my father was able to pick up his Model 3 for his new daily driver exactly 1 year ago. I was with him that day we went down to the "dealership" in Costa Mesa (it felt more like an Apple store, by design, I'm sure,) and I had never seen him so eager during a car purchase.  This was unlike any previous car-buying rendezvous I've had with him over the last 30+ years. Even though I was more of the skeptic this time around, I was very happy for him. I also knew I'd have plenty of opportunity to be driving it as well. :) So by now there have been countless reviews put out there on all of the features & quirks of the newest Tesla all over the internet and YouTube, and this is not going to be an overview of the same. I'll just share a quick personal take for those who've haven't driven one yet, or are curious about the Model 3 in general. After signing th...