hyalineskies

While in my freshman year of college, I fell in love with the BMW marque and their elegant-yet-simple automotive design, dreaming of owning my own BMW in the way a child dreams of owning a Ferrari. I spent the next year selling my old autocross car, a 1995 Honda del Sol, as well as my Honda SUV, eventually pooling the proceeds together into a brokerage account on E-Trade. A few months later, I had traded my way up to $22,000.00, enough necessary to buy a Jet Black 2001 BMW 330xi with 55,000 miles on the odometer. It wasn’t brand new, but I loved it nonetheless.

Unfortunately for me, my 3-series didn’t share reciprocal love for its owner: during the next year, I repaired the majority of the rear suspension, a front sway bar link, an engine camshaft sensor, tires, and miscellaneous mechanical parts to the tune of nearly $4,000.00. In May, I was told that my front lower control arms and bushings were in dire need of replacement (a $1000 repair.) At this point, my love affair with my beautiful-yet-selfish machine came to an end. In the last week of June, I traded in the BMW (at a surprisingly fair value) and replaced it with a shiny new 2007 Scion tC.

Yes, that’s correct. I replaced an originally $45,000.00 luxury sedan with a $17,000.00 econobox, and my wallet couldn’t be happier. The reactions from some of my friends were priceless: who trades a BMW for a Scion? I eventually explained that maintenance costs on my (lemon of a) BMW were impractically high, not to mention the cost of premium gasoline on an 88-mile daily commute to work was consuming a large amount of my meager design intern’s paycheck. The Scion accomplishes what I need it to in this stage of my life, and for that I was happy. I didn’t need a BMW to impress girls or to show off to the increasingly wealthy University of Michigan student body; I needed a reliable form of transportation that looked alright and wouldn’t let me down when I needed it. Even now, however, many of my friends still don’t understand. Comparing my Scion, a Toyota-built, front-drive coupe to a BMW, one of the most balanced, elegant mass-produced automobiles available, was truly an apples-and-oranges case. If it’s the cost disparity that gets you, well, that’s what I get for interning at an interactive agency instead of a major financial institution.

All luxury items aside, however, my Scion isn’t an awful car for its price. The doors feel every bit as solid as my BMW, the entire roof of the car is glass (with a power sunroof), and even the power windows both have automatic switches. The engine isn’t too anemic off-the-line, and the 5-speed manual transmission shifts cleanly.

I have decided, however, that there are plenty of things that I dislike about the Scion. Thanks to the car’s aftermarket following and tuner orientation, I can change the things I dislike with a minimal amount of investment. Since purchasing the car, I’ve installed an autodimming mirror (complete with LED puddle lamps that shine down onto the center console, much like my BMW had,) a small lip spoiler, and a shorter radio antenna off of an S2000. I have an axle-back exhaust from Toyota’s Racing Development division in my garage, and I plan on replacing its (nauseatingly poor) stereo system as well as its suspension for something sportier. At the end of the buying spree, the car still costs slightly over $19,000.00, an extremely economical price. (I’ll probably buy some new, stickier tires in the spring as well, since the treadwear rating on the stock tires is mediocre at best.) Owning the Scion has given me the chance to own something nice, reliable, and sufficiently fun to drive minus the high maintenance costs and unnecessary pretension. Although the four-cylinder engine sourced from the Camry is slightly boring, I can still easily cruise relatively effortlessly at 90mph (although without the gorgeous sound of my old BMW’s M54 inline-six.)

Sure, my Scion is certainly no supermodel. It lacks class and plenty of prestige. At the end of the day, however, I can still easily feel wonderfully content with my purchase (and exchange) of luxury for reliability. For me, that alone is priceless.