幾鬼秘的部落格

Yesterday I was quite happy that my Miata didn’t stall once the whole day despite all the driving.  But today it was extra important that it behave - it’d be no fun to be stranded in Ajax or to have it quit while it’s being appraised at the dealership!

The grey MX-5 was there waiting for us when we arrived.  I was very surprised that the salesman, Andrew, would let me and CL test drive the MX-5 on our own.  They even had a map of the route with 7 labelled segments that would allow you to test specific things, like S-curve, on/off ramp to/from highway, etc.

I was impressed right away by the car’s ignition system - ie. keyless.  The car only starts in the proximity of a secure card, which is meant to be kept on your person at all times.  Unfortunately that was followed immediately by pure disappointment at how the engine sounded - quite simply it was a very unhealthy wheezing sound.  I could not believe that that is normal.

This latest model is a lot peppier than the last on paper, and that could easily be felt on the road.  However I could not completely enjoy the test drive as I knew right there that I would not be taking it home on account of the weird noise, as well as the brake light that was intermittently coming on and off.

Just before we arrived at the dealership I had mentioned to CL casually that we should ask if there’s any new 2006 models that they are trying to get rid of with good discounts, something similar to the Z4 offer a couple of weeks ago.  As it turned out they did have 2 lying around, one black and one blue.  And the blue one is a GT too!  As good as that sounded I was pretty sure that a new one would be way out of my planned budget.  But I let the guy work out the numbers for me anyway.

Midway through the process we found out that we made a serious error in budgetting - we’d thought that only one tax applied to used car sales, which is true only for private sales.  This made a huge difference in the final price.  However, once I explained our mistake to Andrew, he progressively gave us better and better deals, patiently letting us discuss by ourselves after each offer.  At first I was offered $5K for the trade-in, a $750 discount on the used, and ~$3K discount on the new.  The numbers came out to be thousands above my planned budget, mostly because of the missed tax.  Then I was offered $5500 for the trade-in.  This obviously did not make much of a difference.  At one point we even looked at the 2004 model that they had in their lot.

I knew that it’d be impossible to come up with the numbers I had in mind no matter what Andrew did, and I knew he was trying his best.  And even if he could I still felt uneasy about the engine noise and brake light, despite his reassurance that they would be fixed.  I was sure that I would have to go back home and re-evaluate my options with both taxes considered.  But just as we were about to quit, he came up with this mouth-watering offer - $2K below invoice on the new car!  It seemed like they wanted desperately  to rid themselves of the new 2006 model, a lot more than the used.  With this offer the new one costs only $3K more than the used!

As attractive as the offer was, I couldn’t easily decide.  I knew the offer was a steal but it was still out of my planned budget, as it should be since I never planned to buy a new car.  Seeing our hesitation Andrew offered us to have a test drive on the new car.  At the end of the test drive I was sold, mostly because I knew that my parents would prefer that I buy a new car, and because CL does like the new model styling more.  As for me, I hope that I will grow to like the new styling more as I drive it.  As Andrew said, it is much easier for a "regular" person to like the new styling than for a person who’s liked the old styling for 7 years!

But wait, this story has the most fitting ending.  We drove away from the dealership and headed for FMP for some errands.  I waited at the packed parking lot, saw someone heading to their car, signalled, and my car died.  I think I’ve indeed squeezed every drop of juice from this little baby.

Today I took the day off so I could drive around to get my Miata appraised at various places.  From autotrader year 2000 Miatas are being sold @ ~$11K-12K.  But these are cars that have way less than 100,000km on them, compared to the 174K+ km on mine.  In the morning I accompanied my mom to her garage to have the check engine light of her Volvo checked out.  The garage told me that my car is worth $10K (no surprise), but could not tell me how much I could sell it for.

After dropping off the Volvo we went to Markham Mazda, where I’d originally purchased my car.  I was told that they would not even be interested in taking in the car at all at this time.  And that I could come back in the summer, when I will be offered less than $10K (again, no surprise).

After lunch I met up with MK’s friend who buys and sells cars for a living.  He’d just recently sold a year 2000 Miata with 40K km for $11K.  If I were a buyer knowing there’s such a car available at that price, how much would I pay for the same car @174K+ km, he asked.  A legitimate question indeed.  He hinted that he’d be willing to take it for $7K, with reluctance, but told me to go and see how much I can get from a trade in at a dealership.

