An interesting car popped up in the used market sites recently; one that I've long enjoyed looking at since I was in Canada: a 2010 Mazda Roadster.
When I was a lot younger, I enjoyed playing the Need for Speed racing games. The goal of every race, aside from winning, was to earn enough money to upgrade your cars and buy bigger, more powerful racers. In many versions of this game, there would be a Mazda Roadster. Because it's smaller than any muscle car and doesn't have as much horsepower as the bigger Japanese sports cars, it would often be available at the very start of the game. I would always choose this car, paint it yellow, and start racing around the streets of whatever Californian city the game happened to be based in. As the game progressed, the challengers would often become far too fast for the Roadster and people would be compelled to trade in their car for the larger RX-8 or something from another manufacturer. Because I enjoyed the shape of the Roadster so much, I would hold onto it for as long as possible.
When Mazda refreshed their Roadsters a few years ago for the newer manta-ray-like stylings, I was disappointed that the sleek look and rounded curves I had (virtually) driven in my youth were gone. However, when looking at a used car market, old dreams can become new realities:
A dealership about 30 minutes away has a 2010-model for sale in the colour that I seek and with a ridiculously low odometer count at just 4,884km. Thinking this was a typo, I got in touch with the seller who confirmed that this car has been sitting around in a garage for most of its 13 years just waiting for someone, anyone, to drive it. The engine has been given a thorough check with seals and gaskets being replaced, lubricants being flushed and replenished, and ignition coils replaced. It has never been raced, modified, or in an accident.
Unfortunately, the dealer doesn't know why the car was sitting around for so long. Given how much these vehicles cost off the lot, it's unlikely someone left it alone by choice.
Not wanting to rush into anything I would probably regret later, I thanked the dealer for his time and have let the idea simmer for a couple of days. Would I really want to buy a 13 year old sports car as my first car in 20+ years? How much would insurance cost? How about gas? Machines do not like being idle for too long, as seals and components begin to fail, so would this turn out to be a lemon as the body colour might imply?
Time can be a wonderful thing, as it offers us an opportunity to look at questions from many different angles.
Would I really want to buy a 13 year old sports car as my first car? So long as the insurance isn't too crazy, why not? Looking online, I would likely spend about 30% more for this car than the tamer Daihatsu Mira e:S I am also considering.
How about gas? This might be a problem. The Roadster requires premium gasoline, which is currently selling for about 180円 per litre and is expected to rise to about 200円 later this summer. The car gets an average of 11km/L, which means I could wind up spending more in gas than the cost of a train ticket if I travel more than 25km.
Am I able to take care of a lemon? I have a lot of family members who are mechanics by trade. They can fix just about anything. The problem is that they live on the other side of the planet from me, which makes weekend visitations darn near impossible. I would either need to learn a lot about cars very quickly to perform my own repairs, or I would need to bring it into a shop regularly, which can lead to some hefty costs if there's anything wrong with the engine or transmission.
This is a gorgeous car and in really great shape for its age … but its not something that I can realistically invest in. Maybe if I were 20 years younger, then this would make sense. However, right now it looks like the puppy and I will be sitting in a more modest vehicle come the autumn.