Miata Takes A Fall

Stop number two on Saturday’s Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour was the Mazda dealer. We test drove a 3rd generation Miata way back in 2005 and didn’t really like it. The back up plan to this current car shopping extravaganza was that we could always trade in the current one and buy a new Miata. Today’s second look was to see if still was a viable option.

A salesman greeted us and after a bit of chat we asked to drive a Miata. We picked a Copper Red Sport which is the closest to what we would probably buy. He took my license and insurance card inside to make a copy and get a key. He came back out a few minutes later and went to start the car, but hopped back out apologizing that there was almost no gas in the car and he’d have to go back inside and get the key to another one. We pointed at a red Sport Model and off he went again. This time he was gone for a lot longer time. We had time to peruse the other cars on the lot. I pointed at a Mazda 6 in a similar color, dark blue, as the Sonata we drove and asked Donna what she thought of it looks-wise compared to the Hyundai, her reply, “They look the same, I can’t tell the difference.” There were a bevy of 3’s and these don’t really appear to be “small” cars. There was a 5-door in a bright blue that we agreed was too bright and there was a grayish blue that might have been acceptable, but none of Mazda’s other cars were anything we wanted to be seen in.

We got bored looking around and went inside the showroom to see where our salesman was. I found him sitting in front of a computer screen looking at something. When he saw me he got up, mumbled something about a key and headed off. I peeked over at what he was looking at and realized it was the Mazdausa website for this dealer’s inventory. He was already trying to figure out how much to try and sell the car to me for instead of getting the key, and taking care of that little detail while we were out driving the car. After he disappeared we noticed a Miata sitting open on the floor, so we went over and got in it, me behind the wheel and her in the passenger seat. It didn’t feel as much like as a bathtub as it did the first time, maybe from driving a few regular cars today the door sills didn’t seem that high. I think we both felt it and were ready to chuck all our grandiose plans for a second car and just replace the Emperor with a new Miata. Until we changed seats.

Way back the first time we got in a 3rd generation Miata Donna complained that she didn’t have nearly the foot well space in it as she did in our current car. I knew that they had encroached on into that area with the rerouting of the exhaust manifold, creating a small hump along the transmission tunnel near the seat. What I didn’t remember was that they also shortened the leg room on that side by 3 to 4 inches. There was no way for me to stretch my legs straight out and get comfortable. Not only that it made my bent legs end up near the shifter which would be intrusive to Donna’s driving. This was a deal breaker. By this time our salesman had finally made it out to the lot with the key and he was looking around for us. We went out and thanked him for his time, telling him of our discovery that Mazda had short-sheeted the passenger side of the car and there was no way we were going be buying a Miata. Hot, hungry and tired we headed home.

Come back tomorrow for the final installment where our heroes help themselves to some hot food, drive a car and get a cold shoulder.