Journey of Ownership 6F: Midlife Crisis Averted
1983:
Earl and Wendy’s son Henry, now 18 years old, has decided to study accounting at the University of British Columbia, leaving behind the wilderness and the hippy lifestyle of his parents, though he still intends to visit.
1985:
When his parents bought the RV, he accompanied them on their journey back home, where he was introduced to muscle car culture by way of a hopped-up Pontiac Trans-Am belonging to one of the neighbors. As he continued his studies, he was adamant that once he graduated and had a high-paying job, he himself would own one of those impressive machines.
2006:
Henry is now 41 years old and married to his wife Laurie, with whom he has a six year-old daughter. He works at an Important Financial Institution in the heart of Vancouver and has just received an important raise. Now, he wants to buy the muscle car that he had always promised himself, but with a wife and kid, he must also now think of other things, such as safety, space and practicality. After consulting with Laurie, they are looking to purchase a four-door muscle car which can offer a balance of real-life usability with coolness and fun.
Rules
- This challenge will be run on the stable version of the game.
- Model and family years: 2000-2006.
- Trim and variant year: 2006.
- Maximum price of $40,000.
- Maximum techpool of $50 million. (The sum of the circled numbers)
- No negative techpool.
- No negative quality.
- Allowed body styles:
- Four-door sedans.
- Five-door liftbacks (these will be classified as hatchbacks in-game, but the proportions must be those of a sedan in order to qualify, if in doubt please ask.) All bodies classified as hatchbacks will get a 10% penalty in the practicality stat due to their advantage over sedan and wagon bodies, in order to level the playing field.
- Five-door station wagons.
- Bodies from the Legacy Body Pack are banned.
- Wheelbase between 2.75 and 3 meters, without rounding.
- Five full seats only.
- Six, eight and ten cylinder engines only.
- Longitudinal, rear-wheel drive only.
- No race parts, V16s or semi-slicks.
- Unleaded Premium (95 RON) only.
- WES9 emissions for SOHC and DOHC engines, WES8 for OHV engines.
- Maximum loudness of 55.
- Must be road-legal and Canada-spec (not too strict but it should have all the necessary lights, wipers, fuel cap, license plate size, etc.) if in doubt just ask.
- Detailed interiors are appreciated but will not be judged.
- ATS can be used within reasonable limits, if in doubt just ask.
- The wheelbase can be tweaked with ATS, limited to only 5 centimetres either plus or minus (the total sum of both front and rear wheelbase offsets).
Priorities
- Design and quality of execution. Henry wants a car that looks the part.
- Performance, will be calculated based on speed, acceleration and cornering Gs. Henry wants a proper muscle car experience.
- Comfort. It should offer a comfortable ride for Henry and his family.
- Drivability. Both Henry and Laurie should be able to drive it with no issue.
- Sportiness. The stat itself.
- Practicality. It should have enough room for the small family and their things.
- Service costs. It shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg every time it has to go to the dealership for a service.
- Reliability. Since it’s going to be a daily driver, the car should be reliable.
- Safety. While they don’t need the latest, greatest and most expensive safety tech, the family should be well-protected from any accidents.
- Purchase cost. While they do have a budget limit, Henry doesn’t mind getting close to it or even meeting it.
- Fuel economy. It is a muscle car and Henry knows it, he doesn’t mind filling up more often than usual.
- Environmental resistance. The city of Vancouver has an official policy of salting the roads if winter conditions demand it, but since it’s not the most common occurence, it’s not that big of a deal.
- Prestige. While Henry doesn’t really care about impressing his neighbours and coworkers, he still wants something nice that makes him feel successful.
Submissions
- Model and family name: JOC6F - your forum username.
- Trim and variant name: free.
- Send your .car file via Forum DMs only.
- Make a post with at least one picture of your car in this thread
- Submissions open 2025-06-22T05:59:00Z, the rules can be discussed until then.
- Submissions close 2025-07-13T05:59:00Z.
Changelog
- Added wagons to the list of allowed bodies.
- Increased techpool limit, clarified techpool rules.
- Changed the priority level of the drivability stat.
- Added liftbacks and cleaned up body style rules.
- Added environmental resistance and prestige to the list of priorities.
- Added practicality penalty to liftbacks.
- Banned Legacy Bodies.
- Restricted wheelbase tweaks with ATS.
Previous rounds:
