Richard's Car Blog
Well Nunns have sorted things out: they arranged for me to bring the batmobile in today to fit a new relay for the rear foglight – it switches to the trailer when the towbar electrics are connected and back to the car’s when it’s disconnected – and a different iPod integration module following Nunns’ discussions wit Mazda Europe.
And lo and behold, it works with my old iPod as well as my new “RexPod”, displaying track number (from the playlist) or artist or track names.
Result!
Today I spent the day tearing around Castle Combe race circuit in Wiltshire on my motorbike, a Kawasaki ZRX1200R.
To get it there, I’d hitched up the trailer to the R3 and “extreme towed” it to Castle Combe yesterday. This took longer than it should have done due to all those mindless morons sitting blocking the middle lane on the M4 – they clearly don’t know (or don’t care) that cars towing trailers aren’t allowed into the outside overtaking lane. Twats!
Anyway, here are some shots of the bike and car after I’d loaded the bike onto the trailer at the end of the day:
Well it seems that all is not well with the R3, so it was back to the dealers today for fettling.
The rear foglight has not been working since I got the car: it turns out that the wiring loom to the towbar fitted by the dealers, Nunns, has a relay that should switch between the foglight on the trailer and the foglight on the car. Whilst the foglight on the trailer works fine, the one on the car doesn’t. Sadly this wasn’t picked up in the PDI when I bought the car. Parts are now on order.
Of equal concern is the (very expensive) iPod integration module that doesn’t seem to actually want to integrate any iPod with the Bose stereo system. Mazda list a whole load of Apple devices that aren’t compatible with the module – which, by the way, cuts off the auxiliary input circuit so you’re completely screwed if it doesn’t integrate – and I found that none of our iPods of varying age worked at all with it. They all connect fine and some can seemingly draw power. All display the Mazda logo. All have their functionality removed from the devices whilst connected. None actually work with the stereo system.
Including the brand spanking new iPod nano I got for my birthday specifically for the car. Ah…
So Nunns will be talking to Mazda over the next few days to try to find out what’s wrong. If they can’t fix it, I’ve already told them I want the auxiliary socket reconnecting and my money back for the horrendously expensive integration module.
I drove up to Grimsby last night for the first time in the RX-8. Now although I was ‘making good progress’ as usual, it seems  that if you’re driving a sporty car, the knobheads seem to try to prove something.
A case in point was the rep in an Audi RS4 Estate on a 10 plate who immediately accelerated away when I’d overtaken him.
When I got closer on the A46 I came up behind a Skoda Octavia. Again he must have seen me rapidly approaching him as we drove towards a 40mph limit because as soon as we were through it and heading out, he accelerated hard and kept on until he was well into ban territory. I carried on as usual and, of course, caught up with him a few miles later as my driving wasn’t quite so erratic as his was.
What is it with other people’s perception of sports cars?
Whose stupid idea was that?
Having cleaned the R3 midweek so it would be looking at its best when my kids got to see it, I drove up from London to Norfolk early on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the drizzle in places meant that there was enough dirt and salt on the road to make the car dirty at the back, but still they loved it.
And then there was the football match on Sunday…
Jack, his mate Dan and Dan’s grandfather in the car after their match. And now the interior is dirty. Maybe I should have just had him adopted or made them walk home?
I just stumbled across this Flash racing game featuring RX-8s:
A bit of a nightmare, this. The R3 comes with an auxiliary socket in one of the cubbyholes to allow you to connect an MP3 player to it, but all the play or selection functions have to be performed from the player.
When I ordered the car, I also spec’d it to include Mazda’s iPod integration module which is by no means cheap.
And it’s full of fail!
So far, I’ve tried it with three iPod nanos of varying age and although all connect to the system fine, none of them will actually play through the Bose system. And worse still, fitting the iPod Integration Module apparently disables the auxiliary socket as well! So I’m worse off with it fitted.
I’m giving it one more try: with a birthday coming up, I’ve asked for a new, 5th Generation 16GB iPod nano which should – in theory at least – work. We’ll see. Mazda’s Customer Service department did not have a clue when I specifically asked them the question…
The Bose audio system – which is fabulous – also includes Bluetooth telephone compatibility which dispenses with a car kit. It allows you to pair a number of phones with the car as well.
Sadly, it appears that one manufacturer’s implementation of Bluetooth differs from another and I have had some ‘issues’ getting one of my phones to work properly. I presently have a Nokia N97 for general use, a BlackBerry Curve 8900 for work and a Sony Ericsson W595 as a spare (those hyperlinks take you to the results of Mazda’s tests on the handsets).
Whilst all three phones successfully paired with the R3, the Nokia will only receive calls through the audio system and make calls only if dialled from the handset. Both the other phones make and receive calls by voice alone, which is effectively another nail in the coffin for the Nokia.
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.
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