Hello everybody,
I finally did it, It was like this, We found out the news, my wife and I are having a baby, thats fantastic and we already have a child under 4, however my pride and joy at the time was a Honda Civic FN2 Type R, a fantastic motor vehicle with an engine that loves to rev, but how are we going to strap two kids in the back, its hard enough with only one so the decision was made, my pride and joy would have to go and I would have to find a car with rear doors too, I put on a brave face but I was devistated to be loosing the Type R, test drove a few cars but nothing really did it for me, as you may imagine not much stacks up to the Honda Type R rocket. Then one day with my wife and child in tow we went to a Mazda dealer and test drove the Mazda 3 MPS Lux. it was a shocking day pouring with rain and all however wife and child along with the car sales man all jumped in, the sales man drove it out the yard and then I jumped behind the wheel, feels nice I thought, I drove it gently the whole time and went back to the yard, the wife she loved the shape of it and said lets get one, we didnt get too far with that dealer, the change over was going to be too Much $$$ and we left. Well now we know what we want, I like the shape and the general feel (Kinda brought me back to the old RX7 I had as a youngster with that bonnet scoop)and the wife loved the shape and the fact it had rear doors. We went to another dealer and the negotiations started, 2 hrs later we were the owners of a demo model Mazda 3 MPS Lux, to be totally honest I thought I had done the wrong thing trading in my pride and joy.
Anyway delivery day came and we drove the Type R one last time to the dealer pulled up out the front and went in to get our new car, there it was in the show room, wow these do look good I thought, I handed over the keys to the sales man, he went to get the licencing of the new MPS organised and I had alook at the new car when he came back he asked where are the keys for the Honda he wants the trade in guy to check it over, I said right there on the table, but they were gone, the sales man starts looking everywhere for them, they are no where to be found, then I look outside to where the Honda is and no joke, there are about 4 Mazda people all over the Type R checking it out,inside the car, under the bonnet all over it, to say they are impressed would be an understatement, that Honda engineering is fantastic, anyway the sales man calls out and they have the keys so the trade in guy can now have a look, I am thinking at this stage on my God I have done the wrong thing trading in my pride and joy.
We finally get away from the yard with our new 3 MPS and I am driving it easy on albany hwy 60km/hr still wondering if maybe I couldnt have managed a 3 door FN2 Type R and 2 Kids under 4, still thinking did I just make a huge mistake, then stopped at the traffic lights first in line turning on to Roe hwy I thought well lets see how this goes, lights go green, I launched off gently in first (you know new car and all) changed down to second and then foot to the floor, Damn !!! I couldnt wipe the smile off my face, these things pull hard, in what felt like a second I was approaching the 6500 red line(its 8000 in a type R so will be a little getting used to) shifing out of second gear and into third, foot down again and damn Im going to loose my licence if I keep this up, my foot goes off the Gas but there was no way you could wipe that smile off my face these MPS's are insane fun and in that instant I had a new pride and joy. Totally awesome motor vehicles!!!
A totally different driving style to the Type R, the Honda loves to rev and the MPS is just oh so full of Torque, Type R in a straight line is fast and loud, the Vtec kicking in at about 5000rpm is great and you just want to go all the way to 8000 red line, My MPS in a straight line is quiet in comparison, the feel of the turbo is addictive, oh and yes it is faster than a FN2 Type R.
And you all know about the saying that the grass isnt always greener, well in this case it certainly is, Mazda 3 MPS is one hell of a machine and with 5 doors, I love it!!!
