ND test drive today a personal experience

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 5:03 pm

Had nothing to do today so I took up the offer from my local Mazda dealer to test drive the new ND I had already told her last week I wouldn't be buying one but she insisted . First impression I like the way the roof folds out and back but this lead my eye to the cheap crappy plastic that is every were . As most test drives go the saleslady drove the car out the gate and up the road this is where I took over jumped into the car sat down and to my surprise some idiot had left a 1/2 size foot ball under the carpet on the left hand side WTF I said :oops:

This bloody lump sits just under my left leg in fact my left leg sits on the stupid lump :roll:

what a turn off . OK off we go 1st gear __________ 2gear _____3rd ____4___ wow this thing has 20kw more than my daughters old Mazda 121 and twice as heavy .Was it a dud to drive you bet a 12 yo school boy pulls better and lets never compare it to a SE :roll:

. After 30 minutes we got back to the shop jumped into my SE and the smile returned to my ugly face .I can now appreciate why they are so cheap .

speed · Postby **speed** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 8:17 pm

How does the plastic compare to what you have in the r32?

Just want to compare against something we both have.

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:07 pm

speed wrote:How does the plastic compare to what you have in the r32?

Just want to compare against something we both have.

The plastic in the ND is just a touch under the quality one would expect from a Magna remember how Magna plastic could be scratched with a finger nail ?. Its got me buggered why a manufactuer like Mazda would go down that path. Its not hard to produce great quality plastic as in the R32 :lol:

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:16 pm

lizard wrote:OK off we go 1st gear __________ 2gear _____3rd ____4___ wow this thing has 20kw more than my daughters old Mazda 121 and twice as heavy .Was it a dud to drive you bet a 12 yo school boy pulls better and lets never compare it to a SE.

Glad to hear the 121 is still going strong.
So, while never mentioning any car names, it'll be interesting to see how 64kW/128Nm/994kg or 121kW/206Nm/1093kg perform compared with 118kW/200Nm/1033kg.

Steerpike · Postby **Steerpike** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:55 pm

Refreshing to hear an alternate view, from someone who went into the test without any weight of expectation. I too noticed the big lump under the driver's left calf when I got in, but once underway my left foot was on the footrest or clutch. Leg didn't touch the hump once I was driving. The "figures" quoted seem to say that the 2.0ND and the SE have comparable performance. No surprise that the 1.5 seemed slower by comparison. I thought that the 1.5 had middling to good acceleration for a regular small car, and the reviews all noted that you need to rev it to get the best out of it. We all know that regular MX-5's are not noted for their acceleration. I am awaiting a manual 2.0 litre GT. Probably December delivery.

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:38 am

Steerpike wrote:Refreshing to hear an alternate view, from someone who went into the test without any weight of expectation. I too noticed the big lump under the driver's left calf when I got in, but once underway my left foot was on the footrest or clutch. Leg didn't touch the hump once I was driving. The "figures" quoted seem to say that the 2.0ND and the SE have comparable performance. No surprise that the 1.5 seemed slower by comparison. I thought that the 1.5 had middling to good acceleration for a regular small car, and the reviews all noted that you need to rev it to get the best out of it. We all know that regular MX-5's are not noted for their acceleration. I am awaiting a manual 2.0 litre GT. Probably December delivery.

That lump under the driver's left calf is something I have never seen in a car before it makes the drivers space feel cramped

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:52 am

What's the lump? Is it part of the transmission tunnel?

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:05 am

KevGoat wrote:What's the lump? Is it part of the transmission tunnel?

Yep, provides room for the first catalytic converter.

Postby **NitroDann** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 12:47 pm

Nevyn72 wrote:
KevGoat wrote:What's the lump? Is it part of the transmission tunnel?

Yep, provides room for the first catalytic converter.

Literally the most horrible thing I have heard. ƒü¢k that noise.

MINX · Postby **MINX** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 5:02 pm

Well, just drove a red GT 1.5
Bloody gorgeous car!
Drive it around back of Springwood and daisy hill, on some nice twisty but slow suburban roads at school pick up time, so never got over 4k
They are such a lovely thing, so comfortable and compliant, easy to drive, lug along in 3/4 at quite low speeds , don't have to row the gears at all in 60 zones.
Seats, position and sight lines all great, as is gear shift and steering. Very quiet and did I say comfortable?
They have to sell heaps of these. Test drives will sell them.
I also forgot about the tunnel lump once I started driving , no problem.
Ok, so it doesn't have the power of s modded SE, it has a fair bit of body roll, combined with the electro steer, feels a bit boaty. Walking back to, and driving my car home, it felt very rough and dated.
These things stock, are not raucous sports cars, but they are lovely comfy modern sports cars. I think with a test drive, I could get Lisa to agree to a third Mazda in the garage. Problem is, I don't think I would get the keys for it much!
Stu
Ps Black and Tan combo would be my pic

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

joshuam · Postby **joshuam** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 6:09 pm

MINX wrote:Well, just drove a red GT 1.5
Bloody gorgeous car!
Drive it around back of Springwood and daisy hill, on some nice twisty but slow suburban roads at school pick up time, so never got over 4k
They are such a lovely thing, so comfortable and compliant, easy to drive, lug along in 3/4 at quite low speeds , don't have to row the gears at all in 60 zones.
Seats, position and sight lines all great, as is gear shift and steering. Very quiet and did I say comfortable?
They have to sell heaps of these. Test drives will sell them.
I also forgot about the tunnel lump once I started driving , no problem.
Ok, so it doesn't have the power of s modded SE, it has a fair bit of body roll, combined with the electro steer, feels a bit boaty. Walking back to, and driving my car home, it felt very rough and dated.
These things stock, are not raucous sports cars, but they are lovely comfy modern sports cars. I think with a test drive, I could get Lisa to agree to a third Mazda in the garage. Problem is, I don't think I would get the keys for it much!
Stu
Ps Black and Tan combo would be my pic
[img]//images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/4b45f1b6137cc3952981e9feca6d7737.jpg[/img

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha, I test drove that car at 10AM today! Haha

Did you see the sold black and tan one in the showroom? I think it was getting ready for delivery today.

I had emptier roads, but I had the same first impressions. It felt almost as quick as a stock NB8B. Certainly nothing on a NB8B with 4.1 gears, or SE etc. It wasn't amazingly fast, but didn't feel slow either.

Seating position was good. Lump in the floor annoying at first but I think I got over it. Plastics weren't great, but they weren't that bad either. Sure, they could've done better but the brief this time was affordable and light and they delivered 100%.

The soul red in the sun with the LED DRL on just looks amazing.

There was nothing 'wrong' with the car. There were elements that didn't blow me away, but it is a really well put together car, priced well that's fun to drive to boot. I think they will do amazingly well.

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:04 pm

I'd dríven NDs several times when I first saw the comment about the transmission tunnel and couldn't remember having noticed it.

Back at the Mazda dealer where I work today I'd forgotten about the comment and drove the car again a few times. Got home tonight, noticed the comment again, and still couldn't remember even noticing it when in the car.

Maybe it's only relevant to people with body shapes different from mine?

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:09 pm

davekmoore wrote:I'd dríven NDs several times when I first saw the comment about the transmission tunnel and couldn't remember having noticed it.

Back at the Mazda dealer where I work today I'd forgotten about the comment and drove the car again a few times. Got home tonight, noticed the comment again, and still couldn't remember even noticing it when in the car.

Maybe it's only relevant to people with body shapes different from mine?

Its a ideal car for a left leg amputee :lol:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 10:15 pm

lizard wrote:
davekmoore wrote:Maybe it's only relevant to people with body shapes different from mine?

Its a ideal car for a left leg amputee

Well having sat in the car a couple of times, yes it's noticable..... until you settle into a proper driving position. :wink:

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:10 pm

lizard wrote:
davekmoore wrote:I'd dríven NDs several times when I first saw the comment about the transmission tunnel and couldn't remember having noticed it.

Back at the Mazda dealer where I work today I'd forgotten about the comment and drove the car again a few times. Got home tonight, noticed the comment again, and still couldn't remember even noticing it when in the car.

Maybe it's only relevant to people with body shapes different from mine?

Its a ideal car for a left leg amputee

That's a bit of a limp joke.