This is a picture of my previous ride, after my Mitsubishi Lancer GLXi. I was pretty much bored and outgrown from my current Mitsubishi Lancer, so for an $8500 budget, I had choices between a Nissan Silvia (200sx) S13 CA18DET, Mazda RX-7 FC and Honda Integra VTiR. But after test driving all options, i've ruled out that grey imports like the Nissan Silvia and the Mazda RX-7 are more likely to be in the attention of the cops, since they are subjected to Environmental Pollution testing by the police over there.
Most of my friends having grey imports end up having trouble with the law. These police just won't give up. Even though I liked the turbo feeling and wanting to try the FR layout but I end up getting the Honda Integra VTiR. Well, I looked up the ad for a Honda Integra and I went for a personal test drive. Owner was Vietnamese. He originally bought this car for his Malaysian girlfriend, which has unfortunately dumped him. So oh well, good for me I suppose. He currently owns a Nissan Silvia S15, so I guess thats why he wanted to sell the Honda.
When I asked for a test drive, he took my set of keys to the Lancer, and I took it out for a spin with the Honda. I had to familiarise with the car, since it has an original short shifter that came with that model. It had a B18C2 AUDM engine, that produced 170hp, which is slightly weaker than its distant cousins. First spin on the car was awesome, I wouldn't expect the pulling power of the VTEC, compared to my old Mitsubishi. I tried taking corners hard with it, and it just sticks like a lizard, god! It is much comparable to my White mage (Satria Neo), however the engine is much refined and doesn't suffer from Proton's insignificant torque dip, which I spent so much money rectifying it.
While I was at the lights, some Aussie bloke was revving his engine hard, wanting to drag me, I suppose. So I took the challenge, revved the car high, and then drop my gear when the lights turned green. His Holden Commodore 3.8 V6 was neck to neck on me, but I managed to shape off more than few inches. I was like, wow, this is an awesome ride! I was totally sold.
The next few days, I purchased the car from him, though I did not own it for very long, as I had to leave Australia for personal reasons. I wanted to bring the car back, but its very old and it was over the 10 year rule, where you can't import in cars older than 10 years old, which my cousin did, by importing his Honda Civic Coupe from the UK. All in all, I liked the Integra very much, it has a good space, compared to my Neo too, but I know shouldn't be comparing mangoes and oranges, Haha. How I missed my second ride though. Farewell TED181!
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