But it takes more than one small roadster to legitimize the notion of Mazda as Fun-to-Drive Central.Īnd that's what this car is all about. Hey, we like the Miata as much as anyone else. I’m happy to report, in addition to everything else I really liked about the Mazda, it’s dead simple to wrench on, too.Although Mazda is in the midst of an image makeover designed to portray the company as a purveyor of sporting machinery - you've seen the "zoom-zoom" commercial, right? - the truth is there is not yet a lot of substance behind the smoke and mirrors. I wound up borrowing a lift and some tools from my old friend Bill Arnold at his shop. Turns out, the original radiator was weeping from the breather hose nipple, just under the cap. The company the Mazda keeps on that list includes a Dodge Charger R/T, a Jaguar S-Type and a slightly rusty Mercedes M元20.Įpilogue: Somewhere during the week I noticed a sweet smell from outside the car at stoplights. It’s certainly in my top 10, and maybe even top 5. So, is it the best “rental” car on my personal list? Maybe. Actually, I didn’t really keep track of it, but based on fill-up frequency and miles per tank, that seems about right. Overall, it returned mileage somewhere in the mid-20s. It took our Target purchases – because it doesn’t matter where we are in the United States, we’ll end up at a Target store – with ease. It handled the kiddo’s car seat and other accoutrements just fine. It behaved sitting in the aforementioned traffic, it’s clutch pedal never becoming a burden and its seats remaining quite comfortable. It was an absolute sweetheart of a partner.Īs a regular car, the Protege5 also did well. Ratchet down to six- or even seven-tenths and find your rhythm, and the little Mazda positively danced. On the backroads and up in the hills, it was light on its feet, but when really pushed the front end would wash out through the hairpins. The shifter was smooth with medium throws, more akin to the Honda. The 2.0-liter, 130 horsepower engine was willing but a little rough at higher RPMS, at least by today’s standards. The best way to sum up the Mazda’s gestalt is it combined the handling dynamics of my 1985 Honda Prelude with the engine feel, steering, and ergonomics of my 1993 Miata LE. Besides, a light, modestly-powered car may be all the fun your heart can handle. You really don’t have to be running at hypersonic speeds to get your jollies. Tam is 35 mph, and you would have to work like hell to consistently maintain that speed. Yes, these are what I like to call “one chance roads” in that, if you leave the road, well… that was your one chance! Sorry about the lack of guardrails, but the locals know better. Yes, there are more bicyclists than there used to be, but that’s mostly on the weekends. In fact, when I lived there I used to run into the film and photo crews – literally and figuratively – from time to time. You’ve seen these ribbons cut into the hills in any and every magazine from Bimmer to Sports Car International to some of the European rags, and in numerous car ads from Acura, Mercedes-Benz and even Dodge (“Hi!”). Now, not only is the Bay Area some of the most beautiful country in the country, but these are some of the best driving roads period. Best of all by far, we got to play in my old stomping grounds of Marin county and the Marin Headlands, Mt. We cruised a lot around iconic Alameda island. We slogged through East Shore Freeway and San Francisco rush hour traffic. We put around 1,000 miles on the digital clock running all over the Bay Area. That’s not to say our little Mazda Protege5 – dead-stock and with six-figure miles – didn’t see some exercise. Further, if the car is a cute little blue station wagon with a proper three-pedal manual transmission… well, we here at TTS really like harp seals. If you have friends who are drunkenly foolish kind and generous enough to loan you a car for your week-long California vacation, you’re much less likely to beat on it. Unless said rental car isn’t really a rental. Nobody has ever been nice to a rental car. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Camaro SS or a Dodge Avenger, an Audi A6 or a Kia Rio, a Nissan Quest or a Lincoln MK-whatever. They saw no problem in purchasing an automobile that had likely never known an easy day in its life. And not ironically, either this wasn’t some vane nod toward empathy – like adopting an abused baby harp seal because you feel bad – or merely thumbing their nose at the Goddess of Nice Used Cars. We all know people who have purchased cars previously the property of a rental or loaner fleets. That old chestnut, the object example of truth lovingly wrapped in a cliché. “What’s the fastest car in the world? A rental car, of course!”
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