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Thanks guys! I'm in love with the color, too bad it's all gray and crappy today, it's kinda just "ok" in this light.
GT350 is gone, and yes it's the 181hp engine.
Some quick driving impressions:
The Recaros are terrific. Even at my height, 6'4", I fit well. Not touching the roof and plenty of room to heel-toe. I could not heel-toe in the ND1s I drove, so the telescoping wheel is a huge step forward.
Having never street driven an ND (only driven them at autocross) I'm not super impressed by the ride quality considering how soft it is. I think part of that is the crummy tires Mazda stuck on the ND. I also have a vibration at ~45 mph that feels like an out of balance wheel/tire, so I'll get that looked at. Maybe just flat spotted tires from sitting in the cold. It'll have new tires on it in the spring anyway for autocross.
Super smooth drivetrain and the engine feels really nicely weighted for a street car. Revs quickly and the revs drop quickly but not too quickly. My car definitely does NOT have the shift assist feature that was discussed previously, so it should drive really nicely on track.
Trans feels pretty slick and well connected. When it's cold the side to side movement feels slightly gooey, like you're pushing through a thick fluid, likely because you are
Brembo brakes... Well, they're good around town. I know what they feel like with stock pads at autocross and such and I'll be replacing the pads in the spring, I bet.
Engine noise is pretty nice Makes good noise on startup, driving around it doesn't make much noise at all, for better or worse. I'm still breaking it in, so no high revs yet. I've got a Goodwin race axleback to go on the car soon.
The Recaro seats are super nice. I've had Recaros in my prior few cars and these just feel nicer. They fit my wide hips better than my GT350 & Focus RS did, but they still hold me really well. Tough to tell full comfort levels with a winter jacket on, but they feel really nice. I'm really tall and cranked the leg support all the way up and it made a big difference for me. Before that I felt like I was somehow sliding forward even though I was not.
This is my first convertible so I threw the top down and drove home in the freezing temps last night. Heated seats on, heat turned up like 2/3rds, and I just enjoyed the drive. Fun experience
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