Or why I traded in the Miata for a Saab 9-3
Of course the Miata is a great car. Quick, responsive, relatively fuel-efficient, stylish, well I could go on and on. If I needed a second car, it would be perfect. But as my daily, and only, driver it became a bit punishing as well.
The Miata's not intended to be a plush riding car. I think I could feel every irregularity in the pavement. It sits low, and after a back injury and surgery, getting in and out of the car was more difficult for me than perhaps a younger person.
But what finally did me in was all that darn shifting! In stop-and-go traffic that's all I did. Clutch, shift, clutch, accelerate, clutch, slow down, wait, shift, clutch, shift, clutch, accelerate, clutch, brake, cuss Titus, shift, clutch, shift, well you get the idea.
So I started looking online. I was intrigued by the RX-8, since it's bigger than the Miata, and it has that rotary engine, and aggressive good looks. Talk about cool! But it just wasn't for me. From there I widened my search first to other Mazdas, and then other makes.
All this happened over many weeks, since my Miata was perfectly functional, and frankly I was worried about being upside down on the loan.
But I kept looking. On a whim, I searched CarMax for any car under $20 grand with an automatic transmission and less than 20,000 miles. I found a red 2005 Saab 9-3 Linear with 17,000 miles for about $18K. CarMax had lots of pictures online and it looked really nice. So I googled that year and model and found the Linear was the base model, the Arc was the mid-range and the Vector was the top trim line. Naturally, each had more standard features included in the price.
So back to CarMax online and looked for any Saab 9-3 less than $20K. And I find a dark blue 2005 Saab 9-3 Arc 5-speed automatic with just under 25,000 miles for the same $18K! It had a lot more features, leather interior, sunroof, fancy radio, 2.0L 4-cylinder Turbo engine, fog lights (front and rear), huge cooled glove compartment, 13 speaker fiber optic sound system, 6 airbags, dual zone automatic climate control, amazing center-of-the-dash driver information display, a night-mode selectable dashboard the turns off all gauges except the speedometer, and of course the Saab key that fits in the center console below the shifter. This is the one I got!
So I give the Miata a wash, spray wax, and vacuum. Come home check my loan payoff, grab the extra set of keys, and off to CarMax we go. After a test drive, getting my Miata appraised ($500 positive equity - Woo Hoo!) and doing the usual paperwork, I'm driving home in my turbo-charged Saab 9-3!
Payments will be a little higher than the Miata (my trade-in for it has a lot more equity), insurance is up about $10 a month, but gas mileage looks to be the same and I don't have to buy premium gas for it.
After driving a Miata everyday for 16 months, it's quite a difference. The car seems huge and I feel like I'm sitting as high as an SUV. It's not and I'm not, but wow. And when that turbo kicks in I swear I'm in a jet with the afterburners turned on!
I'm still a Miata enthusiast, I'm just not driving one anymore.
