Tea with AK71: Bought a new car!

On 2 May, I blogged about how expensive it is to buy a new car now. I mentioned that I paid only $80k for my current car, a Mazda 6, almost five years ago and that for the same price I could only get a Mazda 2 hatchback, not even a Mazda 3, now! I said I would continue driving my fully paid Mazda 6 for another few years.

Yesterday, I blogged about my Mazda 6 being pillarised in a carpark and how I toyed with the idea of getting a new car. I decided to just keep driving my pillarised Mazda 6 after some thought. However, I still went online and looked at what's new at Mazda Motors just for fun. I was kind of attracted to the new Mazda 2 sedan which was just launched recently. Why not the hatchback? Cars, for me, must have a boot. 

The boot allows me to hide my car washing stuff and it also acts as an extra large bumper if my car were hit in the back by some reckless driver. Also, people cannot see what I have in the boot and would not be tempted to break into my car. Might be a false sense of security but it gives me a peace of mind.

As I had nothing much to do today, I went down to Mazda's showroom to take a look at the Mazda 2 Sedan. Mazda is having a 90th Anniversary promotion and I was given a $12,000 discount. So, final price is $71k for a new Mazda 2 Sedan with leather seats and solar film. They also offered me $29k for my old Mazda 6, accepting all the dents and scratches.

I made phonecalls to my parents to get their opinions before test driving the car. As my previous cars ranged from 1.6 litres to 2.2 litres in capacity, my major worry about the Mazda 2 was the possible lack of power, being a 1.5 litres. Driving the car, I was impressed by how such a small engine could deliver so much punch. I am not an engineer and I won't go into details like DOHC and stuff. The information is available online, I'm sure. Anyway, as you have probably guessed from the title of this post, I bought it.  Decision made within two hours or so.

A smaller car with a more fuel efficient engine is environmentally friendlier and is easier on the pocket as well.  I will save on petrol, road tax and maintenance.  The car will get a 3 years/100,000km warranty which is good. I have replaced quite a few parts under warranty for my previous cars before. I think it will not be any different with this car. Did I mention I was given $300 servicing vouchers as well?

The only downside is, of course, the much smaller size and this will take some getting used to.  Then again, most of the time, I am just driving myself around.  The backseat is usually for my briefcase, my gym bag and my Crumpler. So, this will be my first practical car for city driving.

I had hoped to drive my Mazda 6 for more than 5 years.  It seems that is not to be. I hope to drive this new car for more than 5 years. Wish me luck.

Related posts:
Tea with AK71: Buying car now?
Tea with AK71: Pillarised.