Hi everyone,
I finally did it. Wasn't easy to part with it, but I finally got rid of my old 1993 Civic Del Sol SI (actually sold it for 5 grand!) and started shopping for a new car the same day the buyer showed up and left a deposit on it. He actually wanted to pay me and get the property transfer done NOW but hold on buddy! Hmmm... you can't leave with this car now because well, I'm gonna need a new car! So, give me 2 weeks max I say and we put that on a contract we both sign. Off he goes, and off I go to a Mazda dealer just 2 min. away from my house. A buddy of mine has been driving a Mazda 3 (lease) for ages and I had driven it a few times and liked it. Mind you, since I had a 2 seater convertible (targa to be more exact) I also had my eye on an MX5.
Round 1, test drive a 2012 Mazda 3, top of the line model, fully equipped. Strangely, it feels a little odd and bigger than my friend's 3. Maybe I'm hallucinating... I like the car but I'm looking at all that space around me and can't get rid of the impression that, well, it's too big (I'm single, no kids, dogs, cats or goldfish).
Round 2, they had a slightly used 2011 MX 5 with 1,700 km on it. I sit in it, and I get the same feeling I used to get when sitting in my brother's Miata, cramped, I feel like I can't move, and my eyesight is level with the upper edge of the windshield instead of somewhere IN the windshield. My Del Sol only had two seats but at least they were "normal" seats with the same space you'd get in the front of a regular Civic. Not to mention that I'm getting old and getting in and out of a car that's a few inches from the ground ain't getting any easier.
The rep excuses herself to make a phone call while I wander around the showroom and come upon a cute little car which smiles at me, but looks like someone who hated it had covered with some puke green fluorescent paint (no offense to those who like the green paint
). So I approach the poor thing, open the door and sit in the driver's seat. Despite it's diminutive size, it feels roomy, the interior is plain but pleasing (touring version), and it doesn't have a gazillion gadgets I don't need. At that point the rep comes back and asks me with a grin if I like the color. I reply that if I were Shrek or a leprechaun I might but since I'm neither, no, I hate it. Too bad, she says while laughing, we're trying to sell it! Hardly surprising since you are a a sales rep for a car dealer I thought, but I deduced she meant "the color sucks so we've been trying to get rid of it for a while"... So...
Round 3, let's take a spin in a Mazda 2! A white one! At first I thought 100 hp would be slow as molasses but the thing is quite "zippy" and the handling is great. Won't wow you with it's power of course, but it's quite agile and fun to drive. Not great fuel economy compared to it's rivals but I don't care, I barely drive 3,000 km a year. Not as much cargo space as it's rivals, especially the Fit, don't care, I'm single and I used to drive a Del Sol remember. So, good looking little car, fun to drive, great for city driving (95% of my driving), no sun roof but I can live with that. No center armrest but I learn that there's an OEM option for that (and later, a Boomerang XT which looks better).
And you say you still have a couple of 2011 left with manual transmission? A green one (huh...) and? A pearl white one! 30 minutes of dealing later:
SOLD!
Kindda weird opening my garage door and not seeing the Del Sol in there, but the smile/grin of the 2 sure is growing on me.
I finally did it. Wasn't easy to part with it, but I finally got rid of my old 1993 Civic Del Sol SI (actually sold it for 5 grand!) and started shopping for a new car the same day the buyer showed up and left a deposit on it. He actually wanted to pay me and get the property transfer done NOW but hold on buddy! Hmmm... you can't leave with this car now because well, I'm gonna need a new car! So, give me 2 weeks max I say and we put that on a contract we both sign. Off he goes, and off I go to a Mazda dealer just 2 min. away from my house. A buddy of mine has been driving a Mazda 3 (lease) for ages and I had driven it a few times and liked it. Mind you, since I had a 2 seater convertible (targa to be more exact) I also had my eye on an MX5.
Round 1, test drive a 2012 Mazda 3, top of the line model, fully equipped. Strangely, it feels a little odd and bigger than my friend's 3. Maybe I'm hallucinating... I like the car but I'm looking at all that space around me and can't get rid of the impression that, well, it's too big (I'm single, no kids, dogs, cats or goldfish).
Round 2, they had a slightly used 2011 MX 5 with 1,700 km on it. I sit in it, and I get the same feeling I used to get when sitting in my brother's Miata, cramped, I feel like I can't move, and my eyesight is level with the upper edge of the windshield instead of somewhere IN the windshield. My Del Sol only had two seats but at least they were "normal" seats with the same space you'd get in the front of a regular Civic. Not to mention that I'm getting old and getting in and out of a car that's a few inches from the ground ain't getting any easier.
The rep excuses herself to make a phone call while I wander around the showroom and come upon a cute little car which smiles at me, but looks like someone who hated it had covered with some puke green fluorescent paint (no offense to those who like the green paint
). So I approach the poor thing, open the door and sit in the driver's seat. Despite it's diminutive size, it feels roomy, the interior is plain but pleasing (touring version), and it doesn't have a gazillion gadgets I don't need. At that point the rep comes back and asks me with a grin if I like the color. I reply that if I were Shrek or a leprechaun I might but since I'm neither, no, I hate it. Too bad, she says while laughing, we're trying to sell it! Hardly surprising since you are a a sales rep for a car dealer I thought, but I deduced she meant "the color sucks so we've been trying to get rid of it for a while"... So...Round 3, let's take a spin in a Mazda 2! A white one! At first I thought 100 hp would be slow as molasses but the thing is quite "zippy" and the handling is great. Won't wow you with it's power of course, but it's quite agile and fun to drive. Not great fuel economy compared to it's rivals but I don't care, I barely drive 3,000 km a year. Not as much cargo space as it's rivals, especially the Fit, don't care, I'm single and I used to drive a Del Sol remember. So, good looking little car, fun to drive, great for city driving (95% of my driving), no sun roof but I can live with that. No center armrest but I learn that there's an OEM option for that (and later, a Boomerang XT which looks better).
And you say you still have a couple of 2011 left with manual transmission? A green one (huh...) and? A pearl white one! 30 minutes of dealing later:
SOLD!
Kindda weird opening my garage door and not seeing the Del Sol in there, but the smile/grin of the 2 sure is growing on me.
