Upfront Warning: This post is for my fellow Car Buffs. If getting your hands dirty under the hood is not your thing, you wont be interested in this post.

Over the years, I've come to learn many things about myself that, well, aren't brag worthy, but do prove useful at times. One such quality is that, when it comes to buying cars, I'm very shrewd. In fact, some might even call me a cheap skate. I can live with that. I've paid for all my cars in cash and have been rewarded with a very high return on my investments. Granted, I may not drive the prettiest cars around, but they serve the purpose the were bought to serve.

That being said, I now have on my hands a faithful mid-90's car that has served me very well, but I'm getting very bored with it in its current state. It's reliable, reasonably fuel-efficient and has had a very low cost of ownership, but I want more. I'm a bit of a speed freak and I like going fast. This current vehicle is quick enough for in-town zipping around, but it isn't fast. The question is, do I do like I've done before in the past and make a "creeper" high performance car or do I sell it and buy something that performs in stock trim? Here's a little more of the story, first.

1995 Toyota Corolla Passenger Side View

About four years ago, when I was in college, I found myself in need of a cheap, reliable, gas sipping vehicle to get me back and forth to classes and to run errands around town. I started looking around the local lots and didn't see much that fit my budget, at the time. Then, by chance I spotted a Toyota Corolla on a "Buy Here, Pay Here" car lot with a ridiculously low price tag on it. I'm not a car expert, but I know enough about cars to know that the Corolla is one of the most reliable cars around and that it gets good gas mileage.

Quite skeptical of the low price tag, I approached the lot owner and asked, what's the story with this car. He shrugged and said that he got it on trade-in. The owner had wrecked it, but it seemed to run. He had not had his mechanic look over it. With my bullshit detector going off full tilt, I looked the car over, very carefully. The body was rough, but all in all, it wasn't too bad. I had to drive it. The lot owner agreed and I took the car out for a 20 minute test drive.

Key in the ignition, fires up immediately, a little rough on idle, but no biggie and off we go. I didn't make it 2 miles before I realized I had found the steal of the year. The engine was a little rough, acceleration wasn't great, but there were no knocks, the transmission shifted well and when the RPMs grew, the pickup was decent. This lot owner didn't know what he had on his hands! Any symptoms I detected were familiar signs of poor maintenance. Given that this was a Toyota, I knew that in the hands of someone who know how to take care of a car, it could easily last until I got out of college.

Still somewhat skeptical, I took the car back to the lot and went into really detailed tire kicking mode. I checked to make sure the chassis was straight, checked for water damage, fire damage, over heating signs, anything and everything I could think of. After 45 minutes of going over this car with a fine tooth comb, the lot owner was getting impatient. Finally, I knew I had found a fantastic deal! I told the lot owner, I want it! I went to the bank, pulled out the cash and paid for it on the spot. He was happy and so was I.

1995 Toyota Corolla Driver Side View

Four years later, I still have that beaten up little 1995 Toyota Corolla. It had about 120K miles on it when I got it and It's got just under 170K miles on it now. It's been a very reliable vehicle! Beyond replacing the Alternator (I installed a high power audio system ) and a couple minor performance upgrades, all that I've had to do to this car is basic maintenance. This is amazing for a car that had seen so much abuse from the previous owner.

So, how does it perform now? Well, that's subjective. Here's a little more detail to put thing into perspective.

• It's a calispec car which had 105hp and 105lb/ft torque at the flywheel. Modest, even by 1995 standards!
• It has a 3-speed with Overdrive (4-spd) automatic. Yet another horsepower killer.
• The previous owner was so bad about maintenance that the factory installed plugs were still in place at 120k miles!
• The only modifications I've made have been hotter plugs, a cold air intake and a cheap high flow muffler.
• It's a 7A-FE (1.8L) DOHC I-4. Not the highest performing Toyota motor.

1995 Toyota Corolla Engine Bay with Cold Air Intake

I haven't run the car through any time traps and I don't even have a RPM gauge installed. When I got it, performance was not a consideration I cared about. However, with the modifications I've made, here are some rough figures.

• Manually shifting the 4-spd auto from 1st to 2nd, I hit the rev-limiter at 40mph.
• Manually shifting the 4-spd auto from 2nd to 3rd, I hit the rev-limiter at 70mph.
• 0-60mph comes in under 9 seconds (yeah, I know, a snail could give it a run).
• Low RPM is horrible, but higher RPMs put you back in your seat.
• The power curve isn't even remotely linear. I don't know the exact RPM, but there is a point where the Gerbils kick in and this thing takes off like a bat out of hell.

I've done a lot of searching around on YouTube and Toyota forums and there seems like there are a lot of people tuning this particular generation of car. This was encouraging at first, but now, I'm on the fence. In the four years I've had this car, my total cost of ownership has equaled the retail price of this car now, even with the body damage. Essentially, I've done great with it; better than breaking even! However, the body needs work still, the miles are creeping up and it's starting to rust in some places, but not bad.

