zeno
18th July 2005, 10:42 AM
To be honest I didnt do much of a test drive before I bought the car. I had already decided to buy it. Of course it helped the the demo car was inthe colour and power (231bhp) I wanted (winning blue), I liked it so I bought it.
On driving out of the dealership and filling it with petrol, I took it to a hill complex nearby. What a pleasure the car was, holding it in 2nd and 3rd, it was sure footed and the steering was well weighted and precise. after a half hour of sharp braking accelerating and turning I was in heaven and the car returned to normal fussless driving. I have driven the same route in my old ferrari 328 gts and it was much harder work. The next day I drove from the south of France to England, again the car was a dream. Comfortable at high cruising speed, not much noise. I cant believe there is a better car in its class in terms of comfort versatility and handling.
Although I am unimpressed with its fuel consumption which is unsatisfactory relative to its power output I am willing to accept this foible. A slightly bigger tank would have been nice (say 10L more) just to get some more range on longer runs. So far the best fuel consumption has been 20.37 mpg the worst 14.38 and an average of 17.84 over 2100 miles. I have used about a litre of oil.
The reason I wanted the car was simply because it is a true 4 seat sports coupe with reasonable performance, great handling and to my eyes great looks. Furthermore it comes with modern safety features (which given that my driving abilities are far from an f1 driver I appreciate). It has not dissappointed me.
When I go to change the car in a couple of years I hope that Mazda will give us a few more horses (say 250 to 280 that this car was designed to handle and would have had but for our friends in the US) and torque (super charger is fine with me, my other car is a 97 XJR the last car I fell for and also bought the demonstrator). Some sort of illumination around the dip stick. An on board computer that shows fuel consumption and more importantly, range.
Thats all for now folks
On driving out of the dealership and filling it with petrol, I took it to a hill complex nearby. What a pleasure the car was, holding it in 2nd and 3rd, it was sure footed and the steering was well weighted and precise. after a half hour of sharp braking accelerating and turning I was in heaven and the car returned to normal fussless driving. I have driven the same route in my old ferrari 328 gts and it was much harder work. The next day I drove from the south of France to England, again the car was a dream. Comfortable at high cruising speed, not much noise. I cant believe there is a better car in its class in terms of comfort versatility and handling.
Although I am unimpressed with its fuel consumption which is unsatisfactory relative to its power output I am willing to accept this foible. A slightly bigger tank would have been nice (say 10L more) just to get some more range on longer runs. So far the best fuel consumption has been 20.37 mpg the worst 14.38 and an average of 17.84 over 2100 miles. I have used about a litre of oil.
The reason I wanted the car was simply because it is a true 4 seat sports coupe with reasonable performance, great handling and to my eyes great looks. Furthermore it comes with modern safety features (which given that my driving abilities are far from an f1 driver I appreciate). It has not dissappointed me.
When I go to change the car in a couple of years I hope that Mazda will give us a few more horses (say 250 to 280 that this car was designed to handle and would have had but for our friends in the US) and torque (super charger is fine with me, my other car is a 97 XJR the last car I fell for and also bought the demonstrator). Some sort of illumination around the dip stick. An on board computer that shows fuel consumption and more importantly, range.
Thats all for now folks