With apologies to any women present here....

The Miata is the quientisential "Chic" sports car. It look decent, it drives alright, it is reliable, and it looks very good with a woman behind the wheel.

Me? I want a car with an attitude. One that requires me to keep spare parts in the trunk and tools at the ready. One that turns! as well as turns heads.

Or actually, I want several :D

James

Looking for the right 911 and the right 356 and the right woman to put up with them!

Driving down the interstate this afternoon and my wife points to a Miata and says, "What's that?"
I say, "A Mazda Miata."
She says, "It looks like some kind of wannabe."
I start smiling, thinking she's really getting some of this car stuff.
I say, "It is. It's supposed to be like a Lotus."

Ready?

She says, "So it's Chinese?"

:(

So close...

She says, "So it's Chinese?"

:(

So close... [/B][/QUOTE]

Wifes... Gotta luv um...LOL I'm going to be chuckling about that one for days. I'd tell my wife about it but I'd have to explain the punch line. http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/loki16.gif

Yeah, I got a few on the wife thing. She once asked me "what do they call the trucks with a step, Chevy side step?" Then another time she was looking at an ad and said "OOOhhh this one says it has 14K..arat miles." "I says yeah..they must of really took care of it." LOL she is getting better though.

hi guys...sorry to jump in here with ma two cents an all... but i just felt id like to make a little comment or two.
first off my personal preferance has always been leaning towards the european cars...ever since i knew i would drive i always liked and wanted a euro....my first car was an mgb...then to a fiat x/19...then a saab 900... eventually i learned about the porsches that were within my budget an grasp...albeit they were the lower end costing cars. (914/924/944) overall though i have always maintained my personal choice in vehicles always reflecting the european models.
as far as domestics/american vehicles go, i never really liked them...outside of the jeep cherokee, i have a hard time paying for anything like that... now down into the ricer column...i couldnt really stomach them growing up...not that they havent built some good quality and tung swallowing fun cars...i just never liked them. with the exception of the nsx i didnt think i would ever buy one.
recently...i was in a dilemma where my gf needed to come back and forth from pennsylvania to ontario canada as she is american and was attending university down there...and i live here in canada. she needed a new vehicle and as such we went shopping... now her, like many women are quite fickle at times, an is more so with cars. anyhow on our search we went...an in the end, much to my dismay she ended up choosing a 2001 tibouron...whats suprised me most is how far they have really come in the automotive world... regardless of personal opinion, i couldnt help but love this car... overall it got me curious as to what they r doing over in asia, and the affect its happened here in the tuner markets...
the thing is...ive grown i guess in my opinions...i still would preferr a euro vehicle over any other kind, but i dont hate the rest as i used too... with all the aftermarket things available today u can do pretty much anything u wish as long as the idea and imagination is there... ive seen chevy corvettte engines matched to 914 transaxles... (much to the dismay of many people) but its seems to work well...ive seen european cars matched with domestic engines an tranny's... all this bastardization has suprisingly some silver lining in what initially seems as a dark dark cloud.
now to my second point... alot of purists an enthusiasts in the car clubs, and groups kicking around have quite the rivalry :) ...even here its quite apparant... ...the thing is...if u look at the reality of it all a car is a personal statement now a days as much as a tool and mode of transport... ...some like it fast, some like it smooth... some like the old euro lines an some like the new aftermarket body kits.. for most porsche nuts, anyone who would bastardize a perfectly good porsche should be sterelized in there opinion, or worse :P i used to be like that myself... now however i have different views.
i live in hamilton ontario canada...and am in the process of a new conversion for my 85 944... kind of a two fold reasoning is behind it... A) i was getting kind of annoyed at the ricers dominating the scene with there cars...yet it almost seems that north america wide people forgot the reason behind tuning cars up in the first place... that is for origionality an style expression...as well as speed... they all want to beat the porsches an ferrari's an lambo's with there $2500.00 cars... so they buy the bolt on kits, the bolt on body's an thnk theyre beside vin deisel or sumthing. well when u sink the time, money and effort into any car itll be an improvemnet if uve done ur job. however, the cost of the old 914's an 944's an the like r very low considering. and stock, these cars in good condition r a match for most of the ricers new. with a little time, money an effort into them they cant be touched. now for B) its simple...we started a new business focusing on auto's... it also has an affshoot were trying to promote...and thats a new car club/tuner club here locally... but although we welcome anyone into the club who meets the pre-requisits for the membership, we like to focus on european makes and models... wed like to have a first hand go against some people with there done up ricers...for me i know if and when my 944 project is complete, locally i wont be touched...cmpetions wise i dont know yet :D hehe but i think at the very least itll open a few peoples eyes that maybe instead of grabbin that acura or honda or toyota...maybe there might be another alternative where the name alone has power... maybe they will look for other alternatives...
now i know some of u r prolly heaving at the thought of tricking out a porsche, but hey, i figure its a different way to approach it all... i have some great plans for my 944...in all aspects.. illkeep mostly with all porsche parts an products/themes... but i wont be afraid to turn to where the best prices an qaulity is regardless of where its made. everything about the 44 will be like it freshly rolled off the assembly, but hopefully better. new body enhancements to reflect the modern times...new interior... rebuilt engine with modifications...upgraded chassis an suspension... itll be a car worth looking at (as long as the pocketbook holds out anyhow) ...and when its finally done i plan on taking it to the scene, into events n shows...and showing that a 15-20 year old porsche is still better than a newer asian or american...
now maybe im off...maybe i just need some sleep or something (it has been about 40 hours now) ...but theres been alot of thought an planning/research into this project... more money than id like to admit, and alot of man hours so far... and im loving the out come so far... i guess what im tryin to say over all this rambling is simply this... theres nothing wrong with liking your buddies miata...or the civic that has been exhaustivly worked on to compete with your porsche... theres nothing wrong with the aftermarket scene... its all style and personal choice... u wear levi's i wear kahki's... so like the rest all u want too...feel good about it... and feel good knowing that your porsche exudes years of pride in creation and ownership... especially when your 76/914 or your 85/944 stock still beats the @ss offa most the others in the running... and just smile knowing when u pull into the grocery parking lot an the others around u are green with envy... i know personally when my project is done, and i take it to the club that first night... ill be parking deliberatly beside the best ricer i can see... and when he comes out with his gf i have a feelin i know who she'll be thinkin bout when she gets in that car with him :P...heh ok maybe not but hmm i can think evil too.. the point is, although theres exceptions to the rule... a car is a car is a car... an they can all be made into somethin great with effort and money... the only thing is... PORSCHE is that exception to the rule :D and those thats had one... we know the differance, but we dont have to be haters...we can simply smile in the knowledge that weve been shown the truth and the light :) ..anyhow as i said previously...sorry bout the stickin my nose in and all.. just felt the urge to voice my thoughts this mornin... heh maybe i need sleep, or hmm another coffee or ten...but for what its worth, i think hatin miata's or any other is a waste... we can coincide together as enthusiast...were just drivin better cars is all :P they havent learned, and maybe never will but once they pull beside u at the lights, or on the highway...maybe they can be educated a little :D anyhow enjoy and keep up the family...be nice to your cars and show the world what theyre missin :) cya ...ciao

