My 2002 Mazda MX-5 1.8i S-VT Sport

So as predicted, the X-Trail called Tori didn't stay in my custody for very long.  Nine months to be exact.  Slightly long than I suspected but not quite the whole year I had intended.  Early forecasts for the sale value suggested a world of oysters were within reach.  There might be enough in the kitty for a fora into Porsche ownership with an early Boxster S, an 944 S2, or maybe an 968.  More practical motors like Mk5 Golf GTis seemed viable too, as were a whole host of boxy 80's British exotica (thing TVR 350's or Lotus Excel turbos).  The real part exchange value turned out to be somewhat less than the forecast, but still left plenty of scope for finding something more entertaining than a Japanese SUV.  Rear Wheel Drive was high on the list of priorities, as was space for people and luggage, but reliability, performance, and entertaining handling were the must have items.  Top of the options list was a six cylinder BMW of some sort.  I wasn't to bothered whether it was a 3 or 5 series; 2.2, 2.5, 3.0 litre petrol or 2.9 litre diesel; saloon, estate, coupe, or maybe even a convertible; as long as it was in good healthy clean condition and with a decent history file to back it all up.  Casual browsing over Christmas turned into serious searching in the new year which is when reality set in.

I missed out on one or two nice looking 325 coupes, urm'ed and ur'ed about a couple of tired sounding 5 series, before not quite making the budget stretch to a nice 330d saloon.  I widened the net slightly, considering more front and four wheel drive options that might provide similar levels of entertainment, practicality, and hopefully reliability.  Jaguar X-type's, Lexus IS200's and Alfa 156's were all looked at. I went out one afternoon with a mate to try a high spec Mercedes C320 which ticked a lot of the right boxes, but the dealer wasn't sure what he'd offer me for the X-Trail.  Hungry and a little fed-up of looking in vain, we went is search of food and wifi.  Flicking through Auto Trader whilst munching on a burger I spotted this electric blue MX-5 that I'd bookmarked as a 'maybe'.  It wasn't to far away, so a quick call confirmed that it was still available, and we could take it out for a test if we could get there before the dealer closed for the day.

Now I'll concede that these MX-5's aren't exactly practical in a luggage and people carrying capacity, it was two cylinders short of my objective, and has a somewhat cutesie image for a man of my age and stature.  In my defence, it is about as reliable as front engined/ rear wheel drive sports cars have ever been; and with only 66000 miles on the clock, a full service history, and generally in good condition; it did tick most of the necessary boxes.  I'd even done my homework, having considered an MX-5 some years ago, this was the 1.8i with the variable valve timing, six speed 'box, a limited slip differential on the back axle, and 16" alloys.  Even the interior spec was good, will black leather two piece heated seats, a Nardi three spoke wheel, electric windows, and a very neat dealer fit double din stereo.  The only missing option was air-con which some might consider unnecessary on a convertible anyway.

On arrival at the Whitley Bay Motors yard on the Peel Retail Park just off the A1231 we only had half an hour in failing light to check out the car.  A thorough prod and poke around indicated that it was an honest tidy example, a quick scan of the paperwork just confirmed this initial opinion, and so, with time running out we went for a quick run around the block.  Even in just a few miles I could tell that this car was going to deliver a shed-load of smiles per mile.  The steering wheel chatters with information about the road surface beneath you.  The engine, though lacking on-paper figures (144bhp and 124ft/lb. of torque to shift 1100kg, not bad, but not great) picks up ok in mid range, but loves to rev to the roof.  The gear change on the six speed 'box is so immediate and close to hand.  And a healthy prod of the accelerator gets the back end joining in the fun in a delightfully manageable way.  After only a few minutes I was turning back for the dealers, hopeful that we could strike a good deal all round.

Fast forward a few months and I'm totally taken with little Mindy (yes that is a reference to Pam Dawber).  There have been several long trips and numerous little adventure.  The new policy for journeys is "if it ain't raining, then the roof goes down" and I've acquired several hats and scarfs to help keep me cosy on the colder days.  Although the heater deals well with even the coldest of days pretty well.  Rain might stop the roof down fun, but wet weather driving provides plenty of entertainment.  There was a mix of old Uniroyal Rain Sport 2's and newer 3's on the car when I bought it, but a long run on a flat tyre killed one of the older Rain Sport 2's, so a pair of fresh 3's got fitted at the back.  These tyres are great in the wet and pretty good in the dry.  There's some forum opinion that they are a little too soft for hard summer use, but I'm happy to trade off a little dry weather performance or tyre life span for the confidence that they give when it's raining and pouring.

