I liked the Celica - I didn't love it. Once I got some decent tyres on it handled OK and the engine is a magnificent bit of engineering - the 'lift' is a giggle but it just lacked something. To be fair, as we had just got a dog and desparately needed something bigger I rushed into the purchase and don't think I chose well. This one seems a bit unsure on its feet so something probably isn't quite right with it.
Ultimately it just wasn't much fun. It is a 'quite' car; quite quick, quite practical, quite comfortable and quite entertaining to drive but didn't really excel anywhere. I also never quite got over the fact that its FWD after running the MX-5 for years before.
The other consideration is that my poor MX-5 is also reaching the end of its life in my 11th year of ownership. It had a lot of welding done last year (thankfully for free) and is sadly neglected now that I rarely get opportunity to take it out. I intend to hang on to it until the spring, do one more track day and then send it on its way. After all we've done together that's going to be a very sad moment.
So I needed one car to replace both. I need it to be fun yet practical and a few months ago, the Forester sprung to mind.
I know they're well known in Oz but they're much rarer over here, which means finding one has taken around four months, looking at the classifieds every day. Last week, I finally found one and I am already a little bit in love.
It's not pretty but it has the 2.5 turbo from the Impreza WRX in it, and in the couple of journeys I've done it's been utterly hilarious to drive. Put your foot down and the nose rears up like an angry stallion before catapulting you into the road ahead. The interior's nice enough and it all seems well screwed together. The AWD is a welcome relief after the FWD Celica would often struggle to put the power down, particularly in the wet.
So far, very happy.
