Before my Mazda will act up a little bit to much I thought it would be wise to trade it in for something else. After about 310.000km and close to 16 years of service it’s time for something else. So looked around for a Mazda 6 and on that search came accross something else. Not a Mazda but a 2005 Honda Accord Tourer. This car is bigger then the Mazda, but just as reliable; at least that is what I hope, and cheaper to get. After driving it I was sold, a very nice driver indeed. The size of the car will need some getting used too as moving from a dinky toy to the largest car Honda can deliver is quite a difference. With the rear seats down I can lie in the back without bending my knees, so that is about 1.8m of space….. As I buy my cars second hand you cannot have the choice of colour as you would with a new one and black is not the first colour that comes to mind but it will do. Hopefully it will last me just as long as the Mazda did which I drove for 13 years.

The previous eight cars are:

Some of these I only drove for a couple of weeks, as they where sold. After number 5 the pricetag for the cars I choose went up and selling them didn’t occur anymore and they where traded in on a frequent basis until the MX-5. It took only 6 years to go through the first seven cars on the list, the rest was taken by the MX-5. And this will be the car I will miss the most of all of them, the only other car with really fond memories is the 323 GTXi, which was a really nice driver as well. If in the future I will have a house including a garage I think I will buy a convertible again, but instead of one that can be used as a daily driver rather something with more classical lines, most likely a replica. Cobra’s come to mind as there are plenty to go around even in the Netherlands, but an Abigail or Marlene would be awesome, those are the most beautiful cars I’ve seen so far. Abigail would be an Auburn 852 Boattail Speedster and Marlene a Mercedes 500K Roadster, both originally build in the 1930’s. Another cheaper alternative would be a JBA Falcon which also has similar lines, but there are no left hand driven cars in existence as far as I know. The JBA is build in the UK, where the other two are mostly build in the United States.

Couple of weeks ago my girlfriend decided it would be nice to start the car for me but forgot one thing….. I never park on with the handbrake applied. I always leave it in gear especially now the car doesn’t drive that much anymore. My current employer supplied me with another car for all work related stuff, I only use the Mazda for private rides and occasionally also for work as it needs to drive so every now and then to stay in shape. So as the car was parked backward the gear was still applied in reverse and as soon as she started the car jumped backward and due to it’s height parked itself on the curb and the rear tires just outside the pond behind the parking lot.

She got lucky the curb was high enough otherwise my car would be swimming together with the ducks and Sunny behind the wheel. Doubt it will sink much as the water is about 20 – 30 cm deep, however to get it out would be a different matter as it will suck itself tight in the mud.

Well during my stay I had my car checked and certified for yet another year on the road. Not much needed attention so costs where low as well. But the car is getting older, took it home and went to work. At my workplace is a parking garage so I lowered the window and stuck my pass in and drove on. After parking the car I wanted to close the window and to my surprise that did not do a thing. Seems that after 15 years of service the switch finally caved in and I got stuck with a window that wouldn’t go up anymore….. Decided I would go home a bit earlier to fix the issue and so I did. Also because the weather forcast was not so good during the end of the day and I would like the car to be at my place if weather would decide to go bad. Back home found out the switch could not be saved anymore so a simple wire to lead 12v towards the engine for the window at least got the window up and that would keep the car dry for the time being. Ordered a new switch unit that day and a couple of days later my window was working fine again. I just hope that there will not be too many of those little things that will fail in the future as they are kind of annoying. But with a 15 year old car you can always expect the unexpected I guess. But for the time being I can drive it again for another year, so I’ll see what happens when the car turns 16.

Not by a long shot, come 5000 short at least. Not surprising when I was send to China for five weeks and one week in Korea. Later on an additional three weeks of leave to get over the previously mentioned six….. Just kidding, but if the car is standing still for 9 weeks I’m not going to make the estimated amount which I calculated in August. Not that it really matters anyway. It seems the riddle on whether to keep the MX-5 is solved, my girlfriend wants to drive it after she has got her Dutch driving license. She has a Chinese driving license but it’s not valid here. She likes small cars and this car is small enough for her taste. So the only thing preventing this to happen is if the car decides it’s time has come and will present me with a repair bill I don’t want to pay anymore. Then my girlfriend will need to settle with a different type of car. Once she has her driving license I will look for another one, still have to make my mind up about that one……