During those early days, I was participating strongly in both the 1addicts forum and mx5cartalk. I joined the MX-5 Club of NSW so I could participate in the club track days and soon started also doing the CAMS Supersprints. With the 135i, I organised a couple of 1addicts drive days on the south coast and southern highlands ... but soon realised that I didn't really fit with the BMW community so my interest in 1addicts declined quickly.
Meanwhile, I was getting more and more involved with the MX-5 community and Club activities. I definitely felt a sense of belonging with the MX-5, which I wasn't getting with the BMW. The 135i was stonkingly quick in a straight line, and very luxurious, but just ... not me. So it slipped to daily drive duties and was almost never used for it's original intention. What a waste!
After about a year, I started to dream of upgrading (!) from the 135i to an NC. On 4th Jul 2010 I met up with Matt Wilmot for a coffee & chat, and we swapped cars for a blat through the Southern Highlands. Driving Matt's modified NC was everything and more than what I was hoping for - yep, I was definitely keen to eventually own an NC.
Would an NC be compatible with my steep driveway at home? The 135i repeatedly scraped on the gutter every time I got the angle slightly wrong. On 24th Jul 2010 I took a new NC2 soft-top for a test drive from Dwyers Mazda in Wollongong. It was my first drive of a stock NC - the latest MY09 version. I even briefly had this one parked in my garage! However, I wasn't happy with the trade-in offer. I tried to sell my 135i privately for the next four months and that was a dismal failure.
During the Club's driver training day at Marulan on 13th Mar 2011, I was instructing and had a couple drives of Russ Maxwell's modified NC on the track. I was amazed at how lovely it was to drive on the track. These NCs are damn quick with only a handful of small mods.
Then a fateful moment. I figured that if I wasn't having much fun with the 135i on daily duty, I'd have a try on the track and see how it performed. On 27th Apr 2011 I took it to Wakefield Park and a moment of brain fade resulted in a low speed crash into the tyre wall at turn 10. The damage was cosmetic (suspension OK, airbags didn't fire), but it still cost me $8500 to repair! That forced me to tighten the finances for a while, including the idea of swapping over to an NC.
Towards the end of 2011, the bug started to bite again. I had a couple of casual enquiries about selling the 135i (which came to nothing). Then on 4th Dec 2011 I drove Joe Kovacic's stock NC2 around Wakefield Park for his first-timer training. The stock car rolled a lot more in the corners than Russ's modified NC, but it was still great fun and I was definitely convinced that a stock NC was my destiny.
Russ gave me another drive of his NC at Marulan on 20th Jan 2012. This time I had my Performance Box running and recorded a best lap of 45.77s. Fantastic car to drive on the track!
Finally, at the MX-5 Club track day on 4th Jun 2012 Rob Young insisted I have a serious drive of his modified NC around Wakefield Park. Rob's car is even quicker than Russ's and was an absolute hoot to drive. In my one run, I had a best lap of 1:12.19 which is the quickest I've done on this track.
I guess the thing that finally tipped me over was the recent discussions about the Toyota 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 similar driving fun factor, and the NC has the added bonus of being a convertible. No "added bonus" is an understatement - the folding roof is a major attraction for me. 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? My wife 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 $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 the morning of Friday 13th July 2012, 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 a 2009 Stormy Blue NC2 was parked in my garage! I got $41k trade-in on the 135i which was only a few grand less than what I was expecting from a private sale, and the NC2 cost me $35k. The cheque for $6k is very welcome.
Goodbye 135i, Hello NC2 by Guran5, on Flickr
Finally, after two years in the making, the deal left me stunned, breathless and extremely happy.
My son Alex is now 7½yo and I asked him what we should call our new toy. And "Little Bluey" it is! Funny, the 135i never got a name. Says it all really.
. To be honest, I'm happy about it as it's important to me that she enjoys the car as much as I do. Needless to say, she took dibs on week 1 so I didn't get to drive it again until today 
.
. Much like my garage thread for Little Reddy, I'm anticipating that this one will be mainly about the various adventures we have together rather than a being a "build thread". 
