19 Years of Rotary Ownership

[AMH]

I bought my first Mazda in 1997. I was looking for a new car and was attracted by a special edition 323F Estoril. It had all the bits that other manufacturers were charging extra for; metallic paint, alloy wheels, sporty trim, and decent brakes (I test drove a Golf without disk brakes and couldn't stop!) It was the start of a very long relationship with Mazda.

I even splashed out £300 on my first personal registration plate – R3 AMH (the lowest number R reg I could get with my initials); it must have been fate.



I first saw the RX-8 on Top Gear, and I loved how they looked. I didn't understand what a rotary engine was, but it just looked like such a different and head-turning car. In August 2004 I took my 323 in for a service and in the dealership, on the podium under the lights, was a Strato RX-8. I was in love, it was purple! Well, it wasn't actually purple but close enough, it also had the shiniest alloys I had ever seen.

The Dealership said they thought I would like it and that was it, I was sold. I put a deposit down and waited for my dream car to be built. A Strato 192 with 'Mega Bling' alloys.

In January 2005 I popped into the Dealership with some paperwork and was told, to my horror, that there had been a fire in the factory in Japan and my car had been destroyed. I thought they were joking but a quick Google told me otherwise. It was at that point that I discovered car forums, and joined the RX-8 Owners Club, desperate for information and advice.

I was struggling to get any information, and so was the Dealer. I found some contact deals for Mazda UK and sent a sob story email. It worked, a lovely guy called Phil Waring, who was the Managing Director of Mazda Motors UK, responded to my email. They managed to find a similar spec 192 to the one I had ordered in Europe!

On 1st March 2005 I took delivery of my first rotary engine car. It was amazing and I had been reading all the advice online about how to drive and look after it. I was keen to meet some fellow owners but meeting a load of blokes in a car park didn't seem like the best idea. Myself and a couple of other ladies therefore arranged a meet at a pub and thought it might just be us. Imagine our surprise and delight when nearly 20 cars turned up and couldn't fit into the car park. So, we went for a drive in my first ever RX-8 convoy. It was just so much fun, especially seeing people's faces as we all drove by in our shiny new cars.



I organised several more meets that year, with drives through the Hertfordshire countryside. I also had a day at Prodrive and complimentary tickets to Britcars at Snetterton to watch RX-8s on track. I also attended the monthly MRC meets at Mazda HO in Dartford, where I first met Clive and Lisa.

Over the next five years I was a regular at events like Rotorstock and Brooklands. I loved showing my car and chatting to all my new friends who were as mad about the car as I was. In 2008 I saw the new R3 at Goodwood festival of speed. It was nice but I still loved my 192, although the mega bling alloys did need replacing every year as they would start to corrode (another thing Phil Waring sorted out for me).

On 31st December 2009 I woke up to discover I had been burgled and my RX-8 had been stolen. I was devastated and desperate to get it back but as the days went on with no news, I had to accept that it was probably gone for good. I started to look for a replacement, I couldn't be without an RX-8, but they had started to wind down production and you couldn't order a brand new one.

Another sob story email to Phil Waring, who was now Chief Operating Officer for Mazda Motor Europe, and a new Aurora R3 was found, for less than I paid for my original.

My Strato RX-8 was then found, after being involved in a police chase through Essex. So, it was still running well, and I always wondered if it would turn up on Police, camera, action. It was recovered back to my Dealer and had clearly been mistreated. The insurance assessor was fab, he could see how well I had looked after it and that the damage was all new. It was written off and I got a really fair price.

I took delivery of my R3 on 13th March 2010. There was too much DVLA paperwork to sort out the transfer of my private plate in time, but it was nice to have a new registration plate. R3 AMH soon took pride of place on the R3 it was destined for. I do love the R3, they have kept all the good stuff about the RX-8 and improved it. I do miss the heated seats but it's nice not to lose everything you put on the passenger seat down the gap in the back. It's also good not to need new alloys every Spring.

I soon discovered that having an Aurora R3, with an R3 reg plate wasn't that special. Three of us turned up to the Spring Rotor Show at Brooklands! I decided to personalise mine with some graphics. It was becoming less practical as a daily drive, so in 2015 I got a Smart car, and the R3 became a weekend toy. As the tax prices have gone up I have also SORN it over Winter.



In September 2019, I put it away for Winter and because of Covid it didn't come out again for two years. I just have it on a battery maintainer, and it starts first time. It has just turned 14 years old and has only done 23,000 miles. It still brings a smile to my face to drive it.

I have also made some lifelong friends through my rotary ownership. Clive, Lisa, Malcolm and Gwyn attend our wedding last year onboard P&Os Ventura cruise ship, somewhere in the middle of a very rough Bay of Biscay. I am therefore no longer AMH, but I will keep my forum name and registration plate.

Sadly, I found out that Phil Waring passed away in 2014 after a courageous battle with cancer. I owe most of my rotary journey to him, it isn't often that someone so senior cares about individual customers like me.

I hope my rotary fun continues for many years to come.

[Casey]

Thank you for sharing your Mazda story Ann 

[boosted]

Great read.

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