[masraum]

So, some of you may remember, about 3 weeks ago I bought an '04 Mazdaspeed Miata. They made 4000 of the turbos in '04, and made 1428 of the 4000 planned '05 models before the factory burned down in '05.

My old miata has 133hp, the next gen had 142hp, and the turbo models have 178hp, so it's not a huge increase. The newest model of NA miata has a larger engine with 170hp, so it's nearly as fast as the turbos. Apparently, without increasing the boost, and by spending between $1000 and 2000 the turbo's hp number can be bumped up to around 250 at the crank.

The difference in acceleration between the older NA models and my turbo is nice all through the rpm range. In my old '97, if I wanted to pass on the freeway, I'd usually downshift to 4th or 3rd, now I can easily pass in 6th.

The Mazda speed also comes with specially valved Bilstein shocks (not struts, the miata has coilover shocks), stiffer springs, and stiffer sway bars.

Boost is fun, but I like how the car is even stronger lower in the powerband as well.

The car is just a pleasure to drive. I carpool (boring, but better than fighting traffic) with it and drive it on weekends.

Now I need to get my old car sold so I can buy some of those upgrades.