In theory, it would be pretty cool to own a rare car. The problem is usually that buying one typically requires spending a lot of money, and most people don’t have a lot of money, period, much less a lot of money available for unnecessary purchases such as rare cars. But what if I told you there was a car you could buy that’s both ultra-rare and also costs less than $15,000? You’d be pretty excited, right? Well, then it’s time to head to Arizona to pick up a new-to-you Mazda MX-30.
Now, a lot of people just noped out of this whole thing because they have no interest in a small electric crossover that only offered 100 miles of range when new. And I get that. Living with a pre-owned, low-range EV definitely has its challenges, even if I’m pretty sure the MX-30’s significantly faster charging speed would make it far easier to own than my old Fiat 500e. Then again, the fact that so few people wanted an MX-30 in the first place is a big part of why these cars are so rare.
And I mean legitimately rare, not “this is one of only three Corvettes built with this exact spec on a July 25 that also happened to fall on a Wednesday” rare. By the time Mazda finally pulled the plug on MX-30 sales in the U.S., after not even two full years on the market, it had barely sold 600 of them. On top of that, Mazda only sold them in California, so if you live in a state that isn’t California, there’s a good chance this sub-$15,000 MX-30 would be the only one in the entire state.
A rare combination
Of course, the lack of range means you won’t want to take your new-to-you MX-30 on any road trips, but why would you want to do that in the first place? We’re talking about one of apparently 605 examples ever sold in the U.S., and all those road trip miles would just destroy its value. You wouldn’t want to do that to a future collectible, would you? No, you want to keep those miles low and only use it to drive around town. The fact that the limited range would make anything else annoyingly difficult is completely beside the point.
Just imagine pulling into Cars & Coffee behind the wheel of one of these. Unlike C&C staples such as the Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Corvette, most people haven’t even seen one in person before. When you got there, they’d be so excited. They would treat you like royalty, and you would be their king — the official winner of Cars & Coffee. And unlike other EVs that you could buy for similar money, the cabin is actually a pretty nice place to spend some time.
Even if it were your only car, it’s not like you’d never be able to road trip again. You could just rent something any time you wanted to hit the open road. That’s what I did back when I lived in LA and owned a less-blue 2015 Fiat 500e. And honestly, it was pretty great. Instead of driving a boring car to Palm Springs, I simply rented a Mustang GT Convertible. Just think of all the cool cars you could experience if you couldn’t road trip your daily driver.
It’s rare. It’s cheap. It’s cool. Wait, am I talking myself into buying a heavily depreciated MX-30? No, I can’t do that. I don’t have the space for another car. Unless my girlfriend wanted to sell her perfectly reliable Camry…
