Bye bye Mazda, Hello Audi
I bought a Mazda RX-8 back in April of 2006. It had 6,000 miles on the clock. Since then its been in the shop about 12 times due to a check engine light (CEL). The CEL can come on for 100+ reasons. Mine kept coming on for a rear-rotar misfire (its not a piston engine).I developed a good rapport with Jim Philpot of Great Valley Mazda in Sacramento and he did all he could for me. Replacing spark plugs, flashing the cars ECU, new cables, running it through various machines. Nothing could identify the problem. The engine looked fine. But the CEL kept coming on. Under acceleration and "high load". something that in a 6 speed manual sports car you don't really expect.
To cut a long story short Mazda got involved and I am meeting them in 2 hrs to hand over the car, they are doing a "buy back". The RX-8 was very fun. You couldn't throw it around and abuse it like no other car I have ever driven on a regular basis. But it was just far to frustrating.
With our impending move to Seattle, worse weather, worse traffic, lots of options for wet and/or snow driving opportunities I was looking for an AWD. After test driving the Mazdaspeed 6 - would be a chore in heavy traffic with its heavy clutch, and only mediocre interior build quality, BMW's and Audi's I opted for an ex-loaner dealio on a 2006 A4 Quattro. It actually grips those corners almost as well as the RX-8 (in the dry) but in the wet it will be another story all together. Its also very comfortable with some nice low key luxury. And it is after all fun, maybe not quite the same fun as the 8 but fun all the same. The 8 was also a little more precise in steering and of course its acceleration and torque curve as on a different (rotary) planet.
And of course Marisa is comfortable driving it as well... perhaps a little too much so ;-)
All opinions stated are my own, etc. etc.
posted by Matthew Woodget @ 11:09 AM
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