Jeff and I were chatting sometime ago about his Montero. I was supposed to be in the LA area a few weeks back and offered to loan it to me for my time there. I never drove one but I always kind of, sort of, liked them. My father had a big poster of the Pajero from the Paris-Dakar Rallies on the 1980s, so the influence was there.
I asked him if the Montero could be the kind of vehicle that I think I like but then hate once I’d actually drive it. He said no, that I would like it. But then we wondered – what car did you love until you drove it?
There are certainly many cars that I hated until I drove them. But there are far fewer cars that I liked and then hated. But I thought of one – my own ’02 Subaru Impreza WRX.
I bought it new in 2002. We were just coming out of the 1990s JDM-craze and the WRX was the one vehicle everyone wanted. Then it came here and… it was sort of disappointing to me. It wasn’t that quick. There was zero power under 3200rpm and then an abundance of it from there to the redline. The five-speed transmission had weirdly space gears. Between 75-80mph it was in that on/off 3200rpm range, which made highway cruising annoying. Gas mileage sucked. And it was loud. I sold it after six months of ownership.
So, which car did you love and then hate once you drove it?
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