Rewarding Test-drive..

Yesterday i felt like doing work, but i knew i couldn't cause i couldn't think. Sat infront of my big stack of notes and felt rather dejected. Yet i knew, i still had time..so i decided to take the day off. So instead of doing work i brought Yingzi (mish's neighbour) to test drive cars since she is considering buying one.

Went to Vic park..parked alittle too far away..heh..(sorry hor)..walked abit and looked ard. Didn't like the service at one of the showroom's where they had Audi TT's and boxsters, got really condecending looks. Oh well, their loss. In the end, the lady decided she didn't like skylines, wrxs, mercedes, saabs or most japanese cars..

Except for Evos and the mazda Rx-8

I couldn't think of any place off-hand to test drive the EVO so i brought her to the mazda dealer and there it was..Actually in the mag when i first saw the Rx-8, i thot it looked rather ordinary, but you see all the little design details better in real life..it was above average looking..

After talking to the dealer and letting him i knew enough about the car to let us test drive it, he gave us the keys..heh..that was that..First he drove us to some secluded carpark..den he let Yingzi take over. She drove around for abit..she didn't look very comfortable though, she was extremely close to the steering wheel.

After that i took over and the drive was excellent, it was quiet, comfortable, spacious, sporty and well equipped. Then begged the real question...is it....Fast?! Warning the dealer before hand i dropped it down a gear and floored it..You could hear the rotary engine whine as i pushed it up past 5000rpm, 6000rpm, all the way until about 9000rpm and we were doing about 100km/h (slightly more i think) in second gear..not bad not bad.

I concluded it is a phenomenal car to drive, light, responsive and decently powerful. However some doubts still remained...

1) The pedals are far from the seat, which means shorter ppl like yingzi or other girls have to move the seat very far forward, which is fine, until u realise ur super close to the steering wheel..which affects the visibility u get in your side mirrors.

2) The handbrake is on the driver's side of the gear...its abit awkward and it does get in the way.

3) It works alot like a vtec, powerful at high-end revs..not so impressive at low end...so if you've been driving turbo cars your whole life and are used to the low down turbo torque...prepare to be disappointed..

4) The boot is big..but it might struggle to fit a full size suitcase.

5) High petrol and engine oil consumption..plus rumors there's an occasional rev choke at 5000rpm.

Chris ..all in all..still a wonderful car.