Trip home in my new SE

Range Runner · Postby **Range Runner** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 3:29 pm

I had a fabulous run back home to Nth Qld in the SE I bought from a Sydney forum member. I flew down on the Sunday of the Queens Bday Weekend, & mindful of NSW's double demerit point long weekends, I cruised carefully up to a friends place in the Blue Mts, where I froze my arse off. After de-thawing, my friend & I set off around mid morning, with the Sun shining, roof down & the heater blasting our tootsies. We headed down the mountains to Springwood, where I took the Kurrajong Rd down to the Putty Rd. Still mindful of double demerits, I only tasted the turbo's delights in small bursts until we got to Singleton. But once I got into the Barrington Tops region, I barely saw a car until we rejoined Hwy 1 just south of Pt Macquarie. So I finally got to sample the goods on offer, & i was mightily impressed. The turbo gives it motorcycle kind of acceleration. & being a Biker who's confined to cars due to injury right now. I appreciate anything that can get me close to a two wheels thrill, which this car does in spades. I initially thought the suspension was a little soft, compared to the Pedders sport system I had in my last car. But I think it's a lot more comfortable, & any loss of grip is barely noticeable. So I won't be messing with them. I may go back to the original wheels, as the ones that are on it are little too flimsy for the crap roads up here.
We spent the night in Kempsey & continued up Hwy 1 the following morning. I was very impressed with the ease that car could be kept at the speed limit with no cruise control, & also at how pleasant it was to just cruise at the speed limit. My old Totyota 86 was as boring as bat poo at hwy speeds, & even my old NA was easy to speed in. but the SE just potters along nicely, & you'd never know there was a beast in there until you put your foot down. I was still glad to see the back of the super slab though, when I turned off at Grafton for Casino, & then cruised along the Richmond River to Lismore. We lunched with the hippies in Nimbin, & then took the back roads to Mullumbimby through the Channon, Dunoon & Federal. We spent that night with friends who live behind Byron Bay.
The following day I took the old Hwy 1 (now called Tweed Valley Way) up to Murwullumbah & then took a back road through Chillingham, up to the Qld/NSW border & then along the Numinbah valley to rejoin Hwy 1 at Nerang. I then dropped my friend at Brisbane airport so she could fly back to Sydney & continued heading north alone. I stayed on the overcrowded Bruce Hwy as far as Gympie, where I turned inland & cruised up the Burnet Hwy to Rockhampton, going through Gayndah, Munduberra, Monto, Biloela, & Mt Morgan. It's about 100 klms longer, but there's absolutely no traffic, & very few Cops, So it's easy to get a better time running through there, especially now, with the Bruce under major repair for 100s of klms south of Rocky.
I spent the night in Rocky & cruised the last 800 klms home along the Bruce, arriving home just before dark.
I've since had the car serviced, got it's RWC, & put some Qld rego on it. So it's home & hosed, & I'm very happy to have it in my fleet. I'm not going to tamper with it at all, & I'm just going to enjoy it.
I didn't take any pics on my trip. I was having too much fun & it just slipped my mind. But here's a couple from down at my local beach.

Bingil Bay Nth Qld

The Dogs approve

Yes, I know. It needs a wash.

South Bingil Bay Headland, heading to Nth Mission Beach. The road hugs the coast for about 2 delicious klms. & this is my shopping run. See why I need a sportscar? :mrgreen:

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 4:26 pm

First up, congratulations on purchasing an MSM/SE in "the bestest" colour.

Range Runner wrote::
I initially thought the suspension was a little soft, compared to the Pedders sport system I had in my last car. But I think it's a lot more comfortable, & any loss of grip is barely noticeable. So I won't be messing with them. I may go back to the original wheels, as the ones that are on it are little too flimsy for the crap roads up here.

The original 17" rims make the car's ride extremely harsh so I'd recommend switching to 15" rims instead, especially if your roads are crap. Every time I'd go over a pothole it sounded and felt like I'd bent the sh*t out of the rim and the ride in general was quite jarring on the stock suspension. See http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/index.php/topic,16546.0.html for additional information from guys who've switched from their original 17" MSM/SE rims to other rims for their thoughts on them. If you can find them, I'd recommend try-before-you-buy with regard to rims; actual driving along the same "crappy road" route with 15" rims vs 17" rims will reveal a massive difference in the ride.

Range Runner wrote::
I'm not going to tamper with it at all, & I'm just going to enjoy it.

That's what we all SAID!

If you don't have adjustable coilovers, consider adding them at some point, they'll allow you to easily adjust the damping to suit your driving style and roads.