Bought my first new car last week. My current car, a 1998 Ford Contour with V6 and 5spd, is almost 10 years old and has 185,000 miles. It’s still reliable but I’m starting to worry a bit about taking it on long trips.
I’d been looking for something fast with 4 doors and manual transmission. I’m normally a Ford guy but they don’t have anything like that these days. So after much research I decided to spluge and get a new car, a Mazdaspeed3. Historically I’ve been against buying new cars but this one is limited to 5,000 a year in the US, used ones are hard to find and I’d be leery of them anyway.
260HP and 285 ft/lb of torque, this thing really screams! Supposed to do 0-60 in less than 6 seconds but I haven’t pushed it yet. It’s a good feeling having a brand new car, now I’ll just try not to be too obsessive about keeping it perfect and just enjoy it. This thing really brakes too, 60 to 0 in about 121 feet.
It’s been getting about 26MPG, which isn’t too bad. Anyway, I’m enjoying the new car smell and feel. I’ll probably have this car for 9 or 10 years.
I really like the looks of these and test drove one, not the Speed, in 2005. It is a nice little car and the normal one I drove was quite peppy. The foot room by the pedals was just too cramped though. When shifting and braking my feet were totally hitting beacuse of how narrow it is.
If it would have been just a little larger down there I might have taken the plunge. Congrats!
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