The one important thing that I got out of this meeting was the confirmation that my car has indeed reached the end of its life.  He told me, quite accurately, that the Miata is a good car, until it reaches my kind of mileage, when repairs would become expensive and problems difficult to diagnose.  If nothing else I came out of this talk knowing for sure that I will have to let the car go, very soon.

My next stop was the Mini Vaughan West dealership, for a test drive of a 2006 Cooper.  I wanted to see if the lack of power compared to the S was an issue.  I told the salesman that I was expecting $7K-8K for my car.  His manager was not available to give me a concrete number, but I was told to expect $5K-6K.

By the time I returned home, my decision was between the Cooper and the S.  However, a quick chat with CC convinced me to go back to the Miata, an option that I’d discarded earlier because…. well, no good reason - just thought that it was "wrong" to waste a chance to try out a different car.  But the Miata is in fact still my number 1 pick.  I was reassured that going back to this car would not be a "wasteful" choice.

An online search through all the Mazda dealerships and autotrader turned up a few choices, the best candidates being a 2006 in Ajax, and a 2004 in Mississauga.  I’d always preferred the look of the second generation Miata to the latest model (2006), so my choice at first was the 2004 model in Mississauga.  But after checking out the latest model at Mazda’s website, I realized that the 2006 model with only 3800km on it was a pretty good deal at $30K (MSRP $34K new).  So it’s decided - I’ll go check this car out tomorrow.

Since last week or so I’ve noticed that the ABS light on my Miata would sometimes come on when I put on the turning signals.  Today on my way to work a few things happened that I think are related (chronologically):

1) While cruising, ABS light came on (did not put on turning signals)
2) While signaling, the tach and speedo needles dropped momentarily to zero and came immediately back to speed
3) While crusing, engine stopped.  Probably same as #2 above, except that the engine didn’t come back on this time.
4) I waited a while and was able to restart the engine.  I came off the highway and noticed that the ABS light came on while the car was stopped.
5) While cruising, engine stopped.  I wasn’t able to restart the engine (cranks, but would not turn over) until I let it sit for a minute or so.

In all cases, the dashboard did not light up (with check engine light, etc.), and my radio continued to work after the engine had stalled.  In both occasions of the stall, my car was in the middle lane (on 407, and on Mississauga Road).  As if that was not scary enough, it had to happen on a day like today, with hundreds of accidents happening throughout the GTA due to icy conditions.  Oh btw, my car stalled one more time on the highway on my return trip from work too.

After all this, I naturally went back to thinking about trading in my car, for a Mini or Z4.  And then I came across this article - a rather disturbing story which makes my troubles seem insignificant.  Maybe I should keep my car after all.

9:30am    Dentist appointment
10:30am  Refunded my malfunctioning secret santa gift for DF
12:00pm  Dim sum with mom and CL
1:00pm    Watched most of Four Brothers while waiting for CL to have her physio
3:00pm    Refunded a purchase @ Futureshop
4:00pm    Picked up my slingbox from the post office
5:00pm    Picked up my car
5:30pm    Set up the slingbox at CL’s place
7:30pm    Dinner with K+S
11:00pm  Finished watching Four Brothers - definitely recommended

I’ve been mildy stressed by my car troubles over the holidays ever since my car’s last breakdown.  I had a hard time deciding between trading it in to avoid a couple of $Ks in repair, and spending that money and keep the car for a while longer.  Last weekend after CL and I had lunch with MK and WL, we made an impromptu visit to a BMW dealership wanting to test drive the Mini and Z4.  They didn’t have any used Z4s so we just test drove a blue Mini Cooper S.  Even with the physically "large" salesman at the back the car has plenty of zip in a straight line.  Due to traffic I wasn’t able to test its cornering ability.

Before we left we talked to another new car salesman about the Z4. They had 2 new ones and 2 demos available (2006 model), all to be sold at cost (8% discount).  This is pretty attractive for anyone who can afford it.  Since I did not have my Miata with me, it could not be appraised.  However the salesman told me that, as a ball park figure, I should expect to get whatever I have in mind minus $8K.  Before stepping into the dealership, I was probably leaning towards keeping my car.  After hearing that, I was 90% sure.

When I went to the garage to pick up my car today, I was very pleasantly surprised to be presented with the "passed" drive clean test certificate.  I was originally told that with the aftermarket cat converter that was just installed, a pass would be iffy.  As expected, my car did not pass by much - one test was passed right at the limit.  No matter - now that I can renew my licence without a costly repair, I can delay my decision for a while.