Richard's Car Blog
Oh dear! I have been running in the R3 more a few days now and around 360 miles down so far. By ‘running in’, I don’t mean running in like we used to do – keeping the revs below a certain limit for a few miles then slowly increasing, etc. – but more not revving the nuts off it everywhere.
So I was surprised that despite having a load of motorway miles in the total so far, I am only averaging 17½mpg!
It should hopefully loosen up and improve with a few more miles.
A fellow R3 owner over at the RX8 Owners Club has pointed out that his R3 has a Mazda badge in the usual place on the boot lid and mine hasn’t. Looking at the Gallery over at Mazda UK’s site, this also shows a Mazda badge there. One for the dealer to answer, I think.
Earlier this afternoon, I got Janey to pose for some photos with the R3:
Some photos I took when I first got the car home.
Well it’s here and this is what it looks like on our driveway with both the RX-8s together:
I picked the new one up this morning from Nunns of Grimsby with just 3 miles on the clock. Lovely!
This is getting beyond a joke. This evening I had a call from the salesman at Nunns who’s been dealing with us and going the extra mile for me, Gerry.
It now seems that there’s no sign yet of the tax disc as – apparently – the Local Vehicle Licensing Office at Lincoln is building up a backlog of registrations/licensing and there’s no tax disc for my RX-8 yet.
Great! Let’s hope it’s there by Friday.
In the meantime, it just makes me think I won’t bother buying a new car again: too much like hard work!
I hadn’t realised that Mazda offer seven days insurance cover for you – their “driveaway” scheme – when you buy a Mazda from one of their dealers:
“What’s more, most new and used private car purchasers benefit from seven days free insurance. So you can drive away from our dealerships safe in the knowledge that you’re covered. Conditions for this free cover may apply.
“All you need to do is call us on 0800 048 0962 for a no-obligation quotation.”
Now, it also turns out that Mazda’s policy offers what is called “RTI” cover which is:
“Mazda Return to Invoice (RTI)
“Mazda Return to Invoice will either pay you the difference between your Motor Insurance settlement figure and the outstanding Early Settlement Balance due to your Finance Company, or pay you the difference between the Net Invoice Price of your Insured Vehicle at the Start Date and your Motor Insurance Company’s settlement figure. Your claim will be settled based on whichever is the greater amount.”
And what’s more they were very competitive on their premium, coming in at the lower end of the quotes I’d received from price comparison websites and then – after haggling – knocking off 10% so as to come in second lowest. I will be going with Mazda for the insurance because of the RTI cover benefit.
It’s all getting a tad frustrating: the ST200 is bravely soldiering on having now easily passed the 130,000 mile barrier but it’s now due a service and one of the front tyres is not too far off the wear bars.
Obviously anything I spend now won’t give me any real benefit as – hopefully – I’ll be collecting the R3 on 15 March.
Let’s hope so, eh? My sister’s new Seat was promised to her by her dealer in March a few years back and she didn’t actually get delivery until the end of June!
So in the meantime, I’ll just have to keep checking the oil and tyres and see if I can nurse it through the last couple of weeks. The cash is sitting there in my bank account waiting to be spent. I’m willing but it’s on a slow boat from China Japan!
I went in to the dealer today and asked whether the delivery date I had been told – 1st March – was definitely happening as I was making my arrangements and managing my diary around that.
I was very disappointed to be told, after waiting for 20 minutes, that it was probably going to be delivered at least a fortnight later but even that isn’t guaranteed.
Now my present insurance runs out on the 9th March. The promised delivery date of 1Â March obviously would have meant that I would not need to take out insurance on the ST200, but a later date means I will have to take out new insurance and then almost immediately cancel it which will mean I incur additional costs as the best insurance quotes for the RX-8 R3 and ST200 are from different insurers.
Similarly, I was going to obtain a refund for my road fund licence but again I will be out of pocket because of the delayed delivery.
When I placed the order on 22nd January, I was told that 1st March delivery was achievable and had relied on this date, even to the extent of booking a service on our other RX-8 bought from them recently for the same day.
I have now asked the dealer for their proposals for achieving the 1stMarch delivery date or alternatively covering the extra costs this delayed delivery will mean for me.
I’ve just realised that even the lights in the ceiling at my flat are RX-8 themed 🙂
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