Well, I picked up my ES in a moment of desperation. I needed a car, and I had to get one, my options were severely limited by the fact that my credit score was a 0, meaning I had no credit at all. Not bad, not good, just not existant. My father had bought 3 cars from the same dealership in the past year, so I called him up and asked if we could go down there and if he could co-sign. He did, I got my car for 15,300 at 11.3%; a horrid rate, but at least I am now building credit. Hell I even managed to get a Sears card. But that's enough of background, here's my thoughts on the car.
I started reading about it, and found out that this car is a very capable little bastard. The handling for it's price is superb. The cars have a high reliability rating, and from being on this forum, I learned that you could do a bit of tuning to approach the 225WHP mark and above.
So, I invested in Perfworks Turbo kit, it's taken alot longer than I expected, but I'll have it soon. Between what I paid for my car, and what I paid for his kit, and even what I have spent on my car's audio setup, I am still under $20,000.
I wanted a car that I could have fun with, make a ton of road trips in with a few friends, and still balance the fine line of being able to like the car I am driving by the way it looks and feels, but without having every little Johnny Ricer and Bobby Law get a hard on. My car thus far is doing everything I expected.
Provided you like the way the car looks, and don't go sticking body kits and stickers all over it, you can have a completely stock looking car. My interpretation of a sleeper is that you should be able to walk by it in a parking lot, and not have any idea that work has been done to it. My car has, and will keep, the stock appearance, Rims, body, suspension. I did change the exhaust to the Racing Beat Muffler, but it's really not that noticable. My car is the generic looking gold color, and the tint is light, similar to something you would find on an old persons car who doesn't like being blinded by sunlight. None of the audio equipment can be seen from outside the car, and other than the head unit, nothing else can be seen inside the car either. The in dash LCD, is nearly a perfect color and style match to the OEM interior. I've had plenty of my friends never notice the LCD at all. Some of them still don't know I have it. I do however have a habit of sticking 6 DVD cases in the passenger side door pocket, so some of them might notice.
To me, a sleeper just makes sense; no cops messing with me, no little kids trying to race me, don't have to worry about my car getting robbed, and it's more of a surprise when someone finds out the toys I have.
