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| For each vehicle, I've worked hard to personalize it over the years. I often get asked "why did you get this car or that car?" So in this post, I'm going to tell some of the stories behind my cars. |
Note that I no longer have the 2018 Jeep Compass or 2013
Buick Regal Turbo. Both cars were let go of at virtually the same time for the
2022 Kia K5 I now have (the Compass was a 3-year lease I finished and turned
back in, and I helped my mother pick out and make the deal on the Regal Turbo
back when it was new - it was actually traded in the day I got the K5).
Upgrades & Improvements:
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-Rear spoiler
-Remote start
-Winter floor mats
-Full Pioneer sound system (speakers + subwoofer)
-Chrome door handles and mirror covers
-Chrome grill inserts - these have to be replaced every
couple years or so due to natural wear and tear
-Amber-colored interior mood lighting for the flooring
(matches the factory mood and dashboard lights)
-K&N performance air filter
-Front LED “fog lights” installed in the lower grille (twice
- recently replaced)
-Sylvania ZXE headlights - meant to match the color of the
LEDs in the lower grille
-Tan all-weather/half carpet winter floor mats - the “Aura”
branded mats came with the car
-New tires recently
-New battery recently
-Upgraded alternator
-Repaired steel rim and chrome hub caps with chrome paint after Michigan pothole encounters
I might be forgetting some work I’ve done to this one, but the Saturn is the car I’ve had the longest (11 years and counting since high school), so it’s the one I’ve been able to give the most love to. I picked this car out with my grandfather back in high school (may he Rest In Peace…) and my mom and grandmother were there too. I originally wanted a 2011 Kia Optima Turbo or a Pontiac G6. The Aura is essentially the same car as the G6, sharing many of the same mechanicals and it’s platform.
I installed the chrome door handles, grille and mirror covers myself. I also have touched up some of the paint, installed a K&N air filter, and fixed my washer nozzles on the Saturn myself too among other tweaks, such as buying new chrome hubcaps and refurbishing them myself too. The video of me completing this work can be found on my YouTube page. I've also pasted a link below to a demo of my Pioneer sound system I had installed.
Link to wheel repair: https://youtu.be/9gyaHIaHJJ0
Link to Saturn Aura sound system: https://youtu.be/aOjmEoRRIEc
As for what I have planned next for the Aura: I intend to keep it another 11 years if possible lol! But also, I have never taken the Aura on a big road trip next, so that’s the plan for this summer as well as maybe a hot lap at a track in the future. Also, I want to install a K&N cold air intake, K&N performance oil filter, a Dynomax Race Bullet Exhaust Resonator for a slightly more aggressive sound, get another alignment/steering check, change the brakes soon (it’s about time…), and have the paint touched up professionally on the front and rear bumpers. So here’s to the roads ahead in the Saturn!
2013 Buick Regal Turbo
This vehicle was actually my mother’s car, but I helped her
pick it out new and helped make the deal on it as well. I do try to give my
family and friends a hand with car advice. We traded in a 2007 Buick Lucerne V8
on this Buick. I didn’t really have a chance to do any upgrades to it, as my
mom said she didn’t want me to. But I did keep up with all the maintenance on
it for her, detail the interior (as I do to every car myself), and touched up
the paint at times and removed scratches among other routine upkeep. It was a
blast to drive - way more than you’d expect for a Buick! And again, this car
was traded in on the 2022 Kia K5.
2018 Jeep Compass
Upgrades & Improvements:
-Installed chrome door handles
-Installed chrome trim on lower fog light housing
-K&N performance air filter
-Black wood interior door handle trim
-Aluminum cup holder trim
-Black carpet floor mats - Jeep branded all weather floor mats came on the car as a part of the Cold Weather Package
This Jeep was a 3-year lease and I ultimately finished the lease and returned the car in favor of getting my 2022 Kia K5. When a car is leased, it’s a little more difficult to do any sort of major upgrades because the car has to be returned later if you don’t keep it, and you have to undo any major modifications you add. Therefore, I kept most of the modifications I did to this car light. I did want to black out the wheels on it, but it didn’t make sense doing this after some time. The reason I got the Jeep in the first place was to have a year-round driver that could handle Michigan’s potholes and snow.
This Compass was nice to have and great in bad weather, but it definitely needed more power for day-to-day driving. However, swapping the stock air filter out for a K&N unit did seem to improve performance very slightly and to improve my fuel economy - I was getting 28 MPG overall when I turned it back in.