I want an in town sprinter that has the power to give the local tuner boys a run on stop light to stop light runs, but still gets decent fuel economy. Remember, I'm frugal, so gas guzzling is not an option. Is it worth it to put the work into my beloved Corolla, or would I be better off selling it for book value and buying a higher performance used car to start my tuning project from?

For those of you who must hear in order to decide, here's a short clip of the engine revving. My 1995 Calispec Toyota Corolla 7A-FE. Please pardon the dark video, it was recorded as I write this post. If you picked up a little rattle in the top end, you're a gear head like me. With over 167k miles on her, she could use a little work, but all in all, she sounds pretty darn good for the money invested.

So, you know the history of my little econo-charm, you know what work I've done on it, you've seen pictures of it and you know that I spent a fraction of the book value for the car. That leaves the following question. To tune or not to tune? What would you do? I'm on the fence on this one. I want a faster ride, but I don't want to spend a wad of money. Should I tune what I have or buy something faster "out of the box"? Your opinion will weigh heavily in my decision. Thanks for the feedback!

1995 Toyota Corolla Passenger Side Angle View

Update:

In the last week, I added a Spectre Cold Air Intake Kit, Seafoamed it, and gave it a good oil flush/change with Engine Restorer. I do the flush/change w/ Restorer at every change, so that baseline is well established. However, I wasn't sure how much of a change the cold air induction and the Seafoaming would make. The specs listed above are after these modifications.

To put things into perspective, throughout these updates, the following symptoms were observed.

• Prior to the cold air intake update, idle was so rough that the rear view mirror would vibrate with the stereo off and at warm idle. You could actually see the steering wheel vibrate it was so bad! With more air, the motor is running much smoother, though still not silky smooth.
• After the cold air intake update idle was considerably smoother as well as overall performance. The power, while still peaky, was still smoother overall. While less important, the overall sound of the car took on a new aggressiveness as well.
• During the Seafoam application, there was a point where the performance blew my mind. Seriously. At roughly 3,000 RPM with Seafoam introduced into the vacuum line, gas tank and crank case, this car flat out hauled ass like a car with 50% more ponies or more. It was quite the surprise to me when I looked back, saw the huge plume of white smoke and looked at the speedometer after going from 30mph to 60mph in just a very few seconds. This car never accelerated that fast!
• After successfully running Seafoam through the car and changing the oil, the performance peak is less severe, but the overall performance of the car has greatly improved! Idle, throttle response, mid-range torque and high RPM performance all improved. Prior to Seafoaming, the top speed in first gear was 35mph; the top speed in 2nd gear was 65mph and the overall top speed was around 90mph. After Seafoaming the engine, top speed in 1st is 40mph, 2nd is 70mph and I hit 100mph with peddle and RPM to go, but the suspension couldn't hang with the drive train. The shocks are warn out and the suspension is stock. I'm surprised it could hang at 100mph in the hills of West Virginia.

Overall, these two minor changes, which total less than 1 hour of labor have restored this car to its original performance and then some. These minor changes make me wonder... What would the performance be with an engine rebuild, porting and polishing the head and upgrading the exhaust to 2.5 inches. Hmmmm...

After a long, cold Winter, Spring brings forth new life from frozen land. Birds populate the now budding trees, and the air takes on a scent of life.

Unquestionably, Spring is my favorite season. I feel a very strong connection with nature and the seasons. Every year, I dread the return of Winters because it’s like my body goes through a near death cycle, just like the land around me. Things of cheer and beauty fade away and I go into a dark, cold, slump for several months. Then, when it seems there is no hope for beauty or joy in life, Spring comes and both the world and I come back to life.

Hope rises with the blades of new grass, clearer vision comes with more hours of sunlight, and new found energy bursts as the buds on the trees do. Hello world! I’m alive!

To celebrate this first day of Spring, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite quotes about this wonderful season. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

~Anne Bradstreet

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

~Bern Williams

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.

~Doug Larson quotes

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

~Margaret Atwood

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

~Hal Borland

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”

~Robin Williams

Happy 1st Day of Spring!

The impact of Twitter

There is no doubt that Twitter has had a profound impact on the blogging, Internet Marketing, SEO and SMM scene. From major corporations to small, local businesses, it seems that one of the top marketing objectives of many is to establish a solid Twitter profile.

From plugins for Wordpress for Twitter, social bookmarking gadgets for Twitter and everyone’s favorite bloggers all a twit about Twitter. There is absolutely no doubt that Twitter is the place to be if you want to be somebody.

What is it about Twitter that makes it such a hot market for businesses as well as large and small and individuals from all interest groups? After all, you are limited to 140 characters and your links are not followed by Google.