The practicalities of a two seater sports car with a tiny boot have taken a little getting use too, but there is just enough space for two plus a weeks worth of luggage so it's not too bad.  Although the hairdresser comments and "fat, hairy, bloke in a girls car" double-takes can get a little wearisome, it's more than made up for by the pleasure of driving such an engaging little car.  Climbing into the MX-5 and having to leave the roof up can leave you feeling a little stuffy and claustrophobic, but that's more to do with how much more you can see, hear, and smell with the roof down, than any space issues with the roof in place.  These factors add to the pleasure as much as the intimacy of the controls or the simplicity of the detailing....

....Skip again to mid October and nothing much has changed, except for maybe my ability to finish an article!  I've had a super short hair cut (for charity, mate) and Mindy has had a new clutch and could do with a brake and bearing overhaul, but fun has been had all summer, despite the odd attempt at sabotage by the weather.  Testing three other cars and having an increasing list of new metal to try has propelled me into blog based activity.  Even the test drive of the all new mark 4 MX-5 has failed to wain the love I have for this little Mazda.  It's not totally perfect, the seat base does sit a little high for my liking, the lack of mid range torque does make that lazy drive home a bit more taxing than necessary, and some integrated iPod connection would be nice.  All these are apparently fixable (an Eaton 45 supercharger install in the case of the middle item!) so time will tell if I get around to sorting any of these issues.  

So all is set for winter fun in Team Handsome Towers.  I have a new frame of reference for some new test drives that will follow shortly, honest!  This car continues to impress and entertain me, and I can't see that changing anytime soon.  So for now, in the words of Ferris Bueller "if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up!"

Enterprise Athlone's 2014 Renault Clio 1.2 Dynamic

You never quite know what you're going to get when you collect a hire car.  The website suggested that I'd be getting a Ford Ka or similar.  A call to check up on collection options also offered the opinion that it would probably be Fiat Panda.  Nothing very exciting, but at the price I wasn't going to complain, as all I needed was transport to get around a few friends and family in the north of Ireland over the following few days.  So it was a rather pleasant surprise to be handed the credit card sized key fob for the fresh looking Renault Clio that was sitting near the office door.  Having completed nearly all the necessary paperwork we went to check the condition of the car together and have a quick briefing of the controls.  It's a smart looking car in this new 5 door only configuration complete with those black and chrome inserts that run from the front to rear doors.  The concealed rear door handles add to the sportiness of the shapely looks along with those 16" alloy wheels.  

Those good looks continue inside too with nicely finished seats, glossy black dash panels, and some neat chrome trimming.  It's full to the brim with kit, most of which is controlled by the large touchscreen that provides access to all the media, communication, and navigation systems.  So having seemingly signed my life away, I'm finally ready to head over the border toward Banbridge. Rather than blast along the quiet, smooth, two lane motorways of the Republic of Ireland towards Dublin before circling the city centre and heading north, I decide to cut across country to Mullingar, picking up the N52 through Delvin, Kells, and Ardee, before joining the M1/E01 near Dundalk.  Having followed the road signs onto the busy little back road to Mullingar, feelings of nostalgia for childhood family trips override any thoughts about my current mode of transport.  The N52 turns out to be clearer road better suited to discovering the dynamics of my chariot for the weekends.

This 1.2 engine is the least spritely option in the range with a 0-60mph time is the 15sec territory, but 4 cylinders and 16 valve run smoothly and eagerly to deliver 75bhp and 79lb ft, which works better in the metal than the figures would suggest.  Together with the smooth ride, controlled handling, and accurate steering; twisty B... urr... N-roads can be dispatched with some considerable relish.  It strikes a good balance between being a quiet runaround and a sporty little tearaway, making round town driving relaxing and back road stuff very engaging.  The only problem is that 0-60 time which makes overtaking slower traffic a project that requires careful planning and a nice long gap.  Many Irish roads have nice wide, surfaced verges that slower road users with normally move over onto to allow anyone who's 'in a hurry' past.  With the road improvements that came with the Republic's one time 'poor man of Europe' status, this seems to be a dying habit, sadly.

Stopping off in Kells for a late lunch and I'm quite impressed with my little hire car.  I'm quite impressed with Kells too, the Butterfly Garden Cafe has a great menu, lovely cakes, friendly staff, and a pretty little garden to sit and enjoy the late June sun.  If the name Kells rings a bell, that'll be the Book of Kells, much of which was believed to have been created in the local Abbey.  It turns out that Hollywood Star Maureen O'Hara was born here too.  With a sugar rush taking full affect I decide to have a proper play with the tech behind that large touch screen.  Moments later I have my tunes blasting out from my iPod that plugs into the USB in the centre console, all controllable via that screen, my phone is connected via Bluetooth, and the Sat Nav is guiding me back onto the N52 and towards the border.  Sadly though, not across the border, as for some reason this car has maps for Eire, but not the UK, and therefore Northern Ireland.  This minor issue aside, all this seamless tech integration is a rather delightful discovery.

