For Luis, it all started with his EP3 Civic Si hatchback, which he fully built and daily drove. Right around the time that Luis was getting heavily into photography, he and his wife Gracie spotted an '06 Subaru Impreza STI at a car show and developed a strong love for the brand. But they resisted the urge to buy one, partly because Luis wanted to spend his money on camera gear, not go-fast parts for a new Subie. But that all changed when Luis went to the Los Angeles Auto Show and snapped a few pics of the new STI. As Luis put it, "It was love at first sight. I even went back to the show a few days later to check the car out again." As a fan of hatchbacks, the new STI's body style was what really sealed the deal for Luis, and with plans to start a family the switch to a five-door made perfect sense. After a few months of frustration with local dealerships and their no-discount pricing, Gracie started emailing Subaru dealers throughout Southern California in search of a killer deal. That's when, in May of 2008, Chino Valley Subaru offered them the price they were looking for. The EP3 was parted out and traded in.
"A few weeks before getting the STI, I was telling my wife that I was not going to modify it. I was going to keep it bone stock since it was already fast. Little did she know I had already bought a set of Rally Armor UR mudflaps. The modding didn't stop until I recently got a '95 Miata as a winter beater." Those pre-Miata mods include a list that certainly rivals the spec sheet for Archie's X, including a stunning set of gold 18x9.5-inch SSR Type F wheels wrapped in Falken rubber, BC Racing coilovers, Chargespeed Bottomline bodykit and a Cobb AccessPORT for ECU tuning.
"After a few months of having the STI, I got bored of taking photos of the same car. I started thinking of someone with a built import I could shoot my car with. That's when I thought of Archie since I knew he had a built EVO VIII, I went to Evolutionm.net and saw he'd already upgraded to an X and modded it pretty heavily, so I sent him a PM and asked if he'd be interested in doing a photo shoot with both our cars. He agreed and the rest is history."
Both Archie and Luis may tell you that they're more or less "done" building their AWD Japanese rivals, but with all the inspiration they get from browsing their favorite Web forums, don't be surprised to see them posting pictures online that include upgrades not seen here. The only thing that might stop these two friendly rivals from one-upping each other in the tuning department are their winter beaters, which they're both currently enjoying as low-cost alternatives to their gas-guzzling turbo beasts.
Winter Beaters in So Cal?
Southern California isn't really an environment that necessitates owning a winter beater. For our cover car owners, Luis Bicol and Archie Santos-who call Van Nuys, California, home-their excuse for owning a cheap second car was the cost of a tank full of premium for their thirsty AWD dream cars.
Archie was first, buying a '99 Civic hatchback for $3K on Craigslist, with Luis following suit a week later when he bought a '95 Miata. According to Archie, "My EVO was averaging around 17 mpg or about 200 miles on a 12-gallon tank of gas. Now my Civic gets about 300 miles on a 10-gallon tank, or about 30 mpg. Everybody at work was asking if I sold my EVO because of the economic crisis. I told them no, it's at home and is a garage queen now."
Of course, the economics of owning these cheap secondary cars may have flown out the window a bit, because both Archie and Luis have taken to modifying them. As you can see, Archie's EK is getting the Type-R treatment and Luis' Miata has been lowered on a fresh set of rims for starters.
By David Pratte
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