When was your first...?

[vxstorm]

Sighting of the Vx? I am sure we all remember where we were and what we were doing. Love at first sight!!

I was living in Blacksburg, Va. year- 1999, I was driving a Toyota Rav4 which had recently come out and I thought it was the coolest, funkiest looking car ever.....
until driving to school one day I saw a 1999 IronMan Vehicross sitting in the middle of an Isuzu lot. It stuck out like a sore thumb!
And I loved it! I had to have it!
Mind you I was a college student who could barely afford the ramen noodles needed to sustain me, but that didn't stop me from drooling and scheming! I even considered selling some organs on the black market : P

Well that is how I met my true love. I never got that IronMan btw, and thankfully so, I still have my liver! I was finally able to buy a used Astral Silver in 2003, I could finally afford it! : P I then proceeded to drive it fullspeed into a large cement driveway cauldron and total the thing. Love hurts

[rowhard]

Funny you should mentioned. I drive a city bus in Olympia Washington, and often I do the express to Tacoma. Well, A few years ago, Tacoma was putting in light rail between the theater district and the Tacoma Dome Station, So they had us parking on a different street, sorry, alley. We had to walk thru this car park and take a elevator down to go to the bathrooms. In this car park was a silver VX, I didn't have a clue what it was, but I loved it, it was me,... period. Many times I would drive back to Olympia hoping there wasn't any delays, any accidents, cause I never made it to the bathrooms in Tacoma. When the time came, I was just going to take over 'she who must be obeyed's' mazda Pro5, sweet ride. But in the end, for the same money, I could have a VX. Guess you know the end to this story and I haven't looked back.

[JoFotoz]

Other than the Auto mags...I didnt see one "live" for 5 years.

Then..there it was , in all its Proton Glory...pulling up next to me in my Yellow Early Bronco.


I felt like I did after my first kiss.......

DANG...what took me so long!.


The search started that night on the web...I found this forum....6 months later I found ( what was to become!) the ORW!

Life changing event...seriously!


jo

[kodiak]

It was 2000, I was on a business trip in Palo alto CA . I was training an I.T. department at Stanford University on a server that I had just installed. I was there for about a week and every day I’d go out and eat lunch with the department director. She had an ebony and it was amazing. At the time I drove a 99 F250 SuperDuty and wasn’t really in the market for a new car. But that ebony stuck in my mind and the rest is history.

[pbkid]

well sad to say that i dont remember the first time i saw a VX...but the first time i can remember is the VX i own now...

i had just graduated high school and it was time for something more reliable and better in the snow than my integra...so my dad and i discussed me getting a car for a while and we finally decided the time was right so we went shopping...

i looked and drove the scion TC, lexus RX300, dodge durango, subaru STI, modded wrx, heavily modded H22 prelude, toyota tacoma.....
then i found the VX in the newspaper...i remember seeing one at some point in time and liking it....i was amazed at the price tag for such a cool looking car because i knew they were around 35k....
went and looked and bought it on the spot....drove it to the bank to take out a 2 year loan for 14,600......

and the rest is history and you guys know most of it....

including 6,800 for new motor shipped and installed, tires, lift, and rims....when the motor blew up

[etlsport]

i was 15 and my neighbor let me drive his 2000 rodeo around the block right after he got it, and i was plotting which car i wanted to get when i got my license.. i had settled on a rodeo sport hard top after driving that rodeo, so i went to isuzus website and saw the vx on there and was like whoooaa! but after looking at the price resigned myself to the rodeo sport

saw a proton maybe a year later in a parking lot at a walmart in walkersville, md.. then another proton parked in the postal service employee parking area at 30th st station in philly then the next one i saw was after i flipped my civic, i was looking for an accord and the local honda dealership had it sitting there after someone traded it in.. after seeing that.. there was no way i was getting an accord

[ISCE]

Mission to Mars, the VX02. That was I believe the first. I can remember maybe then seeing a live VX only a few times on the road for years after that. Never really thought too much of it since I couldn't afford one.

When I switched jobs in 2002 I needed a new car and was thinking about a Rodeo Sport... and there sat my VX on the lot. All new with 24 miles on it, just waiting for me this whole time. Took about 2 seconds to make the decision to buy it.

[tom4bren]

I saw an ebony on the local Isuzu lot when they first came out so I had to go & look. I loved everything about it except the price tag & the red interior (sorry - personal preference). I plotted - I schemed - I waited. When I found the Proton on ebay with lift, 33's & OFH (Offset From H---), that was all she wrote.

