PH Fleet: Mazda Eunos Roadster
Buying a car in January is fine - taxing, insuring and MOTing it the following year not so much
Early morning drop off for the MOT
It's exactly scenarios like this that make me uncomfortable risking the Eunos on the daily grind. Because it wouldn't take much of a fender bender for the insurers to write it off - exactly the situation faced by my MX-5 owning brother last year when someone slithered into his door in the snow.
Paying the price
It would be gutting enough to lose the car through my own stupidity but for it to be written off by some tailgating idiot in one of those depressingly familiar motorway shunts would be truly heartbreaking. Especially given that cars like this are, more often than not, worth a lot more than the sum of their parts, especially if you've spent time fettling and tweaking to get it just how you want.
No, haven't swapped the nose cone yet
Good thing too my comedy Tigar tyres were one of the things the Eunos failed its test on too. Much as I've enjoyed their comedic lack of grip being able to stop in a hurry is also nice, especially with a rapidly looming and very stationary Astramax in front of you.
Said emergency stop was a good test for my new Michelin Pilot Exaltos, freshly fitted to the 15-inch OZ Ultraleggeras. Yes, for the time being I've reverted to my 'big' wheels with, now, posh rubber. In my heart I still think the skinnier 14s are probably the better choice and, over time, I'll try and source (un)suitable replacements for the mighty Tigars. But I'm also a bit of a tart and I like the look of the OZs. Boy, was I glad of proper tyres in the above situation too.
OZs back on with fresh Michelin rubber
Flux babes say hi
I'm sorry to leave REIS too, their personal service (one contact, just an email or direct phone call away) and flexibility much appreciated. But the numbers matter and the Flux quote was £200 less and it was that, not the arrival of the Flux Babes calendar (honest!), that won the day.
At least going for a six-month tax disc means I can break the sequence there, the MOT and service coming in at just over £300 with friendly local spannermen The Car Works. I knew the Tigars would be marginal but it also failed on emissions, reinstallation of the cat and the new tyres seeing to both issues. A couple of bulbs, an oil change (ashamed - should have done this myself but ran out of time) and a quick check around were all that was required too, a new clutch in the not too distant the next big mechanical job on the horizon.
Does grip come at the expense of fun?
Not to mention a bit of a thrashing. First impressions of the Michelins are that they have a lot more grip than the Tigars which may mean a reduction in comedy low speed dab of oppo skidfoolery but a whole lot more cornering grip. Now, which is actually more fun? It's a question I mused on recently and our man Harris will shortly be exploring in his own inimitable style. To be continued...
What I reckon I need is a custom tyre with great braking performance but a nice, predictable lateral breakaway. Maybe we need to lobby tyremakers to come up with such a tyre and brand it with a PH smiley on the side!
Fact sheet:
Car: 1993 Eunos Roadster (JDM import model)
Run by: Dan Trent
Bought: January 2011
Purchase price: £1,250
Last month at a glance: Wallet left reeling by three-pronged tax/MOT/insurance attack; new Michelin tyres fitted; grip versus fun debate renewed
Previous reports:
Winter fun in the Eunos
Eunos gets a loud exhaust and new suspension
New suspension offered but am I worthy?
Purchase price only half the story...
Open Season heralds rare 'money where mouth is' moment...
Had first hand experience of this as have many of my friends.....my advice would be steer well clear!
Glad you didnt end up getting hit by the twonk in the van...one thing that I am constantly aware of driving the 205 GTI about....idiotic drivers doent realise that even just dinking the rear 1/4 and breaking a rear light cluster could result in a written of 205 GTI.
So let's not go there!
Still peanuts in terms of the grin factor of course. But, shall we say, a little more than has been officially declared with regard to the home improvement budget.
Goes without saying that to deliberately write it off after taking out such insurance WOULD be fraud, but that's a separate issue.On the tyres, I'm in a similar quandry since the M3 I bought came with a less than stellar set of Nankangs... :S Enjoying the easy fun but fearing the potential emergency. A real dilemma given they have tonnes of tread despite my best efforts so far.
When my Lotus M100 elan was rear ended last year by a taxi driver not paying attention, I had to fight very hard to get the car repaired rather than written off as the cost of repairs was just over 60% of the value of the car which is the cut off point for the insurance company writing the car off. Yes I could of brought the car back from insurance co as salvage and got the car repaired but then it would be a CAT D which would hammered the residual value so I would be in worst position. If I accepted the car was written off I would be unable to find another car in the same condition as mine for the insurance payout. So the only way I could be put back in the same position financially was pre accident was to get the car repaired.
If I had an higher agreed value which could be justified due to amount of money I spent on it over the last couple of years, and in my particular case my insurance company require a owners club valuation so nothing fraudulent or untoward there, than there would have been no issue with authorising the repairs.
Suffice to say I now have an agreed value policy.
One final word of warning, if you are in similar situation think twice about accepting a hire car from an accident assist company who are all over you once they aware its a no fault accident prior to receiving an estimate for the repairs as the exorbitant cost of this will be added to the total claim which may lead to your car to be written off. I was offered a Golf GTI, the nearest equivalent to my Lotus apparently at £1,000 a week. Five weeks of hire would have exceeded value of the car. I declined the offer of the hire car which meant I had to pay my excess for the cost repairs although I did recover that back from the other drivers insurance co eventually.
Big convert (but wont say it within ear shot of the 75's they sulk at the best of times!)
I love living here, but they really do hate any car that has a large engine.
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