Recently rented a Miata and I'm confused

[MisanoblueZ4]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

It's such a bummer that you have to really go to the Upstate (or NC/GA mountains) for any really fun roads in SC. Couldn't they have twisted them just for the fun of it?

Yea I’m 5 miles to the coast, it’s 4hrs to Greenville where things start to get interesting.

In MA I was 10-15mins to the Holyoke range, take backroads all the way to the Berkshires and back. 2-3hrs of fun roads continuously was no sweat close to home.

[Alfisti]

I'm in suburban Toronto, it is a SOLID 30 minute drive one way BEFORE I FIND A CURVE. Absolutely brutal roads, utterly joyless.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I'm in suburban Toronto, it is a SOLID 30 minute drive one way BEFORE I FIND A CURVE. Absolutely brutal roads, utterly joyless.

I'm in Florida. It's 1-2 hours to find a curve, and it's on a race track lol.

Jokes aside there one nice sweeping corner in our town. ONE. Everything else is just straight roads and right angle turns.

When I lived in the foothills of NC, literally every road was amazing lol.

[Alfisti]

But at lest your roads are not swiss cheese.

[HDMI]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

I'm in Florida. It's 1-2 hours to find a curve,

Are there no women there?

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

The solution to the Miata vs Cayman/Boxster issue is the middle ground, a nicely sorted low mileage early Z4 with the larger engine (the 35i) sits right in the middle between the Porsches and the Miata. Small, nimble, lively and a straight 6. Yes not as light as a Miata but again, a middle ground.

You're talking about 1st Z4, right? I have the 2nd gen and it's ok, but I can definitely feel some weight. It's good enