A
Anonymous
Guest
As a former Ford Puma owner/owners club member I had that jaw dropping ‘what the hell is that’ moment on the A41 between Aylesbury and Hemel Hempstead after spotting my first RCZ in 2010. I test drove a black 2013 GT200 from Perrys in September of that year with a view to finally being able to offer one a ‘forever’ home by trading in my much-loved final year model Puma but instead was offered a new job a week later.... Which meant I had to have a ‘sensible’ 4 door diesel saloon as a company vehicle for the next 4 years. I managed to ‘get away' with a Leon FR 184bhp which definitely did a better job than most of the viable alternatives and, to be fair to it, was a great car...
However I’m now about to start a new role that doesn’t come with a company vehicle or require me to drive 3000 miles per month. The upside of this is I get to choose whatever car I want (which just about makes up for the massive increase in insurance costs during that time...).
So.... I was actually looking at buying a 3-4 year old petrol Leon FR or Cupra or a 2 Series coupe of a similar age until I saw a couple of RCZs within 5 minutes of each other on a journey 2 weeks ago and was reminded of how close I got to ordering one in 2013 and more importantly why...
As a result there’s now a low mileage (26500), locally owned black 2013 GT200 parked outside which originally came from Perrys so could even be the same car I test drove back in 2013... It doesn’t have Nav or DAB radio and the alloys are a bit tatty but these were not deal breakers or too difficult issues to resolve... apart from quite ‘mean’ looking quad exhausts which initially put me off a bit (even though I'm still a bit of a girl racer at heart...) its in its original unmodified state and drove/handled great on the 2 test drives I took it on. On both occasions I also coincidentally saw another RCZ driving in the opposite direction almost immediately so have managed to convince myself it was ‘meant to be’.
I'm ‘hoping’ that I’ve made the right decision by not going for the more 'sensible' Seat or BMW alternatives and got a reliable one... I know I’m going to get 'abused' en masse by friends and family for buying a used French car but I can live with that I think...
However I’m now about to start a new role that doesn’t come with a company vehicle or require me to drive 3000 miles per month. The upside of this is I get to choose whatever car I want (which just about makes up for the massive increase in insurance costs during that time...).
So.... I was actually looking at buying a 3-4 year old petrol Leon FR or Cupra or a 2 Series coupe of a similar age until I saw a couple of RCZs within 5 minutes of each other on a journey 2 weeks ago and was reminded of how close I got to ordering one in 2013 and more importantly why...
As a result there’s now a low mileage (26500), locally owned black 2013 GT200 parked outside which originally came from Perrys so could even be the same car I test drove back in 2013... It doesn’t have Nav or DAB radio and the alloys are a bit tatty but these were not deal breakers or too difficult issues to resolve... apart from quite ‘mean’ looking quad exhausts which initially put me off a bit (even though I'm still a bit of a girl racer at heart...) its in its original unmodified state and drove/handled great on the 2 test drives I took it on. On both occasions I also coincidentally saw another RCZ driving in the opposite direction almost immediately so have managed to convince myself it was ‘meant to be’.
I'm ‘hoping’ that I’ve made the right decision by not going for the more 'sensible' Seat or BMW alternatives and got a reliable one... I know I’m going to get 'abused' en masse by friends and family for buying a used French car but I can live with that I think...
