drivetofive

Odometer:  508,058

Since I’ve been on a mission to get all my friends Acura-fied, it was time again yesterday to check out a local car for a friend who’s looking to upgrade from his Honda Accord.  It seems that DrivetoFive lately has rather turned into a venue for test-drive reports of local Acuras for sale!  On a related note, does anyone else think it’s kind of clever that a road that’s home to an entire row of car dealerships in Mesa, Arizona is called “Test Drive”?  It doesn’t beat the name Legend Trail but it’s still kind of cool.

My buddy Brock and I scouted out a pretty clean 1995 Legend LS coupe in Cayman White Pearl yesterday afternoon in central Phoenix, Arizona.  This example has “just” 219,000 miles on it and appears to have been taken care of for most of its life, though it definitely at this time stands in need of a nice detailing.

Cayman White Pearl was a 1995-only color, and 1995 was the last year of the Legend name in the U.S.  This TYPE II coupe is an automatic and runs well but has its share of mechanical needs.  The check engine light came on, the tires are old/loud, and there is no record of a timing belt & water pump replacement – something these old Legends require every 90,000 miles or 8 years.  My Legend is coming up on its 6th timing belt replacement in the next few months, and this one should have had the service performed at least twice by now.

Some behind-the-wheel time for Brock.  The car ran nice but (in form true to most Legends that were equipped with the 4-speed automatic transmission) does have a “kick” with the first-to-second-gear shift.

Parting shot with the old and (soon to be?) new Legend owners.  Brock did end up making an offer on the car so we’ll cross our fingers.

My 1994 LS continues its effortless drive “PAST” five daily.  When I checked into my hotel in Los Angeles last Sunday night for my two-day stay, the guy standing out front doing valet complimented me on the paint job.  When I told him how many miles the car had on it, he requested a closer look and a glance at the odometer as proof.  It’s times like those that make my Acura ownership experience so rewarding.

Now for the exciting stuff about what’s NEW at Acura:  Over the coming months, I’ll be involved in some exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at the all-new 2013 Acura ILX.  Acura released the following in an email newsletter to its customers this week:

As you’ll remember, I had the privilege of flying as Acura’s guest to the Detroit Auto Show last month where I witnessed firsthand the unveil of the new model Acura ILX, the next generation NSX supercar, and the new bodystyle of the RDX crossover SUV.  I spoke with Jon Ikeda who is Acura’s chief designer and the man responsible for the look of the ILX.  Some of our dialogue is captured here:

Stay tuned in the next couple of months as I continue to share my experiences in learning about the ILX itself as well as the people who are responsible for bringing it to life!

If there’s anything you can count on from me, it’s always a nice Arizona sunset picture.  I happened to capture this one on Thursday afternoon when I was heading home from work on Arizona Highway 87.  Views like this never seem to get old around here.

Safe travels!

Odometer:  506,086

Almost made it to the weekend!  Just a quick post with a few pics from this week.

A photo from the last wash.  She still cleans up decent.

Geared up in my Acura shirt and en route to the office!  I get asked routinely if I work for Acura when I wear this around town, and I enjoy the chance to talk about the brand.  My 10-mile commute is just the right amount of time in the car to get my quick road-trip fix in before a busy workday.  It takes me about 15 minutes door-to-door.

Love seeing a nice Legend coupe silhouette alongside the freeway in the morning.

Finally, a lesson in proper parking technique.  I was coming out of the Target Supercenter tonight in Tempe, Arizona and realized that I must be somewhat crazy for parking a mile away (for door ding aversion, of course) in a car that’s 18 years old with 506,000 miles.  But hey, I needed the exercise, right?

Happy weekend everyone.

Odometer:  505,043

I know I’m not the only Acura fanatic out there who gets this burning desire to adopt every “sad” old Acura that crosses his/her path.  My friend Alan, as you all saw in a recent post, calls his home in Florida a haven for “wayward Legends” – having bought and restored a number of Legends to their former glory.  Today at work I glanced quickly at the local craigslist selection and stumbled across a candidate for one such restoration.  This is an extremely rare 1993 L model 6-speed manual coupe, finished in Milano Red exterior with an Ivory interior.

It happened to be located just a couple of blocks from my office – and right on my way home – so I figured I’d take a look just for fun.  What a lesson in car care I learned.  What may have been at one time a very nicely kept Legend coupe has been beat up, weathered out, and driven hard.  To the seller’s credit, he’s only asking $1,250 and the car’s potentially worth that in just spare parts.  But this 268,628 mile Acura is a fixer-upper to say the least.  Still, I can’t help but look at it with a “puppy in the pound” mentality.  What some elbow grease and TLC would do for this car…

Not too bad from this angle.  South Carolina car originally but has some rust on the right rear wheel well.

