(First Posted November 17, 2013) After having moved in order to remove a long and burdensome commute, I found myself with all sorts of extra free time that allowed me to contemplate once again driving for pleasure rather than from necessity. Of course, this presented the perfect excuse to (1) get the family car count back up to three, and (2) purchase something somewhat frivolous, in this case a 1992 Mazda Miata…
Everyone knows the Miata, which in 1989 debuted to rave reviews and accolades from the motoring press the world over– all of which, in this case, were justified. The car really was a little wonder that for a very reasonable price provided a very fun experience. That price became even more reasonable with age and mileage; in my case, it was well under $3,000 for a rust-free car with about 100,000 miles and no accident history.
This picture actually contains a “COAL Clue” for next week!
I cannot recall the exact circumstances of the actual purchase, but I do recall re-reading everything about the Miata I could find and deciding that an early car would be my best bet. I did not have any specific requirements in regard to options, except that it had to have a manual transmission. I ended up with the last year of the initial series (1992) with the 1.6-liter four-cylinder (which became a 1.8-liter starting in 1993) and a very basic spec, option-wise.
Mine was “Classic Red” (which had faded a bit on the car’s plastic front and rear bumpers) and came with 14” steel wheels that I did not care for. I promptly replaced them with a set of 14-inch “Daisy” alloy wheels, bought for $100 from a gentleman in San Francisco who seemed to be running a Miata dismantling operation in his living room; there were parts everywhere, and for cheap prices. He said he currently had about a half-dozen Miatas in various states of (dis)repair.
U.S. Miata sales for 1992 totaled 26,636. Red was the most popular color, with 11,729, almost half of the total, wearing that hue. Also available were blue, black, white, silver and yellow. While yellow was part of a special edition (and the most valuable today), silver is actually the rarest color; only 1,475 silver Miatas were sold that year. Quite a contrast to more recent years, when almost every car has silver as one of its most popular colors.
The 1992 models look just like ‘90s and ‘91s – the differences include a rear cross brace added to the underside of the rear suspension and a remote trunk release. The only option I am aware of my car having is air conditioning. It had been a while since I’d had a car with roll-up windows, and it was a refreshing change. I was reveling in the lightness…
This picture has a “COAL Clue” for two weeks from now!
About that: Everything you hear about how these things handle and go is true. While not the most powerful car out there, a Miata seems much faster than it is. You sit very low, cocooned in a cockpit that seems 7/8-scale and where everything falls perfectly to hand. You feel every bump and ripple in the road, but not in a bad way. I suppose this was accentuated due to the lack of power steering, but it was so easy to turn the wheel that the car really did not need it.
The steering was wonderfully direct, and my commute down the curvy hillside roads to my work was a delight. The drive back home was even better, as I was able to do it pretty much full-throttle most of the way while trying to perfect a couple of tight corners.
Although my car was basic, Mazda equipped them all pretty well at any level. The seats were a very nice grade of grippy black fabric, the carpeting was just fine, the glovebox had a lock, there was a driver’s side airbag, remote releases for the fuel and trunk lids, and the gauges were large and easy to read.
On the outside this first generation has pop-up headlights; often they sag a bit with age but it is a simple adjustment to return them back to the flush position. The door handles are delightful little chrome finger-pulls. The attachment pegs for the optional hardtop are also attractive little chrome items up in front of the trunk lid. The trunk itself is fairly shallow and small but you CAN fit a set of golf clubs in there, not much else though. The trunk also contains a mini-spare and a small Panasonic battery specifically made for the Miata.
My daughter was now in preschool and moving into a booster seat so we got a red and black one to match and I used the car to pick her up on nice days. She said it was like a roller-coaster which was true. The top was very easy to take down and put back up, I was able to do it while seated in the driver’s seat.
Many say that since there is a plastic rear window it is better to place a towel between the folded part but I just let it go, it turns out replacement roofs are on the order of $300 or you can retrofit a roof with a glass window if needed. The roof itself was fine on mine, it sealed tight even when there was a bit of rain. But mostly it had the top down, since it was not my primary car and I was in California, what’s the point otherwise.
