Hi everyone, this post is a bit long, but I'm excited and I hope you'll indulge me.

I am a 41 year old married dad who just celebrated 19 years of marriage. Some may say having an 11 year old son and 16 year old daughter can be trying. I might agree, until I figured out the system. What did I figure out? Simply put, a 16 year old girl going to high school is going to need a car. Do I buy her a new car? Nope. She's not spoiled, but she doesn't want for anything. That said, the wife and I agree, a practical safe car, like my 2010 Honda Accord is perfect for her.

So what is a guy like me to do? 41, daughter starting school soon and needs car, but I still need to get to work. I know, I will lean toward something impractical. But before I get to what I think I wanted, here is what I have had:
1977 Camaro
1985 Camaro
1979 280Z
1990 F-150 longbed
1995 Mazda Protege (while sharing wife's Ford Probe-manual)
1999 Honda Civic (while sharing wife's Honda Passport)
2001 Hyundai Sonata (manual)
2010 Honda Accord (wife has 2005MPV van and then 2012 Honda Pilot)

What a list, right? Middle class, middle america, slowly losing all interest in living for the drive and just living for the man.

But when my wife got her Honda Pilot I noticed I missed the speed and feeling of driving and when I could get away from my smooth and sometimes top gear speedy Accord, I would go mostly impractical.

I have the two kids, I might need to cart them around. I looked at Jeep Wrangler, I looked at other sports coupes, even a 350Z. I never thought luxury and me would be a reality. Then...

I decided to convince myself and my wife that anything for around $10K to get me to work should still be reliable. The choices were not great since most mileage and major maintenance was very high, over 130K miles a lot of times.

So I upped the price a bit to ~$15K, then I found the magic search, G35 or G37, under 60K miles, manual transmission (cause I wanted it!!!) and a coupe. It would have a back seat for the small kids, unlike the 350/370Z, and it would have amenities I liked, like bluetooth and possibly satellite radio.

So where did I land after a few test drives? I landed where I'm supposed to be.

Car was just posted day before, no pics on dealer site and I when I made my offer $800 under asking I was competing with someone who arrived from 2 hours away and just got to dealer 20 min after my test drive.

I won.

2008 Pearl G37 Coupe Sport manual with all the packages possible, navi, etc. 55K miles, new tires and brakes, stock car so not overly modified, for $17,290.

Did I do good? I think so (look at attached pics, one with my son's approval)

I haven't accelerated like this in years, and having a manual transmission I am truly connected to my driving experience again, till my knees go out. A few paint chips to touch up, some leather to mend, but man it's awesome. A late model Acura tried to mess with me, but my orgasmic 3rd gear was the last thing he saw as we entered a two lane road approaching the speed limit, so I of course slowed down to let his wounded pride pass me by....

It feels great, looks great, and I can't believe it's mine.

Thanks for reading and look forward to being a proud member of this community as an owner of a G37!

Josh

 

Quite the intro and congrats man, you deserve it (after putting up with those last few cars you had). Welcome to the site and good job on going with the manual.

 

Great intro, but you're just a youngster compared to this old geezee, lol.
Glad you found us and more importantly have found a car that makes you feel alive again!

 

Hello welcome to the site

 

Welcome great looking coupe there, seems really well take care of enjoy it it's an amazing car!

 

another old geeze here... sounds like u got yourself a nice deal..
it wont be long before she starts driving it and makes a claim for it...

 

Yup, getting a single owner car was a great deal and it was kept up well.
I hope my daughter and son want to drive it, I think everyone should at least know how to drive. manual even if hey don't ever do it.

 

It took a while to get to the climax, but good novel. Would read again.

 

Actually a good read, even at the length lol

 

Nice intro, welcome!

 

Yeah i think you did good.


Congrats and welcome.

 

Great first post. Congrats on the new pick up, enjoy it!

 

Honestly, your intro was like I could have written it myself. My 1st car was a Z when I was 14. I drove it into the ground, followed by a '93 Maxima SE. I have now been driving my '02 Pathfinder, which wasn't supposed to be my daily driver, for 5 years, ever since my Maxima was taken out by an accident. We have an MDX for family duty & I wanted something fun again. At 4 & 6, the kids are just the right age to fit in the back of a coupe & not be able to effectively complain. I wanted a stick , however, the AWD was essential given it is wet 98% of the time here in the PacNW. The recent Mazda commercial "Driving Matters" and your Intro really sum it up for me! Nice post, your right, it's not really a mid-life crisis, it's "Getting back to being me". Thanks!

 

appreciate the comment raindog. Love the pacNW, USA should annex Vancouver and Whistler. Then we could drive up and down that route Seattle to Whistler without a border crossing.

 

a g37 is not a midlife crisis vehicle

a g37 on air with 20s might be a midlife crisis vehicle (at 41 eh, at 51 yes)