of the 16 cars i've owned during the last 27 years, this one is finally my "forever" daily ride. our family likes to name cars, and my '23 civic sport-touring hatch has been the easiest to name: ruca. my mini & i love sublime, and before the car arrived we were listening to the 40oz to freedom album, track 1 being "waiting for my ruca." she's definitely my best girl when it comes to daily wheels, and there was a helluva wait that entailed purchasing a temporary car. worth it.
hard to believe, but in another life i was trained as a master mechanic and turned wrenches for many years. in that time i drove so many different cars during inspections & repairs. of all those vehicles, this is my favorite.
i appreciate that honda continues to produce a car for the masses that is well-built and fun to drive. whoever it was that decided their peoples' car should be call "civic" was on their game that day.
i'm a relic of the last century, so i appreciate streamline simplicity. large round gauges, comfy-yet-sporty seats, uncomplicated climate control, versatile hatchback body, and of course, the row-your-own style gearbox.
when i placed the order, my local dealer wouldn't even take money initially. several times the salesman mentioned they had no idea when this car would show up, and that it could be "an exceptionally long wait." custom ordering a car is the most "me" thing ever (i think this was my 4th ordered car) and i was happy to wait for a 6-cogger with a bunch of accessories in sport/touring trim.
this car is my rolling office: 5 days a week along the back roads, around countless lakes, through immense pine forests, and navigating the winding suburban sprawl & roundabouts of northeast wisco. 52 weeks per year stuffed with camera equipment, drones, tools, for-sale signs, and the occasional trailer-paring to haul billboards. she's still wearing the removable roof rack from the camping trip/music festival adventure i took my mini on in august. dunno why, but i love that look. 3 years and 82,000 miles later, my sentiment continues to be "pry the keys from my cold, dead hands" when the dealer calls looking for a trade. i took this snapshot last night when i was photographing my last house for the week, and the yellow contrast really caught my eye. i've had some spiffy cars in a variety of configurations, usually wearing muted colors, but none of the others caused people to approach at random to tell me how snazzy my car is. and they're right, imo it has the most simply perfect fastback line. and every once in awhile the sonic gray pearl paint gives you a peek of gold & blue if the sun hits it just right. what can i say? in a fucked up world when it's a less than stellar time to be a 40-something woman from the u.s.a., the simple things are easy to appreciate.
this is a weird reality (possibly the alternate-1985 timeline?) in which we repeatedly find ourselves collectively saying "....aaaand this is why we can't have nice things," an enjoyable daily-ride is a welcome exception. thanks honda. (RIP stick-shift tho ðŸ˜)
anyway. thanks for reading if you did...this ramble was a fun way to procrastinate while i complete some data entry and writing copy for work. happy hooning y'all 💜
p.s.--suck it subaru. 3 brand new cars in a row were absolute duds.