A fair number of people seem to dislike Miata’s or call them “girl’s cars”, but if you look it is hard to find a female driver of a Miata, especially an older one (Miata, not lady). The truth is they are fantastic cars, reliable, easy and cheap to fix, inexpensive to modify, even the consumables (tires, filters, etc.) are dirt cheap as either the size of the item is small or they are produced in abundance, usually both.
Working on the car is not difficult but it is a bit of tight squeeze in the engine compartment, especially as the oil filter is kind of hidden. I found it easiest to just take the front right wheel off and reach through the wheel well to get at it, since my hands are sort of meaty. I do not understand why any car manufacturer would not make the oil filter the absolute easiest thing to remove and while they are at it do it so it stays upright without spilling while removing it.
As stated above, through 1992 all had a 1.6 liter, 16valve, DOHC 4-cylinder engine producing 116hp@6500rpm and 100lb-ft of torque at 5500rpm. I had the 5-speed but an automatic was available. The power was not abundant but as long as you were not afraid to use all the revs, it was there and the car could certainly hold its own. A low weight of 2216lbs certainly helped, it is interesting to note that the easiest way to “add lightness” is probably for the driver to go on a diet, especially as I contributed almost ten percent more to that weight…
For me, it was mainly an in-town car, I took it across the Bay a couple of times and it was fine, if not anywhere near as comfortable as our other cars (obviously). It always got excellent fuel mileage, was a doddle to park anywhere and just put a smile on your face while driving it. It was a fun car and a great way to experience a convertible, eventually it was replaced with a car both very different and very similar that I’d wanted to own for a long time…(Note: Prior to reposting this COAL, I checked the license plate in the CA smog check database, as of last spring, this Miata is still on the road. For the last few years it has failed its first smog check but then passed upon retesting.)
I seem to recall there was company that modified these, installing 5 liter Ford running gear along with other high performance equipment and seating options. Apparently the engine bay was intentionally designed to accommodate larger power plants at some future point. The modification was not inexpensive and certainly not for the faint of heart. I believe the finished product was in the 40 to 50 grand range depending on the selected configuration. Anyone recall this?
http://monstermiata.webs.com/
There was also a company (I think in the South Bay in the L.A. area, if memory serves) that would install the drivetrain from an FC RX-7 in a Miata. That was an intriguing combination — the 13B obviously didn’t have 302 torque, but it did have 160 hp in normally aspirated form and I don’t know that the rotary was much heavier than the stock engine.
Unfortunately, that was only legal for 1990-1991 cars and it was dependent on having an RX-7 donor. Since the RX-7 was selling poorly in the U.S. by then, that wasn’t a particularly easy option. (At the time, I suppose you could also have ordered all the hardware from a Mazda dealer, but I assume that would have been prohibitively expensive.)
I don’t know if the company ever tried to adapt the engine from the later FD RX-7, although since the FD was only federalized in twin-turbo form, that would probably have been a handful. The twin-turbo RX-7 was pretty hairy as it was and installing that engine in the lighter, shorter-wheelbase MX-5 sounds both amusing and harrowing.
I always wondered why Mazda didn’t offer some version of the rotary engine in a Miata. I would think this would be a natural way to step up the power and I don’t think the rotary would take up any more space than the I4. I agree that the twin turbo rotary might have been overkill but it would have made a fun car.
The reason was that the Miata was designed with a transmission tunnel that was too low for a rotary to fit comfortably. An inline-4 has its crankshaft output near the bottom of the engine. A Wankel’s output shaft is near the center; in fact, it’s somewhat above center since all Mazda street rotaries are wet-sump engines.
This means that the transmission tunnel must be somewhat taller to accommodate the transmission and driveshaft. Some companies have managed to fit a rotary to the Miata, but it leads to either a low-hanging engine and transmission, or cutting the chassis to raise the transmission tunnel.