How Twitter replaces many Blogs

Twitter fits a niche that many blogs currently occupy. That being the niche of a blog that has very little need to say a lot, but says a lot in a small amount of words. Now, there is also those blogs that say little, but are focused on affiliate marketing. Twitter is ideal for both of these markets.

Twitter is an ideal place to promote your most recent content as well as the most recent content of others. Using existing services, it’s a relatively simple matter to aggregate all your latest posts via TwitterFeed, while adding value by aggregating the content of related sites.

Furthermore, since Twitter places a strong emphasis on short text updates, it is an ideal market for shortURL services which make it even easier to mask affiliate links. With some savvy marketing copy and some creative linking, it’s very easy to make good affiliate sales through the use of Twitter. After all, it doesn’t matter if affiliate URLs pass link juice. All that matters there is a sale!

The benefits of Twitter

Ok, so Twitter is a great place to say a lot in as few of words as possible and the nature of Twitter makes affiliate marketing so much easier, but what other benefits does Twitter hold?

Twitter has become a superior source for breaking news. A perfect example of this is the US Airways flight 1549 crash into New York’s Hudson river. This particular incident exemplified the power of this micro-blogging platform. Not only was the reporter able to post live updates from their phone, but they could include pictures as well. This is simply amazing!

Sure, you could “live blog” such an event, but if you do not follow the blog that posts this info, you would never know. Twitter, on the other hand, has many tools to track what is the hot topic at that moment. One such tool is Twitscoop.

The benefits of traditional Blogs

Where traditional blogs shine over twitter is in the details, literally. Given Twitter’s limitation of 140 characters, you really cannot go into much detail in what you post and multi-posting on a particular item may get lost in the “noise” of twitter. Traditional blog posts, though, enable the author to fully develop a subject to the extent they feel is needed. If 255 characters is what it takes or over 1,000 characters is what it takes, this is acceptable in blog posts and is the norm.

Since Twitter has not made available means to direct monetize a user’s stream, blog posts still provide the greatest monetization avenue. Sure, affiliate URLs earn some a chunk of change, but there’s only so much you can sell in 140 characters or less. For some products, a much more substantial body of text is needed to make the sale. This is where linking to blog posts really comes into play.

The crossroads of Twitter and Blogs

As mentioned above, there is only so much you can do in 140 characters or less. Services such as Twitterfeed make it possible to aggregate your RSS content onto twitter, which serves as a critical crossroad for those who want to leverage both Twitter and a blog.

Essentially, short and sweet is not always the answer and Twitter does not make it easy to follow a Q/A session on a particular topic. Blog and Forum posts do, and thus are still the preferred methods of communication for many subjects.

For example, if I’m troubleshooting a particular driver issue, details in 140 characters wont cut it. However, if a Twitter user links me to a post using a shortURL service which has extensive details on a driver issue, but they still only used 140 characters to point me in that direction, there is a major benefit of leveraging both the shallow content of Twitter and the deep content of a traditional Blog or Forum.

Which do you choose?

Neither or both! There is no 100% correct answer to this question! If 99% of your blog posts are under 255 characters, you might find good success with Twitter. Then again, you may not. People on Twitter can be fickle at times. If you attract a good following, then you very well may have success on twitter. However, doing so is not as easy as following a ton of people right after signing up. In fact, you could get yourself banned if you do so.

There is a high emphasis, from what I’ve seen, on Twitter for attraction. If you have something worthwhile to say, the followers will come. Regardless, that does NOT mean you will have thousands of followers even if you have something worth saying. Again, it’s a balancing act.

To attract, you have to say something worthwhile, but you also have to ask for the “follow”. Solid judgment , a prudent approach to following others, and engaging in genuine conversations is key here.

If the above is more than you are willing to invest in your marketing campaign, then you should definitely focus more or traditional avenues! Very active avenues, like Twitter are high maintenance, to a degree. If you cannot invest the time to make the most of it, it’s usually better to focus on other efforts that will return a higher ROI.

In the end, is it a matter of personal preference?

The most direct answer is yes and no. Yes, in that you can achieve success through either blogging or micro-blogging. Both provide revenue streams to some extent. Both provide an avenue for getting your message out to the masses. Both provide a means to measure your success, even if only somewhat.

The real differentiating factors are how much you want to say and what audience you are targeting. If your primary audience is one where short, concise blurbs are the main draw, twitter is an ideal channel. However, if your audience wants quick updates, but relishes, occasionally in the details, you would be best to keep that blog and aggregate your latest post link via TwitterFeed.

Fresh from the PHP Québec 2009 Conference, Marc-André Lanciault shares with us this excellent presentation on the ImpressCMS Persistable Framework

Be sure to follow Marc-André Lanciault on Twitter for live updates from the conference!