Rainbow stripe in rear of vehicle standard equip
 

Just kidding....I DID have a funny experience with this, though. I have a friend who had a lesbian couple for neighbours for many years who had a landscaping buisness , and they were great neighbours and became great friends, and when he built a house elsewhere and hired them to do the landscaping. I was along helping them move, and they showed up for the job in a new, LAVENDER (factory?) Ford Ranger...with a rainbow stripe on the tailgate! We both cracked up at how completely unnecesscary a rainbow stripe sticker was on that particular vehicle.

Hamiltonguy. I am a fellow Canadian. So I say it this with love.


learn to edit man. I can't read that much. Short attention span.

my bad ...heh sorry bout the long winded thoughts.. kinda bored as heck in this programming course.. so i guess i kinda wandered on...heh anyhow ill keep it in mind for next time :)
sorry once again

No worries. Its all good.

... he owned a Miata for a dedicated track car. ...I mentioned I am rebuilding a 914 and he said, "Oh yeah, the VW, it's not a Porsche plus they look ugly"

In future situations, feel free to remind him that Kia uses an improved version of the motor in his car. :D (Yes, it's true. The guys from Flyin' Miata used a Kia block because it handles power better than the stock Miata one!!) And, of course, you can tell him that his car tries and fails to match the looks of the original Lotus Elan...

--DD

Me Cdn 2, edt bd 2 bt spk Lss.

I remember lots of women liking and driving 914s when I was a kid, and aren't Ann B Davis and Lief Garret the most famous celeb. 914 owners?

The Miata doesn't really turn my crank but enough Miatae might actually survive 25 years that while they may not be as coveted by enthusiasts as is the now rare 914, I bet they'll be a budget 'vintage' car of choice, for the same reason that foks buy 'bland' MGBs and spits and TR6's today. The cleaner looking early Miata probably isn't too bland for the fanciers of the Lotus Elan, to which I will make no further comparisons.

The 914 is a great car, with the engine in the only place it can be in a sports car. Character? Cool? Blandness? When I take the cover off my Lotus Europa (total production 9K+) project, people honk, wave, leave notes and stop by my house just to chat. Anyone who squeezes in and lays down in the cockpit bursts out laughing then makes F1 engine noises (the car can't at the moment). Not so when a teener is parked out front - "nice car" "I remember those" etc...

The Miata has a lot of good aspects, but it's just too nice. Let's face it, the typical 914 driver/owner is the same type of person as the typical MGB driver/owner. It's someone who wants a car that they can work on, someone who wants to be working on the car, someone who "likes the child a little more who has a few problems" to use a quote from a former Porsche executive. Also, at least in Ohio, there's a pretty decent amount of exclusivity to the 914. A lot of people my age (20) have no idea what a 914 is, and people my parents' age come up to me at gas stations with stories about a friend they had in college who had a 914. The best part is watching the ricer kids in Civic DXs with 747 wings gawk at the kid "pouring gasoline onto his engine" when they see me with the front trunk open at the gas station. Being able to walk away from Camaros on the twisties is kind of nice too. The ultimate reason that a 914 is better than the Miata though is beacuse my girlfriend likes it better. ;)

Aaron

a couple of summers ago while in san jose for a wedding my wife and i rented one for a tool around car. the rest of my inlaws got generic toyotas and such. i have to admit, the car was fun to drive. took it to santa cruz (what a stinking garbage pit the board walk has turned into. i wonder what became of the sea serpent that used to come up out of the water s. of the bw), then drove up the coast. we cut back towards the bay area s. of half moon. crossed the redwood hwy(i think) at a watering hole with a bunch of bikes in the parking lot. the next section of road heading towards paloalto (again i think) was unbelieveable. my wife told me if i did'nt slow down she was going to be sick. i told her "that's ok honey, it's a rental car".

so for the non cal folks, if you are down in that area try that drive. i bet brad or someone else has the particulars.

kevin

ps i'm sure it needed a new clutch when i was finnished with it.