Blasting North East along the rest of the N52 is further enhanced by some classic U2, and regular warnings for upcoming junctions. There is one moment where the Sat Nav does that old trick of sending me down a little lane that is so disused that there is not only moss, but foot high grass growing down the middle of it.  A quick delve into the setting and 'Shortest Route' is swapped for 'Fastest Route' for the remainder of the weekend.  Picking up the M1/E1 and you notice just how much difference all that EU money has made to the Irish road network, it's all silky smooth fresh Tarmac all the way from Dublin to the border.  Back in the 80's the border was identified by concrete bunkers, armed solders, and better roads.  Now you only notice it because of the signs warning that all is now mph not kph, and with Northern Irish roads suffering the same neglect as the rest of the UK it's odd to notice just how worn these surfaces have become.

Finding Banbridge is easy enough, finding my friends house and my bed for the night was somewhat more problematic. And my reliance upon technology wasn't helping much either. The cars Sat Nav was still pinpointing my location, but without any mapping data, its efforts were somewhat pointless.  Crossing the border had triggered my phone to switch from the roaming data-less 'ie' connection back to my all singing 'uk' network but not seamlessly, it would transpire. So although I'd texted my mate to confirm his address and some direction, his reply had not reached me, so a slightly confused conversation later and I've entered his address into my trusty TomTom (which I'd brought along with me not expecting any in car equipment). I'm happy to discover that I'm only another ten to fifteen minutes away from a nice cup of tea and a good old natter! Twenty odd minutes later and I'm sat in a side road in some unknown village with a TomTom that has a frozen screen and refuses to reboot, a smartphone that says it has data but won't do anything I ask of it, and an in-car device that knows exactly where I am but has no frigging maps to help me on my way!!!

Half an hour of 'turn it off and on again', map reading, and a "I'm lost" phone call or two, eventually finds me pulling up on the long drive outside my friends rambling new-build, glad to have finished navigation duties for the day.  It's at abound this point that I decide to feature this car in my blog, despite it not, strictly speaking, being a friends car that I've arranged to try.  The prospect of another two and a half days driving around in this little thing seems to be turning from a necessary part of the trip into an essential element of the adventure. Saturday has me visiting Enniskillen on my way to Stranolar, and Sunday sees me in Derry-Londonderry, before heading back South to Tullamore.  It's with some sadness that I find myself back in the the Enterprise office in Athlone on the Monday handing back that keycard to the now fly-covered little fella that helped make my weekend so much fun.

Thanks to the staff at Enterprise Athlone.

©Dan Ewing 2014

Changing the Frame of Reference

So my trusted Scandinavian transport is beyond the help of even the most ingenious of mechanics or the dodgiest of MoT centres.  Nearly four years after purchasing Svart for 900 quid from the less than scrupulous Westbourne Garage, rust, wear, but mostly old age, have taken their toll.  So it's off to the scrap yard and the postmortem will include details of a cracked bulkhead, a failing head gasket, and a blown exhaust, which combine to make my once desirable 900 Turbo SE a complete basket case.  The indignity of being picked apart in a scrap yard is no way for any loyal automotive companion to end its days, but needs must, and you can't save them all.  The steady demise means that there will be no memorable last run, no chance to enjoy full boost acceleration out a slow corner, gently managing the torque steer as the turbo spools up to project you at the horizon yet again.  The diesel'esc clatter that now accompanies the blown exhaust and the water leak mean that I've been nursing the car around for the last few weeks.

Still the diesel clatter will be good perpetration for my next chariot, a hand me down Nissan X-Trail that I featured back in February 2013.  The parentals have moved on to lease a rather nice 2014 Nissan Note, so the bargain priced X-Trail came up for grabs at a very opportune moment.  And although I like this car, now named Torie (an extract from Ekkusu Toreiru (X トレイル) - Japanese for X-Trail by the way), it's no '180 brake' b-road battle tool, so I'm not too sure how long it'll be kept in service.  The sensible alternative would be a compact exec estate, but as the summer nights start growing shorter, the price of sporting convertibles may start to get even more tempting than they are now.  In amongst the default early Boxster's and Z4's, the odd wild card comes along, V8 TVR Wedge anyone?!

So anyhow! Enough dreaming for now, I just wanted to let any committed readers know that the frame of reference has changes slightly from a tired but worthy front wheel drive couple, to a worthy but dull 4x4 SUV.  Why mention it at all? Well stepping from one car to another, it's inevitable that some comparison is made to my daily drive.  So to date, cars may have felt slow or fast, high up or low down, small and nimble or big and bloated compared to my old Saab.  A car that felt slow compared to Svart isn't necessarily gonna feel slow compared to Torie.  A small difference maybe, but enough of one for a small mention.  One last note, my original intention was to test and write up a couple of cars a month and have moved onto Second Degree cars by now.  Real life means that once a quarter is more realistic and a friend of a friend quickly becomes a friend if you get chatting enough to ask about testing their car! I'll endeavour to put out a review every three months at least and try to build this back up to once a month if the opportunity arises.  For now, please keep reading, sharing, and commenting on my articles.

