YAWN ... READ ME WRITE ... ROAR!!
I test drove these throughout the year before making a decision on the MP3 (so very pre-November 2001 test drives). Style was number one factor in decision making, PRICE was close number two, performance three then color. All four had to be just right for me ... or close to just right for me in order for me to be totally happy with the car. I'm still 95% giddy about owning my MP3 today... 5% is that depressing lack of turbo and LSD the Mazdaspeed has.
Eclipse GT (silver) - extremely cheap arse interior quality for almost $25K... otherwise this was on my short list of cars to buy since the torque it displayed made me smile
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Subaru 2.5RS (blue) - (WRX was not yet here) I took my bike down to the dealership and actually tried to fit it inside one of the sporty blue 2.5RS model. Didn't fit so didn't seem worth what they wanted (I forgot how much they quoted me). Generally if the cars have similar performance, I prefer a four doors car over a two doors one.
Celica GT-S (silver) - Really small and not useful to me except to drive fast... needed a car that could carry my mountain bike...plus, this one was just too small for an only car...the interior was top notch though, best of the bunch in my list. Oh! oh! It was also too loud... whiny.
Subaru WRX (don't remember what color I test drove) - Test drove this ASAP after it was available at dealership. Price and then ultimately STYLE (didn't like the "Neon" look one bit) pushed me away from this car. More of style than price because there were quite a few friends who were pushing for me to get this car. I slept at nights thinking if I bought this car, how I would have to actually look at it everyday. I either force myself to like the style or regret it at the back of my mind each time I look at it... I wanted to avoid having this kind of doubt about my car (I did not plan on a huge budget for aftermarket parts such as body kits for a new car ... especially for an entire new WRX headlight/front end design). VERY sweet performance though.
'99 - '00 Honda Si - I really wanted a new car and could only find USED Si. It would have been a good bang for the buck performance car just like our MP3s. A friend drives one, so I didn't have to go test drive it at the dealership.
RSX Type-S (RED/Maroon demo) - For the price @ approx $25K+, I was not happy with the power... my butt meter did not feel a 200 hp engine even when I pushed it near redline. Couldn't get the sub to work for the demo car so that turned me off too. At the time the RSX was JUST released, but they had a sales person who was very knowledgeable about it already... impressive.
A friend of mine drives a '99 M3 and told me to check out USED Bimmers at the time (before I saw the MP3). I live down south and the BMW dealership is up north. Just for the heck of it both of us went to the dealership to see what they had that I could possibily afford. Nothing, but I think we got there late that day and the dealership was closing for the evening... so I wasn't able to find a sales person for a test drive of any Bimmer on the lot... we even got locked in the parking lot for a good 10-15 minutes before one of the person in charge of locking up noticed us stuck inside and let us out. Anyways, too far a drive for further interests, so gave up the idea of owning a Bimmer after that day.
Nissan SpecV - I don't think it was out yet, so I actually did not get to test drive it... and still haven't. I thought about this car, but after seeing it in the magazine I thought it was too "Mustang" looking with no style (i.e. bodykit like the MP3).
Mazda MP3 (only yellow, blue was not available at either dealerships) - One day took my old 323 to the shop for some repair and saw a yellow MP3 sitting right outside the showroom. My jaws dropped and I spent a good deal of time that morning drooling over the car. I didn't immediately get that one, because of $200 they charged for a strip of sticker acroos both sides of the car. Saw another one up north Austin and bought it right after I test drove the car. I had decided to just give up trying to stick my mountain bike INSIDE the car and go for a roof rack. Got a nice roof rack a few weeks later I think. Right, my "yellow" mountain bike played a TINY role in me wanting this YELLOW car.
ITR - A 2000 Yellow Integra Type R sitting outside the Acura dealership ($24K). Well, this ITR I saw was AFTER I bought my MP3 ... I went along with friends to watch them test drive the RSX Type S. I tried not kicking myself for not waiting a bit longer before buying the MP3 though and told myself it was a USED vehicle and priced around $25K compared to my $18K. (also, I never liked the headlights, in general, from the last gen Integra... Type R is the exception since everything else about it compensates for the poor taste in mini-headlight design in my opinion)
I envy the Mazdaspeed car, but I don't regret owning this MP3 one single bit. Color would have played a bigger than-expected role for me to decide on what car to get and I don't particularly drool over the orange or black colors. I wouldn't buy black since I live in the hot State of Texas, I'm quite sure of that..... dunno about the orange one, but it would not have been impossible to say no to with that turbo sitting inside.
**YAWN** HAHAHA!!! Writing all this is a LOT better than counting sheeps before going to sleep! (thumb)