Now, this only applies to the NA and NB Miatas (1990-2005). The NC (2006+) is based on a shortened RX-8 chassis and has a transmission tunnel with enough height to accommodate the Wankel. Had there been an NC Mazdaspeed MX-5, Mazda had three choices:
– Tuned 2.0L engine, which would have been a whole new emissions certification, since there was not already a higher-power variant of the 2.0L MZR than was already in the Miata
– Turbocharged 2.3L engine from the Mazdaspeed3, which would have required a large hood bulge as the 2.3L is taller than the 2.0L, and would have raised the center of gravity
– 13B-MSP (Renesis) from the RX-8
While I don’t know which option was the lead choice, the rotary seems to have been the easiest choice as it would have required no additional emissions certification, which the 2.0L would definitely have needed. The 2.3L might have needed additional work as well as the plumbing would be completely different in a RWD car.
At any rate, the financial crisis hit right around the time Mazda would have needed to invest in a Mazdaspeed MX-5’s development, and Mazda needed to choose where to focus development money. The SkyActiv engines won out. Now, the 13B-MSP doesn’t meet emissions standards, and its replacement, the 16X 1.6L Wankel, had its development put on hold until Mazda is in better financial health.
I would imagine the 13B-MSP would be a straightforward swap into an 06+ Miata, but Flyin’ Miata decided to leverage their GM LS engine development for the NA and NB for the NC as well.
Hi Joe, is there a good email I could reach you on? I’m working on an article for Jalopnik and I’d be happy to talk (off the record if necessary) about some of the projects back then. There’s a V12 you know about, in particular.
These older Miata’s are becoming very popular with young hipsters and as such they are being appreciated for the low cost, low maintenance/high fun factor, rapidly negating their “chick car” status
The British Roadster as perfected by the Japanese and I feel that the world is a better place for it. The world needs cheap lightweight convertibles to keep us smiling.
+1
How can you not like a car that smiles at you?
Jim, your car looks like the ’90 Miata that the owner of the local golf course in my hometown purchased brand-new – he had the very first one that the Mazda dealership received, in the summer of 1989. Befitting the proprietor of the “country club,” he had the money and could easily afford one – I remember that he also had a Mercedes SL and Saab 9000 at the same time. His Miata was fully loaded – but alas, he sold it in 2000 after putting just 21,000 miles over the course of 11 years. The cars could not be driven in our harsh Vermont winters.
The following year, my middle school English teacher purchased a ’91 Alfa Spider, the first year of the Series 4 cars. He still owns it and has put just 50,000 miles on it. But the car was much more troublesome than the aforementioned Miata. Currently, it’s not being driven because he’s having some difficulty finding parts – he insists on only using genuine Alfa parts, and in my small hometown, they are hard to come by.
p.s. Did you hear about “Batkid” going through San Francisco the other day? I thought it was cool that he was chauffeured around in the Batmobile (really a Lamborghini).
When I decided to trade my 924S (only failing: not a roadster, and I’d never owned one, it was an incredibly practical sports car) I ended up test driving four or five NA Miata’s. Unfortunately, all of them had some conditional failing that had me a bit gun shy, mainly in mileage. I was already committed to giving up a 130k Porsche, I wanted the replacement to have a lot less mileage.
Then, having decided I had a good enough budget to look at something in the $10-12K price range, I test drove a 2006 (NB? NC?), and, just for the hell of it, looked at a like year Pontiac Solstice. Despite being a bit cruder, the Solstice suited me better – and currently resides in the garage.
Having purchased a 2nd generation (NB) Miata new in 2002, I can relate to Jim’s enthusiasm for this car.
Although some will argue that the NB Miata is not as ‘pure’ as the NA, it does capture most of the essence of the original, and I certainly do not feel short-changed.
Just this morning, I removed the battery from my Miata for the winter. Sigh… Still no snow on the ground, but it won’t be long now.
I’m already looking forward to spring, when I can once again enjoy driving the Miata on deserted country roads for the sheer fun of it.
