Began my search in earnest, and trying to decide exactly what form I wanted. They sold in Titanium Grey Metallic and Velocity Red Mica in '04, and then added Black Mica and Lava Orange Mica in '05. Lava Orange is a great color, but I wanted the Red/Black cloth interior instead of all-black, and red just doesn't work inside a Lava Orange, and wasn't available in '05 anyway. Finally settled on the Black Mica as my favorite paint, but it was only used in '05, and the red/black cloth interior only in '04. So that was it: I'd buy an '05 Black Mica (I like the '05 rims better anyway), and eventually buy the '04 red/black seats and red/black interior door panels from elsewhere, and install them in my '05 Black Mica! :) (I don't like being surrounded by all black everywhere I look: seats, carpet, dash, doors, console, underside of softtop...)
So I carried on with my search. Found an '05 Black Mica in Dallas TX with only 6900 miles on the clock, completely stock. Original owner, pretty much mint other than 1 ding low on the driver door. The owner had driven it in the rain only one day. He had saved every service receipt (not that it had required much service), the window sticker, the dealer brochure, and the newspaper containing the ad that prompted him to go in and buy the car. The boot cover was still in its factory plastic bag, never unsealed.
A friend in Fort Worth went and checked it out for me, confirming what the owner had told me about its condition, so for $99 I bought a one-way AirTran ticket from Atlanta to Dallas, trusting I wouldn't have to hitchhike home!
Checked it out, and bought it, April 1 '08, for a couple hundred dollars under trade-in value. The fact that it was April Fool's Day certainly didn't apply to the deal I made, but to how I nearly wrecked it five minutes after taking ownership! I was still in downtown Dallas where I bought it from the guy at his downtown office workplace. The one-way three lane street takes a little S-curve path, with concrete barriers on either side. I figure the left/right S-curve looks fun, so just as I enter it, I drop a gear and goose it -- too much. Back end swings right, and I over correct, throwing the rear end left, with me facing the right-side concrete barriers and still moving at a pretty good clip -- got it straightened out finally. It was fun, but in a scared-myself-to-death-and-nearly-crashed-my-new-car kinda way. Um, yeah, it had been been a long time since I had driven a rear wheel drive stick that had any power.
Got it home to Georgia and took the next days and weeks to grow more gradually into enjoying the power. This is a fun car. Seriously.
trade-in value! :)
Purchase price was $16,700, plus a $25 Groome Shuttle ticket to the airport, $99 Air Tran ticket from ATL to DFW, and gas home.
