The Early Years (80s and 90s)

My first car was a hand me down from my Dad and it was a beater. An early 80s Ford Escort station wagon with a manual transmission. It was ugly, but to me it represented freedom and dramatically expanded my world so I loved it. I’ll never forget feeling so proud when I installed a Jensen tape deck and a pair of 6x9s. The problem was that I was lazy and used electrical tape…didn’t know how to solder. The music would cut out on big bumps sometimes.

For my high school graduation, my parents surprised me with a 1987 Ford Taurus sedan…a huge step up from the Escort for sure. It was a tank and I loved it. I was working in home/car audio shops at the time while going to school and my ugly white Taurus had a close to competition quality sound system in it…likely worth more than the car!

The first car that I purchased with my own money was the 78 911 SC Targa that is detailed on the Porsche page. The second car was a major downgrade in fun from that car but a lot more reliable…it was a new 97 Honda Civic. I told you it was a major downgrade!

Seattle (early 2000s)

When I first moved to Seattle I wasn’t driving much so I picked up a cheap beater…an ugly 87 Jetta. Gold with a brown interior…so much ugly:

When VW released the 2000 Jetta VR6 redesign I fell in love. I thought it was the coolest car, it had these awesome blue and red lights inside and that VR6 engine was a blast. Too bad it was also a total piece of crap. The transmission was replaced, major engine service required and things would just fall off. The final straw was when I was driving down the road and the drivers window just fell into the door. No reason…it just gave up and fell inside. I drove it to a Toyota dealership and traded it in just like that!

That brings me to what turned out to be one of my favorite vehicles of all time (outside of Porsche), a 2002 Toyota 4Runner. I loved that truck and it took me and eventually my family, everywhere. Reliable, fun and I think for an SUV it happens to look great too. I would own another 4Runner in a heartbeat but I think the older ones look better than the new ones personally.

Still Seattle (2010 decade)

Next to Porsche, Audi holds a strong second place as my favorite car brand. When I was looking for something sporty to replace the 4Runner, I test drove the S5 and fell in love. I still think this is one of the nicest looking cars on the road for under $80K. It’s a heavy car but still fun to drive. The growl of the V8 firing up was better than coffee in the morning.

The manual S5 was fun to drive for pleasure but it wasn’t very practical as a daily driver given my long commute in Seattle traffic and frequent need to haul kids, dogs, bikes, wakeboards, etc. I sold it back to the dealer and drove away in an Audi Q5 SUV. I know, I know but just wait.

I wanted to reclaim some of the fun of the S5 so I loaded it up with titanium 20×9 BBS CH-R wheels, Michelin Pilot tires, the KW V1 Coilover kit, an AWE Tuning exhaust and the APR chip. While not the S5 and certainly not a 911, I managed to create a fun daily driver, people mover and grocery getter.

My current daily driver is a really fun 2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that I’m enjoying customizing. It’s great to drive, takes the family on adventures and the top comes off for summer sun!

For whatever reason, I got another wild hair and convinced myself that I was a truck guy again. I know, I know…I already tried and failed with the red Ram 1500, but this time I went with a white F150 Tremor…perhaps it would be different this time. Nope…sold it after a year and bought a Porsche Cayenne S for my daily!

Not that long ago, I was excited to take delivery of a Porsche Cayenne. While it was a great SUV and handled way better than a vehicle that big has a right to, I struggled with a few things. It was expensive and unlike Porsche sports cars, their SUVs depreciate to zero. I never loved the design of the Porsche SUVs, and it didn’t grow on me. The biggest issue I had was with the braking. It wasn’t linear engagement…there was nothing when you stepped on the brake, and then it would be a hard brake. Porsche claimed it was normal, but I hated the way it felt.

Since I use my car mostly for in-city driving and for a work commute, I thought it was time to give an EV a try. It helps that EVs are clogging dealer lots, and folks seem to be moving away from them, so there are great deals to be had. I test-drove the Hyundai Ionic 5N, the high-performance model with all the fake engine/transmission sounds. It felt gimmicky, and the interface was complex and challenging to use. I test-drove the Ford Mach E Rally edition (I can’t call it a Mustang), and after a few hours of testing, I loved it. Nearly 500 horsepower, 700 pound-feet of torque, 265 miles of range, a simple but high quality interior, and fun rally-inspired looks. It drives nicely but will get up to absolute hooligan behavior when you put it in rally mode.

Well that didn’t take long 🙂 The Mach E was a blast to drive, but when Meg decided to trade in her Volvo XC90 for a Volvo EX30, their small electric SUV, it left us without a family hauler. I also didn’t want to have two EVs. Plus, I’ll use any excuse to go car shopping! I decided to go back to what has always been one of my all-time favorites and picked up a 2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro. Hybrid power and efficiency, fits the whole family for road trips, and with Gabe exploring off-road so much in his Jeep, this allows me to tag along for the fun.

Some other vehicles that my wife and I have enjoyed over the years: