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You wrote that VTEC is "code for the Ricers." Ah, that's good to know because I love rice as much as l love pasta :-) It's great to have rice on some days of the week and pasta on others. Both are yummy.
From what you mentioned about VTEC, it's impressive how much extra horse power VTEC can get out of an engine. I see at Wiki that VTEC uses two different cam profiles. Interesting stuff, but I wouldn't spend an extra $2,500 for it :-)
Schucks, air conditioning only costs a grand extra. In my humble opinion, you made a really good decision.