Here’s a picture taken this morning, ready for its hibernation:
Let’s try the picture one more time…
Make sure your picture is a .jpg file, Louis.
Here it is, hopefully.
The site is running very poorly/slowly, due to lots of unfixed errors and such. Your picture was large, and that strangled the upload. I reduced it to 800 pixels, and now it uploaded ok.
I like the NB a lot, I think the looks “matured” a bit without losing any of the character. The interior is a bit more modern as well. We looked at some when they were still new as well and got close but never pulled the trigger. I think the problem was the color combinations, the year we looked the silver that we liked was only available with tan interior which was weird (to me). I also really like the MazdaSpeed Turbo Miata’s even though they don’t really need more speed, it’s not what it’s all about.
I had a ’90 for a few years, about the same mileage but it had recently had a rebuilt engine installed (crankshaft broke on original – an early production bug). The only thing I found a bit disappointing was the lack of chassis rigidity when driving bumpy New England back roads. Cowl shake reminded me of a ’70 MGB I had for several years. It sounds like they did try to stiffen it up a few years later.
I owned a ’99 NB MIata (First year for the second generation) in White. Picked it up used with 38,000miles and for several years it was my DD. I traded a ’95 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with the LT-1 for the little sucker….Quite the study in contrasts! By the time I finally sold the thing (had kids), It had 169,000miles on the clock and the only things I ever did to it were routine maint., a coil pack and a new top. I loved that car and regret selling it almost daily. They literally are one of the best “smiles-per-mile” car that you can buy.
In a couple of years, I plan on picking up an NA and mildly customizing it to my tastes.
Great car!
Hi Jim,
What’s that saying…..”great minds think alike”. Yours is so close to my MX-5 in spec, it feels like we should a one model CC racing series for them….
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1990-mazda-mx-5-miata-nothing-complicated-done-properly/
But what did you swap it for? Almost certainly, nothing that gives more smiles for the £ or $!
Hmm, I replied earlier but it did not seem to take. Your car pretty much is the mirror image, right down to the righthand drive (mirror image)!
What I replaced it with is barely visible in one of the pictures, all will be revealed in two weeks for that one…See if you can figure it out from what is visible…
I had my mid-life crisis at age 43. I bought a 1991 Miata. It was white with a white hardtop. I always wanted a convertible and this was the one. What fun my wife and I had with it. I sold it to an 18 year old girl who keep it for 5 years. She called me up one day and asked me if I wanted to buy it back. I came close but decided against it.
One of the best fun cars we have every owned. Very good bang for your buck!
I still miss my BRG 91 Miata. I kept that car for 6 years, the longest I have ever held onto any car for and I only parted with it for business expenses. I did feel I wanted more power in mine though, so I put in a turbo kit and ran 8 psi of boost in it. I also joined a local Miata club and went on tours with them, got to go on some really nice drives that way.
A friend still has his 89/90 MX5 that looks identical to this, it is stored away but I drove it years ago. He put a glass window in the soft top (perhaps a new top) as its only modification really.
I had a 1990 Miata much like yours… except it had Flyin’ Miata’s FMII turbo kit. It had all the sound deadening removed, and weighed less than 2,100 lbs.
The little 1.6L made 214 hp at the wheels – 240+ hp at the crank, while running 14 lbs of boost. I had to swap in a six-speed from one of the later NBs, because the stock 5-speed lost third gear under boost. No missed shift, it just hit boost and tore the teeth right off. Managed to drive the car all the way from Virginia to Pennsylvania that way, though. The six-speeds have a higher torque capacity.
The car had various other modifications to support the power – Eibach springs, Wilwood big brake kit, Hard Dog rollbar, and quite a bit more.
Had I kept the car, I would have added some of Flyin’ Miata’s additional chassis bracing. The car was a lot of fun but it definitely was a handful. Up to about 80 mph it was faster than my Challenger R/T.
I sold it because the FMII kit isn’t CA legal, and I was moving out to California.
