Anyone own a miata?

[ken]

I've been thinking about cars again recently, and have read alot of wonderfully glowing reviews of miatas.

Anyone have any long term personal experience with one? What are your complaints. Don't want to hear any positive comments, read enough of those already. I'm thinking the manual top has got to be annoying.

[styleee]

i like the manual top.

it takes about a nanosecond to push it back. the pain in the butt is relatching it (and putting the boot on.) although, both my roomate and my mom have miata's, and my mom's is a pain, but my roomate's is easy as pie to relatch. (it's probably cause my mom needs a new roof alltogether.) i don't know anyone with an automatic top, but i think it's quicker just to throw the sucker back by yourself.

ok, so for the bad, my roomate has a 1990? or whatever year it was orginally released. she doesn't drive it that much because we work in the city, and take public transportation everyday. so, it sits in the driveway for sometimes 5 days or more, and then the battery dies. i think they all have gel batteries, which she claims doesn't hold its charge for very long when not driven. when she bought the car new, like 11 years ago, they told her she would have to start it every day in order for the battery not to die. especially in the winter. well, we've had AAA at our house about 10 times in the past 4 months cause her car is always dead.

now, i'm not sure if that is a normal thing, because i don't think that's ever happened to my mom's car (a 1996 i believe,) but she does drive it more regularly, so who knows. maybe you should ask the dealer about that.

also, i'm pretty sure you can't put a normal battery in it, because the battery is behind the seat, in the passenger compartment. they use the gel battery for saftey.

one thing that bugs me is there is no interior light on either car, but maybe the new ones have one, i don't know

i think you should get one, they are really cool. and, if you wanted to be super cool, you could get all sorts of awesome mods for it, and make it into a superfast race car.
which is what i want to do to my mom's car i actually want to make my entire family's cars into race cars. and then we could race each other. wouldn't that be the funnest? but alas, i'm poor

[Ice-9]

Originally posted by styleee
i actually want to make my entire family's cars into race cars. and then we could race each other. wouldn't that be the funnest? but alas, i'm poor

Hahah, styleee, you RULE.

As for Miatas, I don't have any long-term experience with one, but the "zoom" factor is there - it doesn't handle quite like my Porsche, and it doesn't have the oomph of a V8, but it's probably the most fun you can have for the price. And it's a convertible, which sometimes I'd prefer to my sunroofed coupe.

A friend of the family had one, and I know he had some charging system rigged up for the battery, because he only drove it a couple times a year. He sold it last year, and when I asked him about it, he said that the only problems he'd had with it were the battery-draining thing and a cooling system problem (pump died or something), but that those were both easy to fix. It's not a bad choice for a fun, cheap car, and the new ones look inifinitely better than the old ones.

[pennypinch]

Here's a negative: how about being totally emasculated every time you step into it? When it comes to testicle-free vehicles, it ranks right up there with the Bug and the Jetta.

[styleee]

Originally posted by Ice-9

Originally posted by styleee
i actually want to make my entire family's cars into race cars. and then we could race each other. wouldn't that be the funnest? but alas, i'm poor

Hahah, styleee, you RULE.

my little brother actually races his car(s), and i've been trying to get that sucker to let me take one and tear up the tracks. i think he's going to crack soon, or else i'm going to have to bust out some of my old big sister torture tactics

anyway, i'm sorta pissed though, cause he sold one of them last week, and that was the one that would have been in the same class as his new extra super fast fancy one. so now when i do race, it won't be against him anyway.

doesn't matter i guess, as long as i do better!

[kick@ss]

Ice-9, what kind of Porsche do you have?
I just recently purchased 911 Carrera Cabriolet (sp?) and it's awesome. I got it with a silver exterior and a red leather interior. Also, I got the 18" Turbo wheels because I thought they looked cool.

Miatas are cool cars. I have seen lots of excellent reviews. I drove one once (maybe like 8 - 10 months ago) and it was fun to drive. I might consider buying one in 2 or 3 years for a beater car, so I have time to recover from the price of the Porsche.

[Ice-9]

Arrrgh, you bastard. I've got an '85 944, as just about everybody who frequents the Automobile forum probably knows. It doesn't have nearly the engine that the 911s do, but it handles better than the 911s of the same era. I just wish I had the money for a new Porsche, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

The Turbo wheels are sweet. My 944 has the Carrera wheels from an '82 911, and they're lighter and bigger than the stock "phone-dial" type, but they look like crap. I want the new Turbo wheels, but they won't fit without spacers, and the price tag is a bit out of my league (actually, it's more than I paid for my whole damn car!).

[kick@ss]

I saw someone on some car auction site (can't remember) selling the Turbo wheels not too long ago and they sold for 1/3 of the price brand new. You might want to look around, as that will get you a good price if you really want them.

[shaggymatt]

Speaking of Miata's I saw in AutoWeek last week I think it was, that Mazda is offering a $500 pre-paid Mastercard or offering to buy back the cars from last year I think it was. They claimed more power than they actually had.