Yesterday I had an offer too good to refuse.
Zi from JDMyard got me on MSN to tell me that Eddie wanted his Honda Jazz gone.
Eddie has been modifying his Jazz for about 2 years now and like myself he’s not one to settle for 2nd best. He has gone all out on his car. A Mugen body kit, full roll cage, Carbonetics brakes, suspension, Bride seats and perhaps most noteworthy, a K20A engine swap.
When I had my 1st Jazz I often spoke about throwing a K20 engine into it but at the time only a couple of people in the US had done it (the pictures of how they cut up the engine bay in order to fit the larger K20 engine freaked us out!) and noone seemed too keen on trying it locally. In some ways not being able to get that K20 into the car made me lose interest in the Jazz and it was perhaps the main reason for selling up (the car was all show no go).
I bought the 2nd Jazz (an auto) off my sister (who bought it off my mother). It’s been a great little daily driver for almost 2 years now. I’ve used it to carry bikes, it can carry so much gear, it’s easy to park in the tightest of tight spots, it’s cheap to insure at only $400 a year. Best thing is I get an average of 500km/tank.
It’s time to go… Jazz.
For the past few months I’ve been once again haunting carsales. Initially I thought of replacing my Jazz with something more powerful, more mature, more my age but I still wanted it to have some of the Jazz’s great qualities: Good on fuel, cheap to insure, easy to park, can carry the bikes etc. After a month of racking my brains (and others) I decided that the car I was looking for didn’t exist.
Since the Jazz was so cheap to run I then thought I’d just keep it and look for a 3rd car. I copped a lot of flack for that. 3 cars?! That’s a bit excessive for one guy isn’t it? Especially considering I only have one lock-up garage.
Timing is everything.
So yesterday Zi tells me Eddie wants the Jazz gone and that I should take it. Eddie’s been under pressure from his wife to sell the car for some time now. Earlier this year I even dropped hints, that I wanted to buy his car, but the asking price was way too high at the time. So what I got on MSN was this:
Eddie wants to trade with you on your Jazz. You give him your Jazz, and some cash adjustment and he’ll give you his Jazz, as is.
I thought about it for all of 10 seconds, there was no way for me to refuse the offer and I’ve been running with it ever since.
At 8.30AM this morning Eddie was at my doorstep, we hit the RTA, frustratingly dealth with a lot of paperwork and charges (rip you RTA motherfuckers!) and the plate and rego swapping was done.
Yes, it’s yellow. About the only thing both Christina and I can’t handle about the car!!!
I’d been running around all day and hadn’t had any breakfast so an Angus burger (my 3rd) was devoured.
This little controller on my keyring opens and closes the exhaust system so I can go from mild to wild at the press of a button.
6-speed goodness, right out of a DC5R Integra Type-R.
Flush mount bonnet pins. These really should be on my GT-R no?!
So, what are my impressions?
Well, the leather Bride seats are lovely but they’re hard to get in and out of (God, listen to me, I sound so 34). The suspension isn’t set up right. It’s too soft (which makes me feel a bit queasy) and there’s no steering feel at all (it’s a bit scary actually). I’m pretty sure that Doug at Heasmans can dial in some negative camber for me (he set up both my old Jazz’s to my liking). The exhaust is damn loud when open but very quiet when closed. It’s nice to have the option. The aircon doesn’t work but Eddie assures me that Dedy from TopOne (mechanic) is onto it. There’s also a knocking noise in the steering, something I’ll also look into.
Insurance couldn’t be done with Shannons (Hi Adam! Thanks for the help in any case) but JustCars have come to the rescue. It’s costing me 3 times more than the silver Jazz (Bingle) but that was to be expected I suppose.
More pictures, and updates as they come.