T-WRX is officially broken in! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We covered a little over 300 miles this past weekend on a trip to the Boston area. I tried to vary my engine speed as much as possible on the voyage without going over the magical 4k. I was only too happy to oblige the 55mph zones and much to Amy’s chagrin, I pulled into and through a few rest stops on the way. Overkill? Probably.

Upon our return yesterday afternoon there were 976 miles on there, and knowing I wouldn’t consider the break in complete even at 1,000 miles unless I replaced the factory oil, I sprung into action with my new ramps and my new torque wrench and my new oil pan. If I didn’t do it last night, I didn’t know when I would. Changing the oil for your first time ever on your brand new car is cause for some anxiety. It went perhaps not as smoothly as it could have, but I learned a lot and I look forward to another chance to redeem myself. The important thing is that the oil held and everything looked good. I’m going to be saving a boatload by replacing the synthetic oil myself.

So I cleaned up, ate dinner and hit the road to close the gap on 1,000. I have to be honest in that I had not exceeded the 4k rpm limit I set upon myself in the first 1,000 miles. There were a handful of spirited runs up to 4k, and maybe 4.2k, just to give the engine something to think about. But the fun in this car doesn’t truly begin until ~3.5k.

I didn’t know what to expect. Throw in the additional power and nearly 10 years of refinement since my 2002 WRX and I had only a vague notion of what it would be like. With the 2002 there was the explosive power that I had no basis for comparison with. It was the fastest thing I’d ever driven. Everything else seemed underwhelming and I was mildly concerned I wouldn’t be impressed with the new 2011. Because it’s something you get used to and I didn’t want to be underwhelmed by my brand new car. I mean, how different could it be?

I can safely say, not a problem. It’s so quick.

Being my first ever aggressive shift in this car, and holding the camera I’ll admit to a less than ideal transition from first to second. But I thought it would be a nice way to remember the moment and I did eventually find my way through the gears until I passed a deer on the side of the road and decided to head home.

It’s nice being the baddest ass on the road again. Sure, it’s not the fastest thing out there but generally you best pull up in something costing two or three times as much or something modified if you want to play. Which doesn’t happen much. Not that any of the granola eating folks around here care anyway.

And with that, now’s the part where I drive as conservatively as possible and neverevereverever drive like last night again. Gas is over $4 now. 🙁