It only had 65,000 miles.  A 2002 Mazda Millenia—my personal favorite of the Japanese near-luxury cars of that era.   I am an automotive enthusiast, but much like others here at TTAC, it’s not in the standard sense.  I’m the kind of guy who gets a rise out of seeing a purple Suzuki X90 on the road.  I would take an Alfa 159 over nearly any other car on the planet today (If I could get one in America), just because I want to park it in my driveway and lick it all over.   I value cars with character, unique vehicles with stories behind them, cars that represent value, have faults, and ultimately are fun or interesting.

So now you may understand why the Millenia was my preferred pseudo luxury ride of the turn of the, uh, Millenium.  Mazda built a car that had some of the trademarks of Japanese luxo-sedan comfort and quality, and true to form, made sure they paid homage to their own tradition of senseless eccentricity (Miller cycle V6), of course at the expense of reliability.  But fear not…this car had character, low miles, a nice interior and was stupid cheap. (Read More…)

Like tens of millions of American consumers, I shop for my cars online. I do due diligence; working hard to filter-out fraud and minimize the unavoidable unpredictability inherent to such transactions. My methodology is far from perfect—as my recent experience will attest. In fact, my tale of woe provides a real life example of how the biggest online seller—eBay—responds to fraudulent transactions.