So, after selling Legos to a nice new home, I set about looking for a new ride. I had some challenging criteria, namely that it had to fit a rear-facing car seat (my daughter was born a little over a week ago), safe, fun to drive, and cost less than 10k.
I did a bunch of research and it looked like an E46 M3 was the right choice. Big enough to seat 4, lots of power, great chassis, modern safety features, etc. So, I went to go test drive one. A 2004 blue convertible. And it was a really nice car. It drove reasonably well, had lots of options, brakes were good, handled reasonably well, wound out to 8krpm it made nice power... But it just didn't speak to me. At all. It looked great on paper, but didn't have the soul I look for in a car.
So I did something very irrational: I looked at a 2008 Mazda RX8 40th AE. I know, I know, they have engines that love to explode, get terrible (I mean really awful) fuel economy, chew through oil and ignition components like a fat kid at a pie eating contest, and aren't anything special in terms of of speed.
Dat chassis tho... Dat shifter tho... Such brakes... So smooth...
I was hooked as soon as I drove it. The car felt like an extension of me, not a car I was driving. The steering feel is out of this world, the brake pedal is actually stiff so you can modulate with force and not displacement, the shifter throw is short, precise, and rewarding, and the Bilstein suspension on the 40AE is amazing. Also, holy crap that rotary engine is smooth. It just goes and goes and goes to a 9krpm redline, never running out of breath. So, I bought it!
60k miles, fully loaded, most service records, never seen salt, fits the car seat and my wife, perfect.
So far I've only worked on standard maintenance items that were due: oil change, trans oil, brake flush, plugs, wires, etc. I have a little more to do, but she's probably going to be stock in the long run, she's one of the few cars that I don't think needs anything else.
They are really easy to work on, I did the oil change comfortably with all the wheels on the ground and the brakes gravity-bleed all on their own! Assuming I can divert engine failure through good maintenance and some two-stroke oil I think this will be a very good car for me.
I did a bunch of research and it looked like an E46 M3 was the right choice. Big enough to seat 4, lots of power, great chassis, modern safety features, etc. So, I went to go test drive one. A 2004 blue convertible. And it was a really nice car. It drove reasonably well, had lots of options, brakes were good, handled reasonably well, wound out to 8krpm it made nice power... But it just didn't speak to me. At all. It looked great on paper, but didn't have the soul I look for in a car.
So I did something very irrational: I looked at a 2008 Mazda RX8 40th AE. I know, I know, they have engines that love to explode, get terrible (I mean really awful) fuel economy, chew through oil and ignition components like a fat kid at a pie eating contest, and aren't anything special in terms of of speed.
Dat chassis tho... Dat shifter tho... Such brakes... So smooth...
I was hooked as soon as I drove it. The car felt like an extension of me, not a car I was driving. The steering feel is out of this world, the brake pedal is actually stiff so you can modulate with force and not displacement, the shifter throw is short, precise, and rewarding, and the Bilstein suspension on the 40AE is amazing. Also, holy crap that rotary engine is smooth. It just goes and goes and goes to a 9krpm redline, never running out of breath. So, I bought it!
60k miles, fully loaded, most service records, never seen salt, fits the car seat and my wife, perfect.
So far I've only worked on standard maintenance items that were due: oil change, trans oil, brake flush, plugs, wires, etc. I have a little more to do, but she's probably going to be stock in the long run, she's one of the few cars that I don't think needs anything else.
They are really easy to work on, I did the oil change comfortably with all the wheels on the ground and the brakes gravity-bleed all on their own! Assuming I can divert engine failure through good maintenance and some two-stroke oil I think this will be a very good car for me.
Facebook
Twitter