I do, did not care for the S2K and it shocked me:eek:

NSXs I looked at were about double the price of the Miata. I had rather a broad field I was choosing from, so it was in the same ballpark for me. The 2012 Miata I looked at felt soft and slow, The 944 I looked at was a sweet handling car, but an "85, with the primitive VW Golf looking dash, though it was an '85 time capsule. I looked at Boxsters, Z3, Z4, Volvo convertible. Considered a Volt, briefly, was denied a test drive on a car with badly rusted brake rotors. That and the MINI were the only non-drop tops I even looked at, did not consider NSX coupes, just the targa top.

For a fun little driving utensil, tough to beat a Miata, they don't say Miata is always the answer by mistake. Never forget, there is no replacement for light weight.

So true. The first and second gen miatas are a bit too cramped for me, I cant remember driving anything newer. I really prefer a coupe so the brz is on the list now but I really need to checkout a few newer miatas to see how I fit.

HYUNDAI! HYUNDAI! HUNDAI!

:D :p :D

I would replace the entire suspension with high quality well proven parts,

You are talking like 7$ to do that on a miata. I might be exaggerating in might go pretty close to the price of a burito at chipolte.

I should add that normally a stickler for warranty (thus my loyalty to Hyundai)
However I just bought a Mazda5 for my wife that has zero warranty... seeing as it has the same drivetrain as the uber reliable Mazda 3 I'm not too worried about it.

However at the price point of a new Miata I would be more leaning toward a 996.

I drove it, nothing spectacular. Just like it has never been before. Never understood the cult following on the car either.

Ever been to an autocross?

New Miata
 

My son and I looked at two on the Polar Mazda lot last Saturday in white and silver. The styling only works with dark colors in my opinion. Reminded me of the Pontiac Solstice from the side.

It looked cheap and tinny, I can see why everyone hates the dash screen. The new Miata was a big let down for us that day because we had just spent the previous 45 minutes drooling over 3 "Smokin Hot" Italian Alfa 4C's at Schmelz Imports in Maplewood. DP

For the same money +/- I would first consider the Subaru BRZ. OK, it's a coupe, but they are a real blast.

miatas are great for this reason.

parts are cheap. and they dumb simple to work on. so maintaining one, even doing large things like a transmission swap, or diff swap, is really only a matter of having a couple of spare afternoons. so simple. parts are so cheap ....

love miatas. kick the crap out of anything porsche build for the same kind of upkeep, parts, ease of use, and availability. its simply the easiest, cheapest, and best RWD chassis around. the only folks foolish enough to discount them are magazine racers or similar. actually experience of ownership ... hard to beat.

I'm sitting on the sidelines waiting for Subaru to put a turbo on the BRZ. Then I'm buying! I drove one, it was fun but needs more power for sure.

Don't hold your breath - Subaru/Toyota have stated several times that they won't put a Turbo in the BRZ - or even up the power any significant amount. I hope they're bluffing.
I seriously considered a BRZ, fantastic little car.

BRZ, XYZ, ABC I don't get it. Where is the comparable drop top '2 seat roadster? That BRZ is another UJM hotrod. But since the Sub was mentioned, what does it weigh?

Yet interesting, somewhere there's an article of the two tested at Willow and driven by Pobst. Believe he was consistently quicker with the down on power MX-5. But whatever, doubt anyone is buying to race and keep lap times. Whippy do.

brz weighs ~2760, 2016 miata is 2332. Neither is heavy but the miata is pretty damn impressive.

It's often mentioned that the BRZ is down on power, and that they should add a turbo, etc.

However, using the weights that VincentVega mentioned above, the BRZ is 13.8 pounds per horsepower, while the Miata is 15 pounds. Nobody seems to be complaining about Miata's lack of power. Is the brute simple Miata that much better than the BRZ?

Actually, I think he was talking about the NSX AND the S2k. And from a certain point of view, the miata isn't in the same league of either.

I think that's what he really meant.

Miata's are pretty darn inexpensive to buy, own and repair or upgrade, especially compared to Porsches. Shocks won't generally last long unless it came with Bilsteins stock (which some did/do). Miatas actually run shocks (coilovers, but not height adjustable) NOT struts. Bushings aren't too big a deal, but I never had to do it on any of ours.

I've never driven one, but always thought they seemed like my kind of car based on numbers, opinions and articles. I'm surprised you didn't like it, but then if I drove one I might decide the same.
I drove a few NCs, both NC1 and NC2 when I bought my MSM. One paper they are about as fast as a stock MSM and handle about as well. I very much preferred the MSM over the NCs. The NCs weren't bad, the MSM just felt more right and fun.

I've been reading about this, so only google level expertise from me. The miata is ~.4s faster in the 1/4 and 0-60 depending on the test. Skidpad is .90 for both.

To me you expect a miata to be slow and underpowered, thats part of the charm. Maybe it gets a pass since it is a soft top? I think many wanted the brz/frs to be more supra than celica and therefore wanted more power. To me the brz/frs is a more modern version of a e36, hopefully with a longer lasting interior. I really like the bmw's though and have yet to drive the toyota so I'm not sure if the interior is nice or just ok like I've read.

30+ mpg, rwd, good performance, manual trans... sounds great on paper

The s2000 is too cramped for me. Nice car that handles like few but no power below ~4k is something I couldnt get used to.

I also really liked my '97. I'd put the Ground Control kit on my Bilsteins and upgraded to 15" wheels. That really transformed the car to me. There were actually aspects of it that I missed when I had the MSM, but overall, I much, much preferred the MSM.

BRZ vs miata

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It was interesting listening to the guy. Miatas, except for the MSM, usually have a fair amount of roll (easy to fix with sway bars or springs if you're so inclined), but even with the roll maintain a ton of grip. Still, the movement of the suspension in my '97 was something that I ultimately needed to get rid of. The MSM also had very short gearing and a very close ratio tranny, much more so than any other car I'd ever driven.