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It all started with this seemingly innocuous thread that had my curiosity piqued. As the title reads: 2005 Mambo Kalista: SL's Original Economy Car. Sure, there are lots of cars in SL, and I've driven over a dozen different ones and hadn't been particularly pleased with them enough to justify a purchase. And of course, I'd tested out a number of?free cars (meaning 4-wheel designs similar to what you would find in the real world). Fun for the short-term, but not anything I'd drive again and again.?This comes down to my eccentric personal preference: they may have been excellent choices for another, but?they just weren't me. And?technically, I had gripes about the ability to steer — cornering can be a real bitch in SL, to put things mildly. Aesthetics matter to me a great deal, but apparently, a number of the cars are using the same base scripts — with some mods here and there — so that would explain the similarly disappointing performance. I'm not going to blame sim crossing nightmares on the carmakers, but it is a deterrent for those who want to make crossgrid journeys. Factor into this equation the fact that in a number of places, the roads aren't even finished. It may be cute to see a broken-down road the first time when flying overhead, but when actually driving, it gets to be a real nuissance having to use Ctrl-drag to?"cheat" yourself over the gaps.
Gosh, what a big paragraph. Anyhoo, next thing I know, I'm posting in the thread and responding to Milo Bukowski, maker of the Mambo Kalista. I was skeptical and didn't have my high hopes, given my previous experiences. After some posting back and forth and inworld IMing, we finally met up. Milo offered to TP me to his hole in ground.?Literally. I had many questions, so I asked them to Milo, one after another. I soon became highly impressed with not only his joviality in his matter, but his patience — and something I should emphasize, his straightforward honesty. No snakeoil here! He filled me in on the limitations I should expect as he showed me his creations. It was a fine example of showing strengths to balance weaknesses, as opposed to the dishonor of trying to hide the gaps. We were both aware of the sim crossing and other problems, so no BSing there.
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It was down to business. Milo most graciously spent time to tweak and customize the appearance of my very own Mambo Kalista, from the base?Obnoxious Green — which was already cute to begin with –?to something I've?commonly called?Neon Watermelon. 
Coordinating on the color swatches and exchanging ideas, I felt good about this. As the simsun soon descended and night fell upon us, Milo continued to labor, like a true blue grease monkey, and I must have thrown umpteenth requests at him. One of them was making the car more shiny, and the finishing touch was customizing the car with my own "Torley symbol" on the roof.
At last. DONE. (For now, as I was just recently informed by the man himself that a set of spiffier wheels are forthcoming!)
Excited, I took the new Torleymobile out for its first test drive on the open road. I wanted a real lush setting to drive on, so like the archetypical car commercial, I 'ported to the Waterhead TeleHub and proceeded to rez the auto. Several sim crossings got in my way – arghhh! — but as for the Mambo Kalista, Torley Torgeson custom, how did it perform? Admirable, and a?comfortable ride. It looked good turning left and right, and thank goodness it turned in small enough increments as to not veer me off down a hill and into the water. I drove in the forests, in the snow, and at a certain location which might have otherwise required a DeLorean. 
I cruised through Midnight City, Spittoonie, the Welcome Area, and more. I even took some newbies fo' a pimpin' ride — hey,?they asked me to! So, I obliged. ^_^
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As for what I would like to see in future upgrades of this car — as what's good can get even better — I'd like more realistic car noises. The engine doesn't sound as the car is driving for stretches. Milo assures me this is on his to-do list. More speed settings would be nice too. The car isn't a sports racer but it can be a struggle to go uphill: gear switching, some sort of accelerative thrust, would rock. Also, a way for the car to drive up terrain that isn't totally linear, to climb curbs, and even a dramatic "jump" ability to leap when necessary" would be most graciously welcome.
I've got my vehicle parked at Midnight City right now, right across the street from my dumpster home and next to Aimee's Big Load laundromat. Check it out at your leisure. And the price for the Mambo Kalista? Only 149 L$! Yes, like Donald Trump, I like a good deal. So if you're inworld and interested, send Milo Bukowski an IM and he'll hook you up. Have a look at the cars for yourself at his Bodega HQ.
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P.S. Thanks to Bedazzle and their Gravity Space Station club for letting me park on their roof. And sorry about slipping off that roof some minutes later, and landing in the restricted area. The car remained there for a day, sans driver, until someone… Jimmy? Foxy?! sent it back to me.
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