If I was going to build another Miata, it would be as a “Habu,” Flyin’ Miata’s new kit that facilitates the installation of a GM LS V8. Everything in the driveline is upgraded, and when you’re done, you’re basically left with a 2,500 lb Corvette. The best bang-for-buck setup has the LS376/480, which is a 480 hp variant of the 6.2L/376ci LS.
http://flyinmiata.com/V8/
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-reviews/first-drives/drives-flyin-miata-mazda-mx5-v8
Wow, sounds impressive! I’ve always wondered about how noseheavy adding a V8 would make it and if it would ruin the balance. I guess something similar worked out alright for Carroll Shelby, huh? Another reason to move away from CA…of course as soon as I moved out here to CO, the next month they announced mandatory smog checks here as well (Unless I buy some cabin in the boonies and register stuff up there which is always an option…) Good to see you back around, Joe.
From FM’s site:
“Overall, the car gains less than 200 lbs with 1/3 of that on the rear wheels. In other words, the car does not become a nose-heavy beast. To put things in perspective, one of our SuperFour Challenge turbo Miatas came in at almost exactly the same weight and distribution. From the outside, the car looks completely stock. The ground clearance is unchanged and nothing needs to be altered on the body. As long as the engine is off, it’s a great sleeper. But once you fire it up, there’s no mistaking what’s underhood.
Does it handle? Well, the first time we took one autocrossing, we set FTD with it – by a margin of nearly 4 seconds. We’ve destroyed our own lap records around our local track, outrunning purpose-built race Miatas with a street-oriented V8 Miata. Yeah, it handles.”
FWIW, the NA and NB Miata have an iron-block inline-4 that is that not all that light, while the all-aluminum GM LS is one of the lightest engines on the market, and essentially has the highest power-to-engine-weight ratio of any mass-produced engine in the world. The difference in weight between an LS motor setup and a Miata engine with the turbo, intercooler, and associated plumbing is pretty negligible.
I’ve been posting as Joe L but figured since I plan on writing more for the site I might as well just use my whole name. 🙂
I would be very tempted by a Miata except for one tiny detail: I can’t abide convertibles. (I don’t even like sunroofs.) I don’t like the sun boring down on me or having the wind blow things around; I don’t like having to worry about the stereo and anything else in the cabin being accessible to anyone with a pocket knife; and I generally don’t want to be any closer to my fellow motorists than absolutely necessary.
Periodically, Mazda would tease me with fixed-head MX-5 coupes, and I think at several points they’ve actually sold them in small numbers in the Japanese domestic market, but Mazda has yet to offer them here. The NA and NB had the detachable hardtop, I suppose, but I’ve been told that at least on the NA, the hardtop tends to rattle, and in any case it’s not the same as a fixed roof. The recent cars have offered the retractable hardtop, which I think is funny-looking and adds a level of complexity and extra weight (and cost) that is the opposite of what I want.
Gayest car ever 🙂
Ok,,,
I have come close to buying one of these a couple of times. These make great purchases as older cars in the midwest because 1) so many came with the manual instead of the automatic, and 2) even in the salty midwest, lots of people kept these as extra/good weather cars so there are still quite a few with low miles and in excellent condition.
I still hold out hope that one of these will cross my path at the right time.
Get one, you will not regret it.
Hi,
I’m with Jim. Owning an MX-5 or Miata should be a compulsory life experience for a CC contributor!
I bought a stack of car brochures online recently. When I went to pick them up it turned out the seller was this guy: http://www.mx5mart.co.nz/ He’s a private MX-5 specialist with a large barn/workshop – I’d never seen so many MX5s in one place! There were easily a couple dozen inside, as well as plenty more outside. They were mostly used JDM Eunos Roadster models with a smattering of NZ-new MX5s; and virtually every specification ever offered was there somewhere – either intact or in parts. As well as brochures, he also had plenty of other motoring memorabilia and an older Mack truck that was his other hobby. It was the most awesome barn I’ve ever been in! I do like MX5s, and one day hope to own a retractable hardtop NC.
I think you need to go back, snap a bunch of pictures and write an article!