2004 Oldsmobile Bravada
Upgrades & Improvements:
-Installed chrome door handles and mirror covers
-Spectre performance air filter
-New battery recently
-The engine light was on and I had this corrected - turns
out it was a bad thermostat
-Grey winter all-weather floor mats
-Rustproofing and sealing for the underbody (Using Rustoleum & Flex Seal)
I got this Oldsmobile Bravada and the Kia Telluride at almost the same time a few years ago. It had 88,000 miles on it when I got it and now it has just over 95,000 miles - it was a one owner car so I’m just the 2nd owner in almost 20 years! Oldsmobile is my favorite car brand, I remember doing many book reports about them in school, writing business plans about their cars and even writing a letter to GM when I was 7 years old in an attempt to save the brand. So, I had been looking ever since I was very young to have one of the “final Oldsmobiles from 2004.” It’s quite hard to find a Final 500 Edition Oldsmobile with the Dark Cherry paint (especially one in good shape almost 20 years later...), but I’m more than happy with what I’ve got here because green Oldsmobiles are so nostalgic for me. At the time I bought it, this was the only Oldsmobile Bravada (and I believe Oldsmobile vehicle, PERIOD) within 500+ miles of my house that had less than 100,000 miles on it with one owner. It was a no brainer for me to go snatch it up fast.
Between the Bravada and my Kia K5, I noticed I actually have a hard time deciding which one I like driving more some days! I guess the nostalgia of the Olds wins me over, because my mother had a green Oldsmobile Silhouette back when I was a kid in grade school that I helped her pick out. It was one of the first cars I ever helped someone pick, besides the red Olds Achieva she had a little while before it that I went with my grandfather to pick out (I do recall we test drove a green Achieva at one point too). In fact, I was so determined for her to get that Silhouette until I drew pictures of her driving the van I recall! Fast forward to today and I can now say I have my own green Oldsmobile to have good times in.
2020 Kia Telluride
Upgrades & Improvements:
-Swapped the old Kia logo to the “new school” Kia logo on
the front, rear and steering wheel
-Added black wheel vinyl inserts (creates a blacked out look
for the rims)
-Black vinyl door handle covers
-“Telluride” center caps for each rim
-Black all weather floor mats
-Cargo net (dealer accessory)
-Wheel locks (dealer accessory)
This is another vehicle that’s a lease, so I’ve been keeping the upgrades light. But my plan is to keep the Telluride at the end of the lease, because residuals for these SUVs are insane. And it’s going to be hard to get another good deal on another new Telluride - you can still hardly even find them anywhere! If you custom order one, the waitlist is 6+ months long at times. Keeping this car beyond the lease will allow me to do more intended upgrades, such as tinting the front windows, interior mood lights, an auto-dimming rear view mirror, adding a K&N performance air filter and cold air intake, and painting the brake calipers (likely yellow). That said, I'm keeping my options open.
2022 Kia K5
-Mudguards (dealer accessory)
-Auto-dimming rear view interior mirror (dealer accessory)
-K5 branded trunk mat and floor mats (dealer accessories)
-Cargo net (Dealer accessory)
-Wheel locks (dealer accessory)
-Tinted windows
-Installed an Ignite Powered Subwoofer in the trunk
-Added chrome rear trunk trim and door handles
-“T-GDI”, “Special Edition”, and “AWD” badges added to the
trunk and side fenders; I also added a “GT-Line” and “Special Edition badge” to
the interior
-Custom black/red ClimArt all-season floor mats to match the
red SynTex leather seats
-Red center rim rings for each wheel
-Red painted brake calipers
-K&N performance air filter
-Interior black wood trim installed on doors and dashboard
As for what’s next with the K5, I actually plan to keep it
long-term too along with the Telluride. I’ve already taken it on some trips,
such as to the Chicago Auto Show. Other upgrades I’m considering will likely
have to wait until after my lease is finished, but they include adding a
performance exhaust to the K5 as well as a K&N cold air intake, a JB4 tune
and a Rockville subwoofer to the trunk to replace the Ignite woofer that’s
there now. I’d then move the Ignite woofer to the Bravada - I’ll likely do this
one sooner than later. Beyond that, I’d love to take this car to a track day as
well, since it does have some solid driving dynamics.
Future Plans
Do you have any stories behind the cars you drive? Or do you plan to modify them in any significant ways? This is a fun hobby for me - I say if you can share your passions with the world, you should.
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