Thanks Dan180
© Dan Ewing 2014

My 1996 Saab 900 SE Turbo

The barrier rises and I wind my along the exit ramp of the Newcastle Central Station Long Stay Car Park on a chilly June evening. As I edge out of the side road into the traffic on Neville Street, I overhear a passing reveller comment to his companions “I've always wanted one of those”. “Me too” I smile to myself as I pick my way through the madness that is Newcastle Upon Tyne city centre on a lively Saturday night. Unlike most all of the cars I hope to write about in the future, I actually own this one and have done since May 2010. I needed a car that I could use to get around in and take the odd long journey to visit family. This 3 door Saab had a big boot, was comfortable, went like stink thanks to its 185bhp engine, and at £900 with some semblance of a service history, it seemed to be quite a bargain.

The new gen 900 inherits some quirky good looks from the classic Saab 900. The upsweep of the rear pillars, the steep angle of the front screen, the way the indicators cut into the wings, the cliff face dash, and the slim front seats with the wrap around headrest all make for an unique looking car. The overall look is quite discrete, thanks in part to the black paint and family hatch shape. The lack of attention this car normally gets took a little getting use to after previously having two rather conspicuous cars (a Peugeot 205 GTi and a Porsche 944 Lux), although I'm quite happy to slip home unnoticed after a long days work.

Picking my way through the jostling taxis and their drunken clients the steering is never very communicative but it normally seems accurate enough and is reasonably well weighted. Cruising down the A1058 the slight lack of body control can be felt over the bigger undulations. The drivers seat is a very comfortable place to be, that slab-faced centre console is well organised with large buttoned that are easy to identify and use. The dials and buttons are all labelled with a simple font that glows green at night, with the dash gauge needles and centre console display panels glowing in a gentle orange. Even though the steering wheel only adjusts for reach, a good driving position can be found, and the prospect of driving for hours is un-daunting.

There are some unusual features in amongst all the gear, some clever, some plain odd. The cleverer ones include a single button press that de-mists the whole car including the rear screen, and a stereo that turns itself up and down as the road noise varies. Not very special in 2012 but quite good for 900 quid. The odd ones include the infamous 'Black Panel' button that kills all interior illumination except for the speedo and any warning notifications. Useful as you're approach the Arctic Circle maybe, but not so much on the Billy Mill Roundabout. Also, some of the on-board computer functions are a little weird like the alarm clock (in a car?), or the one that allows you to enter a mileage (the distance to your destination say) and your hoped for average speed, and it will calculate an estimated arrival time for you, somewhat outdated in this age of Sat Nav.

Away from late night commuter duties, out on a quiet B road, a few more weaknesses start to show themselves. The heavy nose makes the front end wash out in corners a little earlier than you'd expect. Keeping your foot in or lifting off both seem to result in the same amount of tail movement. Hard acceleration reveals a tendency to spin up the front wheels. The fact that these antics are worse in the wet and can be set off by the slightest change in road surface make me wonder how much the cheap budget tyres are to blame. Maybe better tyres would help improve things, but basically the new gen 900 was always a little flawed.

Not that I don't enjoy threading this car along the Beehive. As the revs reach 3000 RPM the turbo spools up and suddenly its time to brake for that corner which has suddenly gotten really close. Slow down a little more than seems reasonable for that corner and the car turns into the apex well enough, at which point you can gently feed in the power, the turbo spooling back up and the whole shebang starts again. The slight lack of body control doesn't hinder too much and the comfortable ride helps on bumpy road surfaces. You might have to constantly adjust your line the torque steer and manage the throttle inputs carefully, but rapid cross country progress is there for the taking.

A contemporary BMW 318iS Coupe might be a dynamic masterpiece in comparison, but it wouldn't have the space or pace of my Svart. And I'd probably have to pay at least twice as much for a 328i Touring that would match it for practically and performance. Some cars leave you feeling that you could get more out of them, if you just had a little more skill, a little more knowledge, but this Saab isn't one of them. There's something oddly comforting about running a car that isn't perfect, that isn't a mechanical tour de force. It should feel like a bad thing, but its doesn't, you end up feeling like you and the car can work together around your combined weaknesses to achieve results that you can feel some ownership in. So my car is flawed, quirky and practical, not perfect, but not hopeless – a bit like me then.

ⓒ Dan Ewing 2012