Funny you should mention that…watch this space for my CC Contributor debut this week (hopefully)! Not about MX5s though sorry!
I’ve been wanting an older 3 series convertible for awhile to use as a fun weekend car….now thinking one of these might be worth a look. A back seat would be nice, but the MX5 seems like the true sports car. Hmmmmm…..thanks for the posts
I had one of these for many years, a 91.
There’s a tendency to romanticize these cars, and I get it.
More than any other car i’ve owned, it was a jekyll-and-hyde affair:
When the top was up, it was loud, claustrophobic, tinny, not particularly rigid, and almost third-world feeling. The visibility was laughably poor, even by today’s standards.
But when the top was *down* — it was the greatest machine ever built. It never failed to put a smile on my face.
These days I think i’d be scared to drive a gen-1, texting SUV drivers would probably roll over it like bigfoot.
About that oil filter location–I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve owned two Ford products with the 4.6 DOHC V8, and the oil filter is situated on the side of engine and in my two applications (Lincoln Mark VIII and Mercury Marauder) perched above several suspension and frame components. In my research it is absolutely impossible to get that sucker out without turning it almost completely upside-down in the process. Makes quite a mess as you might imagine. At least you can get to it without scraping your knuckles in the Marauder.
Oh, for the days of my V6 ’82 Malibu when I could grab it barehanded and it had absolutely nothing in the way of removal… (Then again that was one of only a very few good things about that engine.)
I think that the success of the Miata is that it was a car that delivered what the buyer expected, in a reliable and satisfying way. The whole girl’s car thing is so dumb, and anyone who would actually use that as an argument to put down your machine must be an idiot. I guess when I was younger I might have thought that, but I wouldn’t have said it! In my old age I’ve come to appreciate all the differences in the automotive world. Would I get one? Surprisingly I fit inside pretty well. even my 6 ft. plus BIL fits in his with a hardtop in place. I tried out my Son’s Boxster and I was impressed, but I like a little bigger car, so I’ll stick with my Mustang.
It sold because it was an inexpensive convertible sports car, and the market hadn’t had those for a while. Mazda really finessed the details, but it would have sold just as well if they had skipped the last ten percent of the job. (Mazda spent a lot of money on product development in that period; unlike the Eunos models, the Miata worked out because it had a market niche to itself.) No one knew in 1990 that it would be exceptionally reliable. Despite its general goodness, new Miata sales are about half of what they were in the Nineties, because of market saturation, market trends, and a range of alternatives that includes used Miatas and new and used cars from prestige brands.
If they’d skipped the last 10% then they should have called it the Solstice. Or the Capri…
That’s exactly the point and what makes it a great car, they didn’t skip the last 10%.
By 1990 people had a pretty good sense that a Mazda (any Mazda) would be quite reliable. I don’t think they sold any cars in the 80’s that would objectively be considered UNreliable. Mazda created a new market that had gone by the wayside and, as you alluded to, opened the doors for many others to try their hand at it. The Miata though also brought a lot of people into the fold that may not have looked at any Mazda previously, most of those formed and still have a positive impression of the brand as a whole.
I’d certainly purchase another Miata should the right opportunity present itself, they are cheap enough both used and new that they can almost be bought and sold on a whim.
The Capri was 50 percent finished. When my chapter of the Miata club took a group picture, the countdown was “One, two, three, Capris suck.”
Your comment is laughable because NA series “Miatas” sold in Japan were the Eunos Roadster…
A reliable Fiat 124/MGB variant that does not leak fluids and starts when you turn the key!
What’s NOT to like here!
🙂
Well since this first ran, I know two more things because I finally bought one. First, everything you say about the Miata is true.
Second, the boot cover for your convertible top was a really poor fit on your car. 🙂
Good for you. Not much change for me, still haven’t had a Miata, still haven’t ever sat in one. How is that possible?
I very nearly bought one when they came out new, until I got the insurance estimate. My next experience with one was about 18 months ago when a coworker let me take his for a spin. It was an absolute hoot to drive, but I realized right then and there that I’d never be able to own one, as my eyes were about even with the top of the windshield, and I barely had room to maneuver my clutch leg.
