moving away from the SE-R

[John A. Heer]

Since I am indirectly responsible for this thread, I better chime in -
if for no other reason than I don't think I can handle being threatened
by James or any other bent-nose thug.

It all depends on your resources (financial, time, family, friends,
etc.) and how much you are willing to compromise/sacrifice. I have
limited space in my garage, limited time to putz around with cars, and
limited finances. I simply cannot justify taking up a space in my garage
with a car that does not see regular use or at least have high
importance. So, if I raced every weekend somewhere, then I could see
using a garage space for a dedicated race car. I don't, so I don't.

I spend most days working, driving to and from, and transporting family
to and from places. Maybe one or two weekends per month during the
summer, I autocross. Otherwise, my cars have to be family friendly. For
years, I have driven an SE-R in a close to race setup as a daily driver.
It worked well for me. I loved the fun of the drive to and from work in
the SE-R, but family commitments have increased exponentially since I
married into two more kids. The usefulness of the SE-R as daily
transportation decreased significantly when my family increased to 3
kids. I could rationalize the SE-R for transporting one kid in the
backseat occasionally, but not 3 and not as they get bigger.

I would love to hang on to the SE-R for sentimental reasons. It is the
ONLY car I have known (on a daily basis) for 16 years, for chrissakes. I
can hardly picture myself in anything else. But ... (pause for dramatic
effect) ... driving the Mazdaspeed3 for the past week has been a VERY
easy transition. The whole concept of the Speed3 seems to fit me like a
glove right now. Like it was destiny calling or something. Much like the
SE-R was 16 years ago.

So ... David ... your cost-benefit analysis is different than mine. You
might have the willingness to put the time and money and effort into
keeping one of the SR20 cars running. The G20 might even make sense with
a small family. But look at what you REALLY enjoy doing. Is it fixing
cars? Driving cars? Racing cars? Something else? Whatever you enjoy most
is where you should spend your resources. My family means more to me
than a car does these days (it wasn't always that way). So, I try to
spend my resources there. The SE-R just no longer fit into that picture.

End of rambling.

John Heer
07 Mazdaspeed3
93 SE-R (for sale)





-----Original Message-----
James's comment about keeping the SE-R as a DD all those years (btw, hi
James) 
brings out a related question that I will bring out since it's a
freindly audience, even 
when leaving horse heads on peoples' doorsteps :)