By, Lee Gientke
Looking back over the years, there has been a Honda at every
major stage in my life. You might say the Hondas I’ve owned were rites of
passage.
The very first car I bought for myself was a 2000 charcoal
gray Honda Civic. I bought this car in 2003 as the second owner shortly after I
graduated from college, where I didn’t have a car. Buying this car was a marker
of adulthood for me. I found the car in the newspaper listed for $5500 – a huge
sum of money for me at the time. I can remember thinking how much I loved the
styling and how quick the car felt even though it had a whopping 127
horsepower. I was also attracted to the things most people love about Honda’s:
the reliability and fuel economy. As a recent college graduate I didn’t have
much money to dump into a car so my maintenance regimen consisted of changing
the oil and filling the gas tank. Fortunately, my Civic didn’t require much
more than that.
My Civic lasted until 2006 when I got what I would call my
first real serious job for a startup in Los Angeles. If you’ve ever lived in
Southern California, you know that your car is a marker of who you are. While
my Civic was great, it was time to upgrade the wheels. Here I was, finally
making good money, living the single life in Los Angeles and while my Civic was
awesome, it was time to get something more fun. The more fun car for me was a 2002
Honda S2000.
With a drop top, 240 horsepower and a redline of 8900 RPM, my
S2000 was a blast. I loved dropping the top and driving along the California coast
or later, up Provo Canyon on a spring morning. I loved how it felt like driving
a go-cart and how it was quick around the corners. It was also amazing how
smooth and stable it was going 80 miles an hour (or more!) as it was going 20. It
was a really confidence inspiring and it just wanted to go fast. It was also
the car I received my first speeding ticket in and it was the car that moved me
from Los Angeles to Utah.
Unfortunately, getting married a couple months ago meant
that my s2000 had to go, I know that there’s another Honda in my future. I
would love to say my next Honda would be another screamer like a Civic Si or a
S2000 (if Honda brought it back) but my wife is thinking more along the lines
of a Pilot or Odyssey so we can transport more than just us.
