Author: Albert Roxas

So a few days ago I post about Jon’s challenger and what happens next? Conspiracy? Am I predicting the future? LOL.
Congrats to the homie Jon Sibal on his first place win in the Scion Tuner Challenge – IQ @ the 2011 SEMA Show. I got some pre-release pics a few weeks back and told him back then he was most definitely gonna win. Good seeing you and Mike yesterday. I ran into RJ at the booth yesterday as well and we knew you’d kill. Congrats buddy.

Lemme just keep it real for a minute…I’m not a fan of American Cars, not a hater – I can appreciate a well built old school car, but I’ve just never been a Ford/Chevy/GM guy. When I was growing up and tuning cars, it was always the 5.0 Mustang GT’s vs. the 2nd Gen integgys, CRX’s and built VW’s. This was 9 years before Fast and Furious, before NOS became a running joke and before VTEC kicked in yo. Hella Flush back then meant that your wheels didn’t fit right. 16″ wheels were HUGE and Mugen didn’t make keychains. I chose the import side and left the the muscle cars to the guys that liked Def Leopard.

Flashback to the beginning of the year, Jon introduces me to a friend of his who is looking to build this brand “RWB” in the US. NOTE: RWB is hitting big at SEMA, they’re the talk of the industry right now – and everybody wants to be in bed with them (more opinions on that later). I had only seen RWB stuff in Japan and we started to discussing how to bring the brand to the US. Keep in mind, this was the weekend after the Japan earthquake. They have a particular style that just screams Japan Tuning, with Euro flair – and people are ripe to gobble it up. We send a few emails back and forth, he asks me to go to Japan and we could never really work something out – Jarasa and I even discussed it back then as we knew it was going to splash big. 6 months later, Fatlace/RWB NA is born LOL – which is all good because Mark does solid stuff (although I don’t know what’s up with the Rotaform wheels) but again I’m going off the topic. JON brought RWB to the forefront of my attention…

Jon looking to change up Big Willy – goes full RWB style. Bronze SSR’s with a dish only Chicago could handle – dropped on AIR. YES. AIR – and not some ham and egger kit, we’re talking air-runner baby…I mean, he made the Challenge appeal to a full on JDM/Euro Pontificator. The car will be at SEMA in it’s new guise – here’s a few pics from this past C&C, killin it.

OH..and I heard some people were hating on his car…are you for real? Build a single car of significance (Jon has built a few) and then you can talk. If I HAD to build or rock a Challenger – Jon has built a car that I’d roll. I know, wow – big deal, Albert would rock it – who cares right? Well, read the intro paragraph above again, I’m a pretty particular guy so it does actually mean something if I say I’d roll a car, particularly American and one that I didn’t build. I’m on my 14th personal project car…if I like a car, trust me. It means something. LOL.

Somewhere in the middle of the desert at his house, my boy Jay is laughing at this post because I’m keepin it real and not being PC for once. WHEELPOWA!!!

LOL. My homie Tye MMS’d me these pics of him and Taj trying to scoop some stuff from Costco a few weeks back. CLASSIC.

I would’ve parked even further LOL.

Large pack of Bounty paper towels…no problem!

Mad props for keepin it real Taj LOL.

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted a writeup, nothing technical – if you want specs, go google. I just hit 5K on my 2011 ///M3 sedan and wanted to post up some of my thoughts on it.

Delivery day…I actually put 8 miles on it so was delivered with <25

Drivability: It’s a great daily driver. Get in and go. No questions asked. I came from a 2011 335is Coupe (more on that later) and I was a bit concerned over missing the turbo’s – especially around town, where the 335is really shines, but the sheer fun of spinning up the rev’s easily takes care of that. It’s a lot less work for me seeing as I went with DCT (which is great BTW) and for my current lifestyle this seems to fit me best. As most of you who know me well, I feel this way about every car for about a year LOL. But in all seriousness, it’s been a great daily for me. If you can get over the initial MPG shock (I was getting 12MPG initially, now around 16) I personally don’t think you could find a better 4 door out there in this price range. The ability to take 4 people around comfortably, run into a 2 door sports car…and watch him get bummed out when you bail on him with 4 people is…well, just plain hilarious if you ask me. All in all, living daily with it has been a great experience.

Performance: See above, that pretty much says it all. This thing is a beast. The DCT system is stellar. I’ve driven Lamborghini’s E-Gear, Ferrari’s F-1(Superfast version as well), VW/Audi’s CVT as well as the older SMGII – the DCT system kills them all in overall drivability. It’s easy to get technical in MS, but for real world driving antics, I’d have to put the DCT at or near the very top. No wandering for gears while driving around in “auto” unlike some of the other vehicles. Flip a button and I can go full M mode with all my preferences set…pretty slick. The car handles like a 2 door to say the least – I’ve owned and driven some pretty decent handling cars in my lifetime and I’d have to say out of the box, this car is pretty amazing. Factory Michelin PS2’s don’t hurt LOL.

Cool Factor: I’m just gonna say it. In Irvine, it’s like they give out BMW’s when you turn 16…every Asian kid has a white ///M3 coupe lowered on BBS LM’s w/akrapovic exhaust and rolls to Diamond Jamboree for boba. This was most definitely a factor in me choosing the 4-door. There, I said it. Plus – maybe, when I have a kid I can bring him to Cars & Coffee in the back and be one of “those guys” who still have a badass performing 4-door LOL. NOTE: Bringing a kid in a Gallardo would be just as cool.

Consensus: I’m happy with it…seriously. You know I’m happy with a car when I don’t mod it LOL. Only mods are OEM BMW Performance Grills/Vents in Black Chrome (European) and a set of painted reflectors LOL! Great car to drive everyday, has enough performance to have some fun on the weekends after C&C and my wife can drive it if I need the Cayenne (DCT!) – It’ll be here till the end of the year at least 🙂

4999!