The Adventures of Expatboy

As many of you readers probably know, I am just completely obsessed with the MR2 Spyder. For a while I had resigned myself to fantasizing about more practical cars, but my weekend with the 2006 MX-5 Miata re-kindled my desire for this even more impractical car. Even more impractical because of the fact that it really had less than 1/2 of the trunk space of the already tiny trunk of the Mazda.

The 3 major walls that I have built around my consciousness to resist the Spydah were built around the following arguments:

1) A second car will cost a fortune to own, especially if I’m just one guy driving it
2) Trunk space is non-existent, you cant road trip in it
3) It only comes in manual, and I haven’t driven stick since 1999

Then the walls started toppling down. First the cost. I realized that the only real cost of owning the Spydah was the cost of insurance. The cost of fuel, wear and tear, and such, would really be split between it and my daily driver. The cost to fuel the Spydah would be offset by the cost NOT to fuel the Accord. As for depreciation, well if it’s really a toy and not an asset, then why should I be bothered by depreciation?

Second came the argument about the trunk. We drove to Geis Toyota, maybe 30 miles north of White Plains, to see the only one being sold at a dealership within 20 miles. We tooled around the interior. There was TONS of legroom inside. Most likely because the engine was in the back, and that freed up the front. But there really was no storage space at all, aside from the glove box and the small storage space behind the seats, which would total maybe 3 loaves of bread worth of storage. You could put in a small overnight bag in with the spare tire up front, but that was it. But then, if you were going on short trips, small bags would be a plus, and besides, that would limit the shopping opportunities - a good thing if you ask me. Kasi sakit yang shopping.. sakit!

Third, and really critical, is the issue of the stickshift. Its been 7 years since I drove a manual transmission, and by my estimation, I had probably totally forgotten how to drive stick. So, of course, I asked for the sales guy at Geis Toyota for a test drive on the Spyder. Surprisingly, I still remembered. So down came the last wall

The funniest thing was that I even got down with the sales guy to negotiate on price. They wanted $17,900. I countered with $14,000. We then settled on $15,000 for a Silver 2001 MR2 Spyder with 31k miles. A pretty good deal, as a Certified Used car in the same condition was $16,000. Of course I wasn’t serious and walked away from the deal. Don’t call me, I’ll call you.

I’ll probably get the one on eBay for $7,000. If I can convince the b@stard seller that his 2000 with 150k miles was only worth that much, if not less.

Last week I drove to Key West from Miami for the weekend to attend a wedding. Months before I had already planned on renting a convertible for the long drive to the Keys.

The only time I’ve seen the Florida Keys has been through movies. There was always this endless expanse of highway on the opean sea. The highway was on "True Lies", and more recently "Mission: Impossible: 3". There’s also the song "Key Largo". Everything evoked a one-of-a-kind, spiritual experience traversing the open water while driving at speed. What better way to experience that than on a drop-top?

At the Hertz lot in Miami International, we were given a choice of convertibles. 1st was the Mustang convertible, which I really did not care for. It was macho and cool in a certain way, but I had already driven the new Mustang Coupe, and although it had limitless horsepower under the hood, it neither handled well or was anything close to ergonomic. Next option was the Chrysler Sebring convertible. Now that design was at least 10 years old I figure, so pass. Last option was the 2006 MX5 Miata. Of course we took it.

I chose the Miata because I wanted to experience first-hand living with a 2-seater convertible. As the valet drove the car in front of us, we experienced exactly what that entailed.

First off I couldn’t get the top down. I fumbled for the release catch, and after 10 minutes or so, managed to find the mechanism. The 3rd-gen car had an easy fold-down mechanism much like the MR2 Spyder, which negated the need for a soft-top cover to install afterwards.

2nd problem. There was no space. We couldn’t fit in our 2 rollaboards and the assorted smaller bags and the laptop. We had to take some clothes out of the bags just to make the trunk close. That took maybe another 10 minutes. All the while the Hertz clerks were looking at us as if waiting for me to give up and ask for a minivan instead. But nooo.

Finally, after all the logistical problems, we were off. The light weight (less than 2500lbs), rear-wheel-drive, and Mazda Zoom-Zoom all contributed to an amazingly good time. Once we got on the highway, I was a happy camper. Once or twice I made a turn too fast and the back-end pushed out - like in the movies I thought. Hey if that were my Accord I would’ve plowed into the next lane instead. A couple of times I just floored the gas and my head got pushed back into the headrest as we accelerated and overtook quickly.

Oh yes, I was hopelessly in lust.

Unlike a lot of other years, the 2006 NY International Auto Show was sort of a disappointment. Why? Because there was really nothing new. After being at the Detroit Auto Show earlier in the year, I had already seen most of the cars that were being displayed in NYC months before. So really the NY Auto Show for me was really all about reconnecting with the interesting cars I saw in Detroit. First off, of course, was the Porsche Cayman S , probably the only Porsche I had ever imagined myself driving. Not only because it was "affordable" (relatively, at $50k in non-S trim next year), it was also mid-engined, and a hatchback! This made it a really practical car. If you could call any Porsche practical.

Next stop was the amazing Mazda Kabura Concept , in its simplest terms, a 3+1 hatchback the size of the Miata, the engine of the RX-8, and the roofline of an Aston Martin! If they build this and start selling at around $20k, I will be hard-pressed to keep my wallet closed!

The only car I have not seen in any auto show before was Stanley , a robot Volkswagen Touareg that can drive itself more than 100 miles over rough terrain, and is the winner of Darpa’s $2 Million Dollar Grand Challenge. One of these days, all cars will drive themselves.

Finally, the Z4 coupe. Again a 2-seater sportscar thats also a hatchback, this one will weigh in at $40k with the base model trim. Everyone raves about it, but it took me a while to get used to the looks. Maybe I’ll pass on this one. Maybe.

Or maybe everything is just fantasy. I’ll probably stick with my Accord Coupe until the wheels fall off. Maybe.