Cars

Ever since I drove that Sea Foam Green Miata about a month ago I’ve had the itch to get a new car. This one is the oldest and highest mileage car I’ve owned at 8 years and 124k miles. Ever since we have been married we have always had a nice automobile that we bought new. Although there is nothing really wrong with the Miata, I think I’d like the feeling of a new taught car.

The trouble is that in the past eight years Miatas have crept up into the middle 20’s and that just seems like too much money for, in essence, a small car. On the plus side, Mazda is offering 0% interest on 2003 models and they might be willing to deal some to clean the lot of these “old” cars. The bad news is that the Miata doesn’t come in, what I consider, a decent shade of blue.

On the other hand I am intrigued by the new Mini. A brand new Mini Cooper can be had for around $20k and a supercharged S for only three thousand more. On the plus side for them is they have two shades of blue that appear acceptable and they are a excellent handling car for a front-driver. The down side is they aren’t convertibles and from what I’ve read on the MINI2 forums the quality in certain areas is suspect.

I guess there is option #3 to consider, take an antibiotic to squash the fever. I may need heavy doses after Saturday, we are going to Charleston to test drive Minis.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2627.54
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 277

Today was the Miata Club’s Photo Scavenger Hunt. We only had 4 cars show up to play, the absolute minimum needed. Those who played had fun and listening to their stories over lunch was worth putting it on for us.

When we gave the teams their instruction sheets, Donna and I headed off to do the prize shopping. As is our usual practice we parked far out in the shopping center lot. This has two benefits, first we get a nice walk in and second there is less chance of door dings. Because it was cloudy with a chance of sprinkles we put on the cockpit cover. Boy did that turn out to be a good idea. We went into we went into 5 separate stores hunting just the right prizes. We wanted to get something nice, but not too expensive. Store number 6 was the winner, Michael’s had picture frames on half price sale. We snagged 8 nice wood picture frames for $30. Four 4×6 for second place and four 5×7 for first. When we got back to the car parked near the edge of the lot, we noticed that the sprinkler was on and was spraying all over the car. The cockpit cover had done its job as the interior of the car was dry, until I uncovered it in an attempt to put the top up. Donna didn’t want to get wet, so she refused to help. I managed to get the cover off without spilling too much of the pooled water into the interior. I timed it right and raised the top real fast. Unfortunately the spray was coming in the lowered passenger side window. It made two sweeps into my face as I fumbled to raise the power windows. It made two more passes before I got my key out of my pocket and turned the ignition to ON and could actually get the window up. I got the roll of paper towels out of the trunk and wiped up as good as I could. I spent the rest of the morning with wet jeans.

It is funny now that I look back on it and if anyone was watching I bet they got a good laugh. And now that I have had a while to look at the problem, I probably could have avoided getting wet at all by getting Donna to come up from behind the sprinkler head (it was only sweeping 180 degrees) and just hold it in one spot away from the car.

Purchased Today: $14.00 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2611.67
Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 272

Well, I got my wish, there were 5 cars to make the trip up to Caesar’s Head today. We left the house this morning in the dark at 7:15 AM and arrived home in the dark at 7:30 PM after covering 351 miles. The leaves as expected were not the best we’ve encountered on these trips, but the weather was. The parking area at our destination was so full the 5 of us had to park on the side of the road. Not too far from home the car’s odometer read 123,456. I didn’t stop to take a picture like I did for 100,000 or 111,111 because it wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting as the person on Miata.net that had the foresight to zero the trip odometer at 122,667.

Purchased Today: $14.00
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2537.80
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 259

California Duster to the rescue. I brushed off the week’s accumulated dust, emptied the trash bag and we are set to go. Tomorrow is the Master’s Miata Club Leaf Run. We’ve got our route planned and will highlight it tonight copies of both (SC & GA) states maps. I’m hoping for 5 to 6 cars, that makes a nice manageable group. More would be OK, but then you start having to worry about keeping everyone together.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2523.80
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 259

My thoughts on my 4 days with a 2003 Miata…

The Good:
1) That new car smell. There is just something about the aroma given off by the outgassing of still solidifying plastics.
2) That new car feel. Everything is still tight and rattle free.
3) Black leather from the factory. Finally Mazda has eliminated the need for having an ugly exterior/interior combination just to get leather seats.
4) Round Knobs for the HVAC controls. The sliding levers of the 1st generation Miata are so 1950’s.
5) Remote electronic trunk release. – This may have been inevitable, see the bad #1. Coupled with a gas strut this would be awesome.
6) No zip back window. Eliminates a step in putting the top down.

The Bad:
1) The keyhole for opening the trunk is too low. It is hard to get the key in and turn without squeezing your fingers.
2) No zip back window. Reduces the headroom, so tall drivers will now hit the fabric panel used to automatically raise/lower window.
3) The speedometer is calibrated in 20 MPH increments with little ticks every 2 MPH, this makes it hard to tell your speed at a glance. I don’t know about your town, but where I live, we have speed limits of 25 & 45, not 22 or 48.
4) 6-speed transmission. Always seems like I needed to shift. I know with more use I would have adjusted to it, but why didn’t they leave the 5 speed ratios as is and make 6 a real overdrive? (At least here in North America.)

& The Ugly:
1) Splash Green Mica. Who you kidding, it’s teal. Looked odd but interesting in the mid 80’s on other cars, but why now on a Miata? The color grew on me, by the end of the 4 days I no longer gagged when I looked it.
2) You call that carpet? This stuff can only be charitably called floor covering. Makes the cheap loop carpet of the 1st generation Miata seem like a $50/yd plush Saxony.
3) Where the heck is the exhaust note? When the Miata first appeared they had an ad that ran in magazines about how they tried 100s of mufflers to get just the right sound (and they did,) but it is all but gone now from the factory.
5) Plastic brushed aluminum trim. Looked exactly like what is was, an afterthought and tacked on. The interior door handles would have looked a lot better in that finish had they did the cups behind them that way too.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2485.39
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 251

We got up about the same time as our usual workday. Started off by having a quick breakfast snack and then finished loading the trunk. We didn’t have room for the plastic trash bags or work gloves so they were piled on behind the seats. We had about a half dozen or more pictures to finish taking for the Drive By Photo Contest.

After the last shot was taken, we had just enough time to get to Best Bagels to meet the Bicycle Club for real breakfast and then pick-up trash for our Adopt-A-Highway duties.

Four blocks and four bags of trash later we zipped home to change and then make a bee-line to the SC Welcome Center to meet the Miata Club to lead them to a Mennonite restaurant, Miller’s Breadbasket, in Blackville, SC. Six cars followed Donna and I on mostly back roads to get to our destination. Another car was waiting on us there, as well as about 2 dozen Harleys. Fortunately they we about finishing up, so our wait wasn’t too long and the big table in the back was free for the 16 of us.

Donna and I continued east to Hilton Head and everyone else headed west to go back home. When we arrived we unpacked the car and headed right back out to find a place for dinner. The choices on the island are staggering, but we just went to a Wendys to get a salad as we will still somewhat full from our big lunch. We had just enough time after eating to get in a short beach walk before the sunset. We were in bed not too long after.

Purchased Today: $14.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1727.12
Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 232