Still looking okay here – that red might look good with a buff & a wax.

But… wait for it…

Somebody appears to have turned a bear loose in the cockpit!

From a cosmetic perspective, things kept going downhill from there.

A replaced engine in 2005 has kept this old Legend on the road, but my quick lap around the parking lot left me feeling afraid to drive it any farther than that.  It might make a fun project car if I had the time, money, and know-how.  If anyone wants an old 6-speed Legend for cheap, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with this guy.  And please, Acura drivers of the world, don’t ever let a bear get ahold of your leather seats.

From there, I drove the rest of the way home in my 1994 LS with nearly twice the miles and snapped a few pictures for comparison’s sake.  I’ll no longer complain about my rock chipped front bumper, fading clearcoat, and miniature door dings.

This week, the coupe will go in for an oil change, fresh manual transmission fluid, a new battery, and some work to the front suspension.  It continues to get me faithfully to work each day.  Still anxiously looking forward to my travel to Detroit this upcoming weekend to see what Acura and the other auto manufacturers have up their sleeves for 2012 and beyond.  Stay tuned as I bring you a full report!

Odometer:  504,771

A milestone of another sort has come to pass!  My friend Grant from Marquette, Michigan shares my same birthday today.  His message to me today:  “I’m going to celebrate in two states, but the way you rack up mileage, I bet that’s pretty much every year for you!”  And another just now from my friend Nate:  “You probably drove to Chicago for the day or something.”  These people know me!

My Legend turned 18 years old in October, and I’m turning 30 years old today.  We’re getting up there.  My friends have endlessly teased me about hitting this age, but I’m excited for what next decade will bring.  I’ve now driven an Acura for 9 of my 14 driving years and don’t plan on shifting brands anytime soon.

I enjoyed a long Christmas weekend in my hometown in Utah visiting family and friends.  I checked out my friend Clint’s recent acquisition that I told him I’d share on the blog – a mintalicious 1992 Acura Vigor GS with 88k on the odometer.  Now here’s a car you don’t see in this condition very often!  The 5 cylinder engine was pretty revolutionary for its time.  I’ve owned a Vigor before and loved its nimble demeanor.

My Legend was able to stay tucked into its warm garage all weekend but fired up right on cue on Tuesday morning when it was time to roll into the office.  Yesterday I decided to pull a Carfax on the Legend for the heck of it – hey, it’s appreciating in value!   Look at that – it’s worth $1,390 above retail book now.  Some things do get better with age (miles).  Ha!

So for today:  I’m lucky to have my dad and step-mom Tanya in town this week spending a few days with me.  My dad is Mr. Handyman and I’m taking advantage of his skills.  As a side note:  It’s thanks to his careful training that I became such a car fanatic.  I remember how he’d pull our family car or truck out onto the grass on the front lawn and have me assist with detailing.  He’d even take pictures of the cars on “display.”  A neighbor one time asked if we were hosting a car show at our house.  When I was around 3-4 years old I’d assist with cleaning these giant tires on this 1979 Ford pickup – because that’s all I could reach on it!  My young mom pictured here underneath the monster truck…

Here are a couple of the things we tackled today.

First off, we hiked Camelback Mountain – having lived in the Phoenix area for 6 years now, I’ve always wanted to do this but never had the chance!  My dad, Tanya, and my friend Matt and I enjoyed the perfect 70-degree December weather and reached the summit.

I put my dad and Tanya to work with some household upgrades, including some painting, installation of a new light fixture, and mounting of my Acura banner – finally!  Fits nicely on the garage wall.

Since the garage was getting cleaned out, there was no better place to store an extra set of Acura Legend wheels than the kitchen.

Also took this sunny opportunity to climb on my rooftop and check on a “science project” of sorts.  About 2 years ago I put some die-cast 1:18 scale model cars up there to see how they’d fare in the Arizona weather.  Geeky and fun.  I check on the cars about once every couple of months.  As predicted, the temperature and elements have weathered the miniature fleet much like they do with the full size versions!

And a great birthday dinner at Firebirds Wood Fired Steakhouse in Chandler, Arizona with friends to top off an amazing day.

I’ll be taking off a week from Sunday for Michigan!  I’ll be packing my warmest weather gear and I’m looking forward to the experience.

Hope all my readers are having a safe and happy holiday season.