510dat

Laura and I went to the Mazda Zoom Zoom Day in "San Francisco" (Well, Alameda, but who's asking). We were not impressed.

I suppose the event could have been ok if it had been organized better. Laura and I got there at 1:20pm; their Mapquest directions weren't very helpful in getting us there. Since they were having us register for a particular time, we assumed that the event would be 'somewhat' exclusive. Instead, they had some of the most dis-interested people "helping" us go the right way, and you were free to register whenever you got to the desk.

It was free, so that didn't really bother me. What did bother me was the fact that there were WAY too many people there for their capacity. I was really interested in the Miata, so we go stand in line for the Miata "Jinba Itai" or whatever; golf ***** in a shallow dish on the hood; drive around the course without dumping the ***** off and try for the best time.

Time spent in line; over an hour (not exaggerating).
Time spent in car; about two minutes (for both of us; we traded driving/riding shotgun in those 2 minutes).

So we spend a few minutes just milling around, then go to the other Miata event; basically an autocross. Looks like fun, the goal time is 42.0 seconds. Not many people got it, but a few did. A couple of people spun out; too bad, they get their "fun card" yanked for that (no more driving).

Time spent in line; 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Time spent in car, about three minutes each

(they wouldn't let us ride together and switch, because "it doubles the time it takes to get people through." I'm still trying to figure that one out) Most of that three minutes was sitting in the car, waiting for them to actually get people on the course. My time was 49.6 seconds, Laura wasn't used to the crispness of the controlls and took it easy at 59.something seconds.


Total time spent standing in line: 3 hours, 20 min
Total time in car: about 5 min
Total laps (between two people): 4


In the end, the new Miata is a nice little car, very crisp steering, good throttle response and acceleration, brakes were very impressive, interior was pretty good. I wish I could tell you more, but the total of five minutes I was able to spend in it haven't really given me a better impression of the car.

I am absolutely disgusted by Mazda and their people. They insisted on taking back the lanyards we used to hold our cards, "because we use them again at other events." Nasty; I've been wearing a lanyard around my neck that someone else has been sweating into? How cheap do they have to be? None of the people we talked to were helpful; most were short with us, pushy, or didn't give a damn; all were of very little help.

Don't waste your time; go to a dealership and test drive one instead.

zand02max

iTrader: (22)

I guess even when something is free, someone still has to complain,

510dat

It's not free if its a waste of time.

zand02max

iTrader: (22)

I hear ya, I'm just playing. Like they always say, nothing in life is free!

510dat

I'm just venting; Laura got off of a 12-hour shift at 7am, slept for like three hours, we drove for over an hour with poor directions just to get there, and stood in line for literally hours. Most of the time we were in line, we couldn't even see the cars, just the people around us. And then they were snippy with us?

05 NISMO

iTrader: (2)

Hey you forgot to mention the free hotdog and juice.

Went there and left asap, there were just too people waiting in line. Overall waste of time and gas.

Moodie

iTrader: (3)

I agree. Spent way too much time in line and too little time on the wheel.

Eldy

How old were the people there? And were the cars automatics?

510dat

They had no juice when we were there; just water. And not much of that; fortunately it wasn't hot.

The people were of all ages; even a few kids. The majority was "Asian" of one variety or another, maybe 1/3 white, and a smattering of everything else. They did have some automatics available, but most of them were the 6-speed mauals.

510dat

And since we took a bunch of pictures, here's a few.

Zlover300

No offense, but if I am gonna stand in line for hours. I'd only do it for exotic cars, or Z's ofcourse lol. Definitely not for Mazda's...

510dat

I agree; we went to a Mercedes M-class thing (suv autocross?!), and we were kinda cranky when we had to wait in line for 15 minutes; but hours? for a miata? We wouldn't have, but it took us so long just to get there we figured we might as well.

accordfreak

iTrader: (15)

I drove all the cars in less than an hour. There weren't too many people there at 9am. No waiting in line. 2-3 people at most