dalum Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Hey guys, I've been lurking here a few months and the information has been great so far! Some background. When I turned 16 I got my parents old 92 Pontiac Bonneville when they got a new car. It was a boat for sure but I loved it. In 2003 I bought my first new car, an 03 Pontiac Grand Prix GT Limited Edition. I absolutely loved that car but I always kicked myself for not getting a GTP w/ super charger and the addon's were too expensive for me and I was afraid of transmission damage. I did so many small mods to that car! Fast forward to fall '12. A wife and 2 kids later and I was shopping for a new car. The GrandPrix is now 10 years old and even with super low milage it's starting to show its age in the interior. I began shopping for a sedan no smaller then the GrandPrix interior since I have 2 huge car seats. I made a spreadsheet with the GP's dimensions and performance stats. The new car had to beat my GP and I had learned my lesson before and wanted the highest engine I could get in that car. I had narrowed it down to 4 cars. Fusion Titanium 0.0700 HP/weight and 0.0787 torque/weight Taurus 0.0714 HP 0.063tq SHO 0.0841 HP 0.0806tq Optima 0.0809 HP 0.0809tq All 4 of those beat my GP at 0.0572 HP and 0.0643tq besides the giant Taurus' torque. The SHO was a dream and way out of my price range. I decided on the Fusion Titanium to stay "American". It was about the lowest performance of them but the '13 remake was sexy as hell and had all the features I wanted. The Optima lost me at no remote start. My father is friends with a Ford salesman so he was helping me through the process. My dad kept saying I should get a sports car and I'd joke that I'd love the SHO but it was too much money. I thought "at 365HP I'd NEVER have to mod it" LOL. We couldn't locate a Fusion I wanted so we ordered one from the factory. Fast forward 2 months, the weekend before Christmas. My dad calls saying he was stopping over. We talk for a few minutes then he says "go put up your garage door I got you some pop that needs carried in". Humm thats odd, but OK. The door starts going up and I see deep blue but his car is red. I thought "Oh nice my Fusion finally came and his friend had him stop by the dealership to surprise me with it". "Wait, those aren't the wheels I ordered... HOLY SHIT theres a SHO sitting in my driveway!" "Merry Christmas" he says!!! After we had ordered the Fusion he started looking on dealer websites for a SHO. He matched everything I had ordered on the Fusion minus the moonroof. He said he couldn't sleep for two nights worrying if I'd rather have a Fusion w/ moonroof or a SHO. That would have been a VERY easy decision in my head! So now I'm the VERY proud owner of a 2013 SHO, fully loaded minus moonroof, seat massager, navigation, and PP. The flower wheels are even growing on me. The "I'll never need to mod it" lasted about 2 weeks. I have a lockpick+ front camera, center speaker gauge pod, LED strips for the headlights, and the 2 Kenwood eXcelon 8's for the rear deck waiting on warmer weather to install. I already installed an AIRAID CAI so I can hear all the cool noises. I really want to hear more of the turbos, diverters, and the engine!!! I'm drooling over a tune, downpipes, and exhaust replacement but I'm wrestling with the warranty issues in my head. Livernois is about a 3 hour drive from here so thoughts of some laps on their dyno for a tune warms my heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
83racecrew Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 That is a great story :thumb: Welcome to EBOF :wave: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Cool story, is your dad looking to adopt a slightly balding 44 year old lawyer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHOdded Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Welcome to the Ecoboost community! History is continuously being made here, and you are in good company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucelinc Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Cool story' date=' is your dad looking to adopt a slightly balding 44 year old lawyer?[/quote'] Hey dalum, tell your Dad he doesn't need a slightly balding 44 year old lawyer when he can adopt an even more balding 52 year old banker!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalum Posted March 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Lawyers and Bankers... Yea you can probably afford your own, balding or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucelinc Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Lawyers and Bankers... Yea you can probably afford your own' date=' balding or not [/quote'] LOL...good response...maybe not accurate but very good, anyway! Enjoy your SHO, Dalum. It is a great machine....made even better with a few mods. Sounds like you are thinking the same thing. We look forward to hearing more from you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadfoot Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Great family and nice car, welcome to the site! Remember to do something nice for your dad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 :welcome: Congrats and glad you've joined us! You should thank your dad several more times, hope you enjoy the SHO as much as most of us like ours. Since you got a great surprise, you should consider springing for $10.00 and become a Premium Member here. the money goes to help defray the costs to keep our forum up and running, and I'm sure you'll get more then your money's worth in information here. Again, glad you've joined us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregoire Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Glad you made it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalum Posted March 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Wife' date=' 2 kids and a SHO? Wife 2 kids = Flex EB = SHO but slightly less quick but MASSIVE more room for a young family and years to grow.[/quote'] No offense but I think the flex is ugly as all hell I did test drive an Edge but it felt to big for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted March 15, 2013 Report Share Posted March 15, 2013 No offense but I think the flex is ugly as all hell I did test drive an Edge but it felt to big for me. Welcome From "SHO-OFF the SOUTH" Group. Yea the Flex is not the pretty-ess from the front but most other car guys only see it from the rear.LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griggs95 Posted March 15, 2013 Report Share Posted March 15, 2013 Great story! I learned years ago too that you need to get what you want and just save up for it. Otherwise you'll be disappointed when you see what you wanted driving by you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpd1151 Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Welcome aboard :welcome: As others have echoed, indeed a fabulous story. I can only imagine your sense of wonderment when the reality of it all smacked you right square in the face. I would correlate that experience with being younger at Christmas time, waking up early, and being the first 1 down the stairs only to be greeted by a ton of presents under the Christmas tree.... Glad to have you here and thanks for registering and becoming an official EBOF member. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 No offense but I think the flex is ugly as all hell I did test drive an Edge but it felt to big for me. I used to feel the same way about the Flex, but now I really like it and in fact am in the process locating 1 to buy. You thought the Edge felt too BIG to you? Really? Your SHO is bigger..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalum Posted March 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 I used to feel the same way about the Flex' date=' but now I really like it and in fact am in the process locating 1 to buy. You thought the Edge felt too BIG to you? Really? Your SHO is bigger.....[/quote'] I've just never been into SUV's so I think that's why it felt big to me. It was like it wasn't big enough to justify over a sedan and the Explorer was just to big for its own good. Now with the Taurus I feel like i was tricked into buying a sedan on a crossover's frame but that might just be its ride height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinnievis Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Welcome to the site! Awesome story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAiLs Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Great story and welcome to the site! I'm a former Grand Prix owner myself (Owned 4 of 'em) and just bought my '11 a couple weeks ago. The SHO is waaay better than my Grand Prix, but I really do miss the HUD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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