well, after deciding not to go with the suv and to go with a smaller 'fun' car. i ended up with this 2004 Ford Focus zx3 premium. 2.3l I4, 5spd, sunroof, leather, etc etc. 47k miles for under $9, figured it was a pretty good deal after looking around. apparently the 2.3 is somewhat rare in these cars and i figured finding that plus manual and sunroof with decently low miles (for me, dad has cars till 200+) was worth buying now. has about 140hp, 144ft/lbs torque, feels a good bit better than the older '01 focus in the background of these pics. after changing the oil i noticed that it actually has the same engine as our '05/'06 escape, lol. anyway, pics!:
