Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Guran]

My cardy is ready to go for "Christmas in July" tomorrow. Does it count if it has a hoody?

Thinking about licence plates as "Jen" doesn't live here anymore ...

[Okibi]

Hello Little Bluey

[PaulF]

Congrats Bryan. I guess now you have both ends of the MX-5 spectrum.

[Guy_Coles]

I just bit the bullet ... this afternoon I traded-in my BMW 135i and replaced it with a 2009 NC2 Roadster Coupe in Stormy Blue. Pretty bloody excited! Say hello to Little Bluey.


IMG_1605 by Guran5, on Flickr

welcome the the NC club mate. Looks like you'll be grossing up a few groups ahead of us from now on !

[Guy_Coles]

I just bit the bullet ... this afternoon I traded-in my BMW 135i and replaced it with a 2009 NC2 Roadster Coupe in Stormy Blue. Pretty bloody excited! Say hello to Little Bluey.


IMG_1605 by Guran5, on Flickr

welcome the the NC club mate. Looks like you'll be grossing up a few groups ahead of us from now on !

DYAC !! Grossing was supposed to say Gridding !!!

[sailaholic]

Trade in on the BMW can't have been good if an 86 was the price difference? Not having a go, just a bit shocked (like I was at your thoughts one the 135 long term).

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Guran]

Trade in on the BMW can't have been good if an 86 was the price difference? Not having a go, just a bit shocked (like I was at your thoughts one the 135 long term).

No offence taken - you've slightly misinterpreted what I wrote. I got $41k trade-in on the 135i (2008 model, manual, no options apart from sound upgrade), and the NC2 was $35k, so the changeover left me with a cheque for $6k in my pocket. Hence, the cost of the NC2 was roughly equivalant to the driveaway price of a new 86 GT (OK ~$1k more). If I was really lucky, I might have got $45k for the 135i via private sale (judging from current carsales ads). But considering that the entire deal was done within half a day, without the grief of dealing with endless phonecalls, dreamers and tyrekickers, I was perfectly happy to take it and wash my hands of BMW ownership.

[sailaholic]

Ahhhhh! Yes that makes a lot more sense! Understand re the private sale.

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[LuckyCat]

So..entering Class 4 Bryan?

chris

[Guran]

Nope, still going with Class 5 (Clubman) with my standard NA6 on street tyres. Maybe later in the year, I'll give the NC a go.

Fiona and I took Little Bluey to the MX-5 Club Christmas in July yesterday at Fountaindale Grand Manor in Robertson. Unfortunately we couldn't join the Illawarra Chapter run in the morning as Alex was playing soccer before he spent the last Saturday of the school holidays with his Nanny & Poppy. The lunch had a great turn-out of about 60 club members, and the Manor was full of Christmas displays and vendors selling lots of Christmassy stuff, old wares, handmade clothing, arts & crafts, etc. The girls did some serious shopping! The highlight of course was plenty of great conversation while chowing down on a traditional Christmas lunch. Yummy! And of course, there was plenty of interest in our new acquisition. Fiona had her first drive in the NC, up and down Macquarie Pass - she reckons we'll be sharing it 50:50 for the daily drive duties! Hmmmph, we'll see about that.


Departing from the "carpark" after Christmas in July by Guran5, on Flickr

This afternoon, I had some "bonding time" with Little Bluey ... a run up Macquarie Pass, then along Tourist Road, back to Robertson on Kangaloon Road, and home via Jamberoo Mountain Road and Jamberoo Rd, arriving home in the dark at 6pm. I stopped for a chilly sunset photo at the stone wall in Kangaloon (below). Once again, my appreciation for the supple and compliant ride in the NC is reaffirmed. It soaked up the bumps and potholes of Tourist Road and never felt unsettled. The 7500rpm cut-out on the NC2 is fantastic too - so much nicer being able to hold gear that little bit more. The "sound enhancer" tube thingy is a wonderful feature of the NC2, providing a very noticeable boost of induction volume in the cabin. I love the LSD too, which makes for some very rapid exits from tight corners. Yep, I'm definitely enjoying the new toy.


Stone wall at Kangaloon by Guran5, on Flickr

... will probably have to start a new garage thread for Little Bluey. This will do for now.

[DanZig]

Congrats on the new purchase Bryan. Looks great!

How do you think it would go on the track against Reddy once you've become whole with Bluey?

[Charlie Brown]

Well, I come back from holidays to get your great NatMeet magazine in the mail and now the news that following one drive of Rob's NC at the last Club track day, you have seen the light and moved up to a BLUE NC.

I read how 'Little Reddy' will be still used as the track hack but reading between the lines it won't be long before another blue NC hits the track and Reddy will be stored for Alex.
Congratulations Bryan

[Sailor]

Well, I come back from holidays to get your great NatMeet magazine in the mail and now the news that following one drive of Rob's NC at the last Club track day, you have seen the light and moved up to a BLUE NC.

Congratulations Bryan

Heh heh....So my little plan bore fruit

[Hammer]

I just bit the bullet ... this afternoon I traded-in my BMW 135i and replaced it with a 2009 NC2 Roadster Coupe in Stormy Blue. Pretty bloody excited! Say hello to Little Bluey.


IMG_1605 by Guran5, on Flickr

Nice one Bryan. Not bad daily driver.

[Guran]

Ha ha! You've seen through me. My intention is definitely to continue running Little Reddy on the track - that's what I bought it for. Alex can have his own NA6 when the time comes, and Arthur & Lynette from Queensland already offered me dibs on their gorgeous low-km NA6 when they're too old to drive it .

I admit the temptation is strong to see what I can do with a stock NC2 around Wakefield Park. However, I wouldn't say that driving Rob's NC was the thing that tipped me into buying an NC. Have a good read through this garage thread and you'll see that I've been keen on getting an NC for the last two years and have dríven several of them on the road and track since then:

• 4th Jul 2010 - drove Matt Wilmot's modified NC on the back roads of the southern highlands
• 24th Jul 2010 - took a new NC2 soft-top for a test drive from Dwyers Mazda. I even briefly had this one parked in my garage! I wasn't happy with the trade-in offer. Tried to sell my 135i privately for the next four months and that was a dismal failure.
• 13th Mar 2011 - had a couple drives of Russ Maxwell's modified NC around the track at Marulan.
• 27th Apr 2011 - took my 135i to Wakefield Park for the first time and a moment of brain fade resulted in a low speed crash into the tyre wall at turn 10. Paying for the repairs forced me to ease up on my spending, including the idea of swapping over to an NC.
• 4th Dec 2011 - drove Joe Kovacic's stock NC2 around Wakefield Park for his first-timer training.
• 20th Jan 2012 - had another drive of Russ' modified NC on the track at Marulan (45.77s).
• 4th Jun 2012 - drove Rob Young's modified NC around Wakefield Park (1:12.19).

So yeh, Rob's car was the most recent influencing factor, but there's definitely a long history of other factors too. I was always going to get myself an NC ... it was just a matter of "when".

I guess the thing that finally tipped me over was the recent discussions about the 86. A few guys, Roger in particular, were talking about trading in cars to buy their 86. That got me thinking: was I interested in trading the 135i on a new 86? Trading-in the 135i was attractive because I wouldn't need to go through the pain and anguish of trying to sell privately. Redbook suggested trade of around $39k for my car, and I was keen to see a few grand end up in my pocket after the exchange. The 86 ticked all the boxes for me in terms of lightweight fun factor, but new cars tend to depreciate faster than older ones, and I really didn't fancy the thought of taking another big hit on top of the massive depreciation I've suffered on the 135i ($40k in four years!). I'm also not entirely convinced by all the published road tests that the 86 is truly all that much better than an NC. Much of the difference comes down to tyre choice, with both cars offering similarly driving fun factor, and the NC has the added bonus of being a convertible. I never really "fitted" with BMW ownership, and likewise I don't think I "fit" the demographic of 86 owners. I much preferred to have an NC instead - same fun factor with the lifestyle to match our needs.

Another factor was the announcement of the facelift for the NC. I was secretly hoping that the ND would be released in 2013, and the news of yet another facelift was really depressing. Looks like the ND is at least a few years away now. An NC it would be.

But which NC, what year and how much to spend? Fiona prefers the look and feel of the PRHT coupe over the soft-top, and since I was keen to get something she would enjoy (she didn't like driving the 135i), that decision was made for me. I was keen to try and get an early MY09 since I knew from previous experience that I liked the higher rev limit, the sound enhancer, the new nose treatment, and the other changes of the NC2. I wanted to spend about the same as it'd cost to land a new 86 GT so that gave me a budget of around $34k-$35k, and I was encouraged to find that early MY09 roadster coupes had depreciated into my price range. The rest followed extremely quickly ...

On Friday morning I found a couple NC2s of interest on carsales. Within two minutes of submitting enquiries, one of the dealers phoned me. I wanted to check it out on Sunday, but he insisted on driving it down to my home from Blacktown. He arrived at 3:15pm and by 5pm, the paperwork was all done, the dealer was driving home in the 135i, and Little Bluey was parked in my garage! After two years in the making, the deal left me stunned, breathless and extremely happy.