Between this car and two other coworker’s, we’ve seen *five* Miatas come and go out in the parking lot (two remain, both owned by this same guy).
Yeah but you’re almost as tall as Larry Bird…Just remove the seat and use a throwpillow. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Don’t deny yourself.
Yup. I am about 5’10” and the Miata fits me like it was custom built. One son is 6’6″ and has folded himself up for a couple of short rides, but he has to eigher crane his neck to see over the windshield or hunch down to see through it. He could not even begin to drive it given the length of his legs.
I am 6’2″ and fit fine in my stock 1996 Miata. Any taller and it would be a problem, but that is the case in any small car. I routinely drive it for the one hour commute to Tampa and two hours to Orlando without issues or complaints, and have taken it 10 hours to New Orleans and enjoyed the drive. The issue is when you have a passenger, as that does make it seem cramped, but as a car for just you and the road, they really cannot be beat! Top down, radio up, and a huge smile on my face, every time.
It’s a good thing that boot cover was such a poor fit (for a Miata) – if it had fit we wouldn’t have been able to sell it to a Mustang owner for, what was it again? $260 or so? Not bad, almost 10% of the whole Miata purchase price back!
My father, rest his soul, found the funds in 1999 for a midlife crisis/fling with a ’93 Miata in white with the aftermarket white hardtop and wide BBS wheels and some suspension mods, all with low miles. It was very clean and very… cute, I thought. At the time, I had a well-sorted 1972 Datsun 240Z with a 280ZX 5-speed and wide wheels and tires. I thought I was in handling heaven with the 240Z and that inline six pulled and pulled well up to an indicated 110 MPH. The closest I have come to something akin to love for a car, I suspect.
After about a week of ownership, my father offered me the opportunity to drive his new whip. Why not? How much less of a car could it be? Oh brother, did that thing handle extremely well! The manual was as slick as anything I had experienced up to that moment, and the engine was more than willing to haul that little gem around. My 240Z was immediately an antique in my brain. Shortsightedly sold the Datsun within a year…
My father owned that car for less than a year – Kinda bought it just to have that experience, I suppose. Far from ostentatious, my father found that having a second car was just a plaything that took up space and was simply a black hole. He would never again own a second vehicle, but he would sometimes wax poetic about that MX-5.
Junkstache nailed it – top down it’s the best car ever; top up not much fun. My wife and I really enjoyed our red 92 from 2004 to 2015. Will probably get an NC or ND someday.
I never understood the chick car thing. I always tried to notice other Miata drivers and they were almost always middle aged folks and the guys usually had beards and a cap. I always assumed one thing about them all – they liked to drive.
This on hits home. i had a 1991 miata Jim!! everything you say is true about the miata mine was white with tan leather and top. one of the best cars i have ever owned. mine was in excellent shape. handled great, my wife who gets a bit scared when i drive fast was totally cool with this car. she loved it. until i had the bright idea to take it to get a wheel alignment at this place in queens. my wife and i had a little disagreement and i decided to leave rather than escalate the situation. we both used to drink on the weekends and that fueled the fires. anyway i had taken the miata for the wheel alignment earlier in the day. i should have known things were going to go bad when the guy asked me if i wanted to tune the suspension for race mode. i said i just want an alignment as per the way the factory had it….stock. it was such a great handling and driving car that i didnt want any stupid unnecessary non factory adjustments to the car. i like to keep my cars as close as possible to stock.well i left the house to go wash the miata. all was well i did feel the suspension was a bit harsher than before. Well after washing it coming home there is this curve that i like to take in a sporting fashion. the miata had proven itself safe and well at higher speed curves. 25mph curve at 50-60 no problem. except after the alignment the car was stiffer. i lost control at the apex of the curve and hit a light post. ruined the car and was little bit worse for the ware. I miss that car it was a truly great handling and fun to drive car. beware wheel alignments!!!