[VehiGAZ]

Summer 1999, New Haven, CT, out with friends at BAR. The weather was warm already, so they had the "garage doors" at the front open to the sidewalk & street. I'm chatting up some chick, when I sensed a disturbance in the Force. I looked up, and a sweet, shiny Proton rolls down Chapel Street, nice and slow. I knew what it was from the previews in Car & Driver, and I just sort of stumbled toward it in a daze. The VX disappeared down the street, the chick gets all pissed off at me for ignoring her right in the middle of some story she was telling, so she disappears, too. But I couldn't have been happier. :-)

I saw one on a dealer's lot a couple of weeks later, but was surprised to see that it was even more expensive than C&D had estimated (the supposed "optional" CD changer became standard for US-bound VX's). I couldn't afford one new, that was for sure, but I knew I would have one eventually...

[workmeistr]

Easy question.

2001 in Colorado Springs. Me and an Army buddy were in my yellow Land Rover Discovery XD and we stopped at the Isuzu/Chevy dealer when we saw a Proton on the corner. I bought a '94 Trooper, new, to take to Alaska, and I had a high opinion of Isuzus. We wanted to take the Proton for a test drive, alone, and the salesmen were kind of leEry. I made a weak joke about them holding my Rover keys for collateral, they responded back with the $30K price of the VX.

Long story, but we took the test drive, drove into a field with wet grass, hills, and a little mud and got the VX stuck. Dropped it into low and with a little pushing got it out. By this time it was getting dark so we just returned it and parked in a darker area of the lot. They didn't notice the virgin mud in the wheel wells. I do remember how absolutely cool the truck was, but I also remember being unimpressed with the interior, sans the Recaro seats. It was just ridiculously priced.

My last push to ownership was when returning from Iraq the last time in late '06. I ran across some pictures on the internet and fond memories of getting the Proton stuck came back to me. I joined the forum then and took until May of '08 to shuffle/sell cars and find the VX I wanted, now that I could finally afford one. 'Haven't regretted it for a second...

[Ldub]

There I was, driving along in my Montero (just made the final payment..), minding my own business, when out of the corner of my eye I see this weird looking...car?...truck?...sports truck?

Whutinnahe11 IS that thing???

I recognized it as a Hotwheels car I had seen before, but had NO idea what it was, or that it existed as anything other than a Hotwheels "concept".
Went back to check it out & was impressed right away by the interior, suspension, 4 wheel discs, etc, etc...
Let's just say that after the test drive, it was "Game OVER"...I knew I was about to have car payments again...

That was Feb 03', and I've had no regrets. Never had a vehicle this long without getting "the itch" for something newer.

Seriously, I can't imagine driving anything else...

[4X4 UFO]

I owned a Jeep CJ-5 for 13 years. Then I owned a Fiero (I transplanted a 180 HP Olds Quad 4 engine into it - fun!) for 10 years, then owned sportbikes (my last was a 2000 Blackbird). Because of my interest in bikes at the time, I wasn't aware of the existance of the VX. I hit a groundhog with the Blackbird, and after 3 surgeries, a fair amount of titanium in my right hip and leg, and a permanent limp, I had to be through with bikes. I bought a 2004 Toyota Tacoma while I was recovering. It was a great vehicle, but it wasn't "fun" to drive. I wanted something that combined the off-road, all weather ability of the Jeep with the sports car feel of the Fiero. I waited for Toyota to build the RSC, but they never did. One day last November I passed a flatbed truck with a VX on it (looked like they were headed to a car show). I saw the "Vehicross" badge on the side. I didn't know they existed until that day. I searched the internet, found this great site (and it's cheerful band of addicted loonies!), located a VX for sale in Chicago, and now I own 2 of them! I can't imagine a vehicle more perfectly suited to me!

[circmand]

I was driving down the main road. I had never heard of the VX. I was thinking I would need 4 wheel for winter instead of my trusty Isuzu Amigo. I saw this bright yellow thing in front of a dealership. I pulled in to check it out. It had the keys in and ir said Proton on it. I thought tht was the name of the car. Salesman comes out says sticker is $33000 but it was on sale for $28000. I back off that is a house not a car price tag. He convinces me to go for a test ride. I go love it but still too much money. I research on the internet and find it is the only new Proton I can find. I offer $23995 the best price I could find. They say no. I stick to my guns and get it for $24000.

[WormGod]

I had been in an ISUZU since '93 so I followed ISUZU news pretty close. Always got brochures in the mail about new models and working in an autobody shop back then kept me up to par anyways. But I guess the first time I saw a VX was in a brochure sent by my ISUZU dealer. I was pretty floored instantly and rolled down to the dealer as soon as one was actually in. I recall it being a '99 IronMan and me wanting it SO bad, but sadly, I had only just bought a '97 Rodeo and I didn't wanna put myself into a bigger hole than I was at the time. But, the story has a happy ending anyways.

[tom4bren]

I'm starting to notice a trend. Most 'first experiences' were with a Proton.