Cars

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.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979

Made In Montgomery

First stop on yesterday’s Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour was the Hyundai dealer and first up for a test drive was the Sonata, the car I have been lusting after for some time. It’s assets are it is a big car, nice looking (inside and out), comfortable riding, and quiet. On the debit side is it is big (Donna had to jack the seat up as far as it would go to see over the hood), comfortable riding, and quiet (no real connection to the driving experience.) In short, it is a perfect rental car. I felt a little like George Webber after an evening with Jenny Hanley.

As we waited for our salesman to get the keys for vehicle #2, the Elantra, we wandered the lot a bit and a bright yellow Genesis Coupe caught Donna’s eye. This car was on my initial list, but I crossed it off after (seeing one in traffic one day) I queried Donna on its looks and she pooh-poohed it.

The Elantra it was smaller, but a better fit to what we are used to and still very nice looking inside and out, but it was not, as expected, as comfortable and quiet as its big brother. The deal breaker for us was that neither of us could get comfortable in the seats.

Car number three was a Genesis Coupe 2.0T Premium with an automatic transmission. Not the yellow one, it was the 3.8 Track model and about 10 grand over our budget. Plus, while the yellow is eye catching and an awesome color for a car, neither of us want to own one, but we applaud those who do. Ahhh, this car is more like it. The Sonata was Papa Bear’s chair, too big and the Elantra was Baby Bear’s chair, too small, but the Genesis Coupe was just right. It was comfortable, there was gobs of interior space and plenty of driving experience for Brian. The Premium level car would not be on our shopping list, the $4k uptick in price included only one thing of marginal value, a sunroof. The proximity key with push button start turned Donna off and for me the nav system was the stumbling block, I didn’t even look at it once and I’m not sure I want to have to push a button saying I agree to anything just to drive to the store. But that said, the base 2.0T coupe was right up our alley, so this was the brochure we took home from the dealer and the one he wrote down on his sheet as what we were interested in. In Mirabeau Blue.

Tomorrow I’ll let you know how it went at the next car dealer we visited, Mazda.

Now Here’s Something You Don’t See Everyday

A Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder parked just like a pedestrian Camry at the North Augusta Riverview Activities Center on an early Sunday morning. “Honey, I’m going down to the park and go running. I’m taking the Lambo.”

It still has the local Mercedes dealer paper tag on the back and judging by the wheels I’m thinking it is a 2007 model. It is much smaller than I imagined it was, looks not much bigger than a Miata. But in truth, this car is 14 inches longer, 9 inches wider and only 3 inches shorter in height. It weighs a whopping 900 pounds more than a Miata, but that penalty is nicely offset by the 420 more horses than than the Mazda’s 140. I wonder how much a 4 year-old Lamborghini goes for?

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 939

Mazda Miata Monday Makeup

No it’s not the 4th generation Miata, but an odd take on the current 3rd gen car. I found this on Autoblog, take a side view of a car, import it into your favorite image editor program, cut the roof of the car off, turn it around and paste it back on. Tah Dah! Backwards Cars.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 937

Ice Ice Baby


I assume this is a statue of a little girl, but it could be a boy because it was so cold out here this morning that my junk had sought refuge internally too and I wasn’t even standing thigh deep in ice.

It was 24 degrees out when we left the house headed to Augusta for an MMC breakfast, but first we wanted to do some geocaching. Close to the breakfast joint was a huge baptist church that had 6 caches scattered around its very large grounds. It was Saturday morning at 7 AM, so we figured we’d have the place to ourselves…wrong. They must have had a Christian Men’s Breakfast because not long after we pulled into the parking lot several cars came zipping in after us. We ended up only getting 3 of the more far flung caches before leaving because we were getting eyeballed by the new arrivals.

The church also happened to be right next door to the Hyundai dealer, so we wandered over and eyeballed some vehicles. It was confirmed that the Genesis Coupe has too big a butt for our liking.The good news is Donna approves of the Sonata in Pacific Blue which is my first pick. We both like the looks of the Accent as well. Now it comes down to some test driving, waiting until the slush fund has enough money for a decent down payment and doing the bullshit car dealer price dicker dance. Their web site listed a blue SE at $23,450, but the two they had on the lot had stickers of 26 and change and then the dealer added paint protection scam for $800, so the price for the car ended up in the high twenty seven thousand range!

After breakfast we did a bit more geocaching at a park in Augusta and then a couple more in North Augusta along the Greenway. Ended up with an even dozen finds and no DNFs, although we were close to not finding the one entitled The Secret Garden where the above photo was taken.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 926

Usually Happens To Me Around 8:00 AM

This morning there came the sound of laughter from the cubical next door. A pause. More laughter. Then #9 read out loud. Laughter. Number 11 out loud. Now laughter in two cubicles.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 925

Another Hyundai Post

The North American Autoshow just finished up in Detroit and my new favorite car company debuted a new production car there, the Veloster. I have praised their recent designs, the Tucson, the Elantra and my love for the Sonata’s looks knows no bounds, but what were they thinking with this:

That is a face only a mother could live… Every picture I see of this thing does not make me like it any more, it just reaffirms the ugliness of it. Then I saw it in action:

Doesn’t look too bad in motion. Some folks have called it the CRX that Honda should have built, so maybe I should put it on the possible new car list, after all I was considering a CRX before I got sidetracked with this whole Miata thing. I’ll need a different color choice or two, then I will have to figure how to make it look like it is moving while parked…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 925