It was September 2013 and I had only one working car!
Maggy the 5th, my perfect car, a BBR turbo MX-5, was awaiting an engine re-fit which wouldn’t happen until the next year.
‘Adriana‘, the BMW 3 series convertible, was a car I had regretted buying within the first two weeks of ownership, and had been
plagued with reliability issues.
Why did I keep making these mistakes?
I sat down and had a serious think.
I should buy a sensible, newish, diesel BMW or Audi.
I should.
I should.
I didn’t.
I bought a Fast & Furious
Why oh why oh why?!?
Because my wonderful logic had deemed it was the perfect car.
Maggy – the 5th of my MX-5s – was my perfect car; in terms of looks, the way it drove and the smile that was instantly plastered onto your face every time you drove her, and the performance – but she only had two seats. And a tiny boot.
I had a daughter and a girlfriend – I needed back seats. I also missed the convenience of having a hatchback.
The RX-7 met the criteria.
It had back seats.
It had a hatchback.
It looked like Maggy (pop up headlights, yay!!).
It handled like Maggy, yet had more power.
It was Maggy’s big sister!
What could possibly go wrong?
Don’t answer that. I’m still trying to sell the f**ker as I write this.
How could I have been so wrong? I’d made a spreadsheet and everything. It had even had a pretty colour scheme!!
Ok, subconsciously I knew I was making a mistake. But perhaps I needed to make that mistake… one more time. Lily from How I Met Your Mother
“OK, yes it’s a mistake. I know it’s a mistake, but there are certain things in life where you know it’s a mistake but you don’t really know it’s a mistake because the only way to really know it’s a mistake is to make the mistake and look back and say ‘yep, that was a mistake.’ So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you’d go your whole life not knowing if something is a mistake or not.”
The biggest concern with buying this ageing supercar was the reliability of the unique Wankel Rotary engine, and expense if
something went wrong with it.
The second was rust. I didn’t want a repeat story of the Nissan 300ZX (see My car history part 5: The Power Years), a similar vehicle to the RX-7 (I also considered the Mitsubishi GTO and the Toyota Supra – both too heavy and expensive).
So if I bought an RX-7 with a recent rebuild and a warranty, and with sound bodywork, preferably freshly imported from Japan (where they don’t rust), then I wouldn’t have a problem.
Except they were bloody expensive. I had to compromise.
I found and purchased ‘Becks‘ (Becky, the RX), a rust free, 2004 imported model, with a recent engine rebuild. No warranty, but the guy who was selling it had rebuilt it himself in his own time; yet he worked for a Mazda & Ford specialist. He had an excellent reputation on the expert forums and promised to help with any problems I should experience.
He’d live to regret that.
I still hadn’t shaken off the Gremlins.
The engine started to die.
Andy, the builder, was mortified. He’d rebuild many RX-7s and never had a problem before. What had I done to it?!?!?
He offered to help but was a long way away in Guildford. I tried an RX-7 specialist closer to home and after running a compression test, presented me with a bill for £4000 to rebuild it.
*!&^
I drove to Guildford and left the car with Andy.
Ho hum.
Meanwhile, to fuel my car buying urges, I helped my new girlfriend to find and buy a suitable car to replace her beloved Toyota Rav4. She didn’t want to get rid of it, but for reasons beyond our control, it had to go.
It had been a 2004 American model with a 2.4 litre engine and for a 4×4/SUV it was surprisingly nippy. The UK 2.0 litre version felt rather underpowered. She tried a Honda CRV and was thoroughly disappointed. Time was ticking, and we spotted what look like the
perfect upgrade – a 2001 Lexus RX300.
This was a significantly more powerful 3.0 litre vehicle, and a step up in terms of luxury. Heated leather seats, SatNav, sunroof; all the luxurious Lexus works. We had initially been put of an RX300 due to the thirsty fuel consumption, but this was a rare LPG conversion. The RAV4 had also been an LPG conversion and had performed excellently.
Sadly the Lexus didn’t live up to expectations. Don’t get me wrong – it was a damn good car. But we’d fooled ourselves with MPG
expectations, and the laid back luxurious style of the car couldn’t match the sporty eagerness of the little RAV4.
However, it would reasonably meet our requirements for the next 8 months and proved to be an excellent work horse…
Next part of the story: Maggy returns