These Are the Cars That Put the Biggest Smiles on Your Faces

Photo: photographed by IFCARpost production by RichN, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Two and a half years ago, we decided to relocate further away from NYC and that meant getting a second car. I needed something that had four doors for occasional car seat and stroller duty but it had to be fun, manual, and something that I could work on. On my short list was a late 3rd/early 4th-gen Sti, E39 M5, E60 M5, and an E90 M3.

Aside from trying to find a manual E60 M5, the Sti was toughest to find because the good ones were selling in days and the not so good ones, well they were completely beat to shit. I finally found a 2013 that was a decent price, knowing that I would have to put some money in the car to make it whole again, and I was able to take it out for a ride with a sales associate.

I used to track my beloved 08′ Legacy GT Spec.B (lightly modded for track use) and had a very jinba ittai relationship with the car, getting to know it very intimately on track days and in daily driving. When I took off in the 13′ Sti, I knew the car either had chopped springs or a cheap set of Tiens because the ride was shit but the experience immediately felt familiar. The way it built up torque around 3,500 rpm as the turbos kicked in and easy to heel-toe pedal layout and shifter. The way it went around turns as the superior AWD system allowed me to precisely control my turn-in with a feathering of the gas. It was as if I had slipped into bed with a former lover, knowing every curve, move, sound, and smell of this vehicle.

I started from a stop, nailing and ripping through every shift, sailed around a turn and hit a few corners with precision. The salesperson was a good sport about it, letting me have some fun in the car and being surprisingly confident in a stranger’s driving ability. “You really know your way around this car,” he said, nervously but also a bit excited.

When the drive was over, I knew it was time to part ways with my lover once again. The suspension issues and vape juice-tainted interior could have been resolved with a few thousand dollars of parts and several hours of my time. It was a fun and nostalgic time but I knew it was time to move on and go experience other things that motorsport had to offer. So I went ahead and decided to tame the beast and bought an E39 M5 that needed some work but today sits in my garage as one of the nicest 100K+ mile examples of its kind in North America.

Conveniently, my fast longroof actually was a Legacy GT. I didn’t have the Spec B’s Bilsteins, but I did have semi-solid motor mounts that made the thing a riot around Watkins Glen.

Submitted by: oddseth