It does take some effort to find a good place (regardless of what part of town) that has a favorable commute. I'm looking at a small condo in Bellevue which would be pretty cheap ($300K, $1,500 mo), not sure of house rentals in my exact hood, but they would most likely NOT be on craigs list.... Those home owners are fairly old in most of old Bellevue areas. Doubt they are on the interwebz.

For me the drive is ~30 minutes, has zero tolls, allows me to enjoy the night life in either Seattle or East Side (with a day's notice, as you do NOT want to make the trip across the bridge twice in a single commute.

Points to make regarding the I-90 bridge:
1) Eastbound in the AM is bad (Microsoft/T-Mobile traffic)
2) Westbound in the PM is bad (as above)
3) Weekends are a steady, constant 15 minutes either way (unless special event)

One thing I would like to point out that nobody else has, is that I-5 through the U-district (University of WA, directly north of Lake Union) is HORRIBLE on weekends. If you live in the north end and have to go through or south of the city for any reason then you have a battle on your hands.

Here is the approximate rout I take, again, about 30 minutes WITH traffic.

 

So happy I work AND live in Bellevue.

 

Thanks everyone for their input, that helps quite a bit.

 

Or north of 85th on I-5, unless you are literally right on Lake Washington or within a few block of the Sound. And I'd agree totally, stay north of I-90 unless you go out to Issaquah.

 

Ryan - have you been to Lunchbox Lab in Bellevue? Not sure why I'm asking, I'm assuming you have. I haven't been to their new location on the Seattle side but it is super-trendy on the Blah-vue side, and it wasn't quite the same experience as before (no duct-tape holding the glass table together...haha). Also - the prices were even higher (amazingly enough) than the old place!

Food was still good, just not as good overall from the original. Has the original also changed up in their new locale? I know they merged/were bought by a bigger company so I'm hoping they didn't get ruined there too.

 

Hey all. Got a place in west Seattle. Saw a neighbor had a ix mr and was sold. Woot

 

Awesome! Any Evo owners who live in Bellevue wanna cruise sometime?

 

Nice.... we've had a few get together's at Justin's (lancerstud2008) over there. He'll be able to tell you where everything is I'm sure. You'll have to get a car pic on Alki like everyone else too Haha.

 

Where in West Seattle? When's the housewarming party?

Justin and I are about 6 blocks apart. There's a couple guys I see down by Alki too.

 

Thinking about having my trans rebuilt in the near future, But dont really wanna pay ER to take the trans out and put it in, but Im not confident in my ability to do it myself alone. I remember doing my buddies last year we had a hard time getting the TC back up in there because its so heavy. It took us two evenings working on his car to get everything good to go.

I wouldnt mind paying ER to do my transmission if my clutch was due, but I just had my clutch done about 7k miles ago, and dont wanna pay all that labor just to pull a trans and put it back. ughhhh.

 

Transmission work is no walk in the park, you definitely need a second hand (or a third) to just get the thing in and out, then there is the whole process of working with the internals. Does it need to be rebuilt now?

And on a side note, anyone know anybody looking to buy a Ducati 1098? Or a Classic Mini Cooper? I need to clean out the garage ASAP!

 

If you've done a transmission before and you have friends to help you should be able to do it, but realize it will likely take the better part of a weekend. There should be plenty of threads of owners doing the work. I'd recommend someone to help on here, but it shows that you're in Lacey and I'm not sure of who might be willing to work with you on that down there (everyone I know is up North), especially since you're half the way to ER compared to some of us. Best of luck.

 

Sometime during the week after 7PM sure. FYI there is an AWD meet on Thursdays
@ the Renton Landing Garage, we could cruise down there.

Max

 

I'd be down for helpin you out, I've never done it but I'm in lacey and plan on doing the same to my WW ix in the near future so it would be nice to get some practice. Hit me up if you need an extra hand.

 

My poor girl is having a bad morning. The nozzle on the pump at the gas station got locked open, spraying gas all over the side of the car when I took it out. Then, as I was pulling out, a tire decided it was done with this life.

Time to limp to Discount on the donut. -.-

Edit: I feel like I should keep a tally on how many times someone in the automotive industry at large says to me 'I didn't know these came in a hatchback.'