A car for a HOAstile environment

So I moved. Suburbs of Portland, OR. Sold my fleet of Miatae! Very sad. I don't have any utilities hooked up yet, but it's time to start thinking about a fun car.

Some obstacles:

(1) steep, short driveway makes my e46 scrape with more than 100lbs of passengers in it. Not friendly for low cars.

(2) single car garage with pitiful work space. The smaller the better for this new car.

(3) Home owners association will get me in trouble for anything that looks like crap or bothers people. Must be somewhat clean.

Not a good start, I know, but it had to be so to get my girlfriend to come with me.

That said, some things I want as upcoming projects:

(1) turbo!

(2) Megasquirt!

(3) rallycross?

(4) rebuild a motor?

I'm thinking the offroad route will help with ground clearance in the garage. My first guess was a Subaru coupe (plentiful in these parts, I expect) but this is far from my knowledge base. I'm partial to wagons and hatchbacks. After 3 Miatas I'd like a taste of practicality.

What would you do? (I'm keeping the girlfriend.)

Scoobs are plentiful around here, yes...
Often overpriced because everyone wants them? Also yes.

How about an Outback Sport?

Bugeye WRX hatch sounds like the ticket.

Alltrac celica if you want something a bit more unique.

Baja

1. New girlfriend
2. New house
3. Done

I moved to a certain place for a girl once. ONCE.

Sounds like an ideal environment for another miata. Subarus are perfect if you want to blend in with all the thick rimmed glasses hipsters around here.

Not practical, but a good project:

bgkast wrote: Not practical, but a good project:

much want!

I think it rains too much to drive something without a windshield.

Lifted rally Miata is under consideration, but I feel like this is a good chance to expand my repertoire past Miatas and BMWs.

2nd gen T/A, glass packs, bright red, loud stereo playing def leopard cranked to 11.

Cotton wrote: 2nd gen T/A, glass packs, bright red, loud stereo playing def leopard cranked to 11.

S.O.D. or SLAYER are better choices for making new friends...

Rallycross RX-7 with a ported, uncorked rotary.

berkeley the neighbours.

Save money to pay HOA fees and/or legal fees fighting them and get what you want.

You think I jest...I just moved from a private property where I had a mega size driveway and 3.5 acres of my own property to do with as I please. I'm now building a new construction home in one of those mega-developments. Has a very large (though thankfully cheap) HOA. I am already putting money aside to deal with them, as they will not tell me how to live my life.

Go for the T/A with glass packs, and the ported straight piped RX7. Then be sure to get a H-D with drag pipes. Followed closely by an old school 500cc MX bike that never had it's muffler repacked. Next get a lifted diesel truck with a Confederate flag.

IMO, HOA ≈ NK.

It might help if you posted a copy of the HOA rules so we could see how to come up with the most tortured interpretation of their car rules imaginable.

For sale in the Bay Area.

pinchvalve wrote: For sale in the Bay Area.

Looking from my phone and I can't tell but what is that, it looks extremely cool.

In an enviornment like that, I'd want to own a GC Impreza that wouldn't look out of place in a Mad Max movie with an exhaust that will blast the flowers off the neighbors' hedges and tires that I won't feel bad wasting every time I leave or come home...

But more practically I'd say +1 for the GC outback sport.

Lifted Suzuki SX4 with a homebrew turbo/MS setup:

If your new place has a basement, you could set up your bench and equipment down there. Not convenient, but possible.

Small project? Shifter cart or motorcycle. Lots of room for those right?

Bonus points for kart test runs up and down the street. You'll be envy of every kid on the block.

I would move to a neighborhood that doesn't have a homeowners association. They seem like a corporate entity that want to tell people how to live. Not many homeowners are going to let their front lawns grow out of control. You will also want to get a two car garage with more workspace, especially if you can or want to start making a few necessary car parts. Make sure the new house has a flat driveway or one that has a slight incline. Then, without a hoa, you can have an uncorked rotary or a V8 with glasspacks. You can buy 1 Miata, and get a rallycross car too. I would look at an Outback sport, E30,E36, and a first gen Focus for a rallycross car. Then it isn't required to look really good.

I would personally play some hardball with the girlfriend, though.

Your HOA car awaits...

oldtin wrote: Your HOA car awaits...

Berkeley you, damn bastard! That is exactly the same car I just bought 2 days ago. Same generation, same color, same rims, everything. And yes, as I mentioned previously, I'm about to move into an HOA neighborhood. You suck... Though I'm not ashamed to say I actually like the car in an intellectual way. Looking for a nice set of rims to put on it. And I can justify my purchase...I have a commute of 50 miles each way, the afternoon part in Atlanta traffic.

oldtin wrote: Your HOA car awaits...

You could dress it up with one of these and see how the HOA reacts.

Also found while trying to track down that picture: What does your HOA say about boats?