The recaro spec is a huge 24 and a half big ones, 2 more than the sport for not a lot - posh seats and a few aero bits of plastic...
Think it will be black or red with a tan interior...
Fiesta ST makes the most sense, so it's a case of do you wanna do the sensible thing or the fun silly thing?
I feel like changing career from IT to hairdressing.
Ok so went out for a test drive in a red 2ltr sport earlier, impressions are.
Its a wee car but strangely not too bad inside, its not cramped or squashed even with me and a salesman in it.
Its driving position was near perfect as soon as i got in even before pissing about with mirrors and such, it just felt right straight away.
The controls are very very light, the clutch only needs a tiny wee push and the breaks are strong but heavily servod as per most modern metal.
The steering is MEGA quick and very light, dont really know about feel but it changed direction like a fly (as per Clarksons quote)
Felt a little hyperactive but thats because i was still driving a heavy diesel BMW around in my head.
It was nosier than the BM, shocker eh? but not a lot and the noise was mostly from the rather tasty sounding exhaust anyway.
Primary ride was similar to the BMW (ie stiff) but its secondary ride was miles better, potholes didnt send massive shocks through the cabin like the bloody german bus and it was far happier over speedbumps.
It had 17miles on the clock so i decided not to boot it too much, seemed to be swift in lower revs up to about 5.5k though so not bad.
It was the red one, think i will go for black as the red would be a little too poofy.
MX5
I would if I could
The lack of weight was very noticeable, even just pottering about.
Its like there is a significant lack of inertia on everything, ok its not like an Atom or something but it is very very different from a e46 thats 500 kilos heavier.
The gearshift is stupidly direct, even shorter than my SX's which was short as buggery.
So in short you drove up in a hulking Beemer, jumped into a little sports car and everything was as expected??
Yep, pretty much - it was exactly as i expected it would be.
Thing is with car journalists they tend to chat a load of shite, a lot of the time they focus on stuff that the average customer has little care for. Hence you have to see yourself.
I knew the new MX5 was supposed to be razor sharp, not a rocket ship, relatively loud not too cramped and a good drive but i didnt really believe the reviews until i drove it.
I got into the hype with the e46 and imho its been a bit pish, well as a sporty car at least.
Ordered this. Well almost this, wont have the dark wheels as i cannot get them in that colour (i will have them powder coated though)
Doesnt have the brembos either, but hey it hardly needs them.
Nice Please bring it to the weekender
A word on the wheels, I'd suggest painting rather than powder coating, unless you get it done by somewhere that specialises in wheels and wont get them too hot for too long. Mazda tend to err on the side of lightness, if you stuff those in an oven for too long to bake the powder coat you may find they crack in quite short order in normal driving
Parked next to a new MX5 in the works car park today, red wine colour with dark interior and it looks good.
2004 - on : 1999 S14a 398bhp 378lb/ft
2010 - on : 2007 RX8 PZ
1998 - 2004 : 1991 S13
I drove the red one on a test drive, decided against it as it does look a little feminine.
The grey one looks pukka, like a mini Boxster.
Well i get the car on Tuesday, not a moment too soon as i am hating this diesel so much.
Hilarious action with my old insurer, called them up (swinton) to move the policy over to the mx5. No problem that will be 520 odd £ a year, i nearly fell of my ****ing chair..
Er say what? The BM is 20 groups higher, i dont live in a shit hole and have no points ect.. Most other quotes were in the 200 odd mark.
"We cant touch that said call center robot on the other end of the line... " I nearly fell off my chair again, err why did there own online quote calculator show 290 a year then (still taking the piss) - "no idea"...
Ok then cancel it and i will go to someone not shite, so i have for about 240 a year.
Insurance... never ceases to amaze me.
Insurance is the wackiest thing in the world.
What did it end up costing if you don't mind me asking? Pay in cash or finance?
Got it on a pcp deal for 320 a month, this is for the 2ltr Nav sport in meteor grey (A dark metallic grey!, why dont they just say that)
Didnt want the Nav sport really as i dont need navigation but the non nav in that colour had to be made at the factory and would have been 3 months as the little glow in the dark workers at Hiroshima have to bolt it together then get it here. But they got me the higher spec model for another 500 quid so sod it, worth more on resale anyway.
PCP deal has an 8 grand final figure, cars looking to be worth just over 10 with 30k miles on it at this point so either trade in and have 2k deposit for next car or keep it and stump up the 8k.
BBR have some remaps already for these things, must resist...!
Yep pretty much arry, while its not like you are leasing it - you still are financing it - you prob want to hand it back after the term and get a new unragged one.
Getting a new motor ever few years means you must treat buying the car as a continuing outgoing, if you are happy with that then pcp makes sense.
Any mods you make should be reversible or transferable to another car, dont go adding 5 grands worth of body kit ect as you wont see any of that come time to get shot. However a remap or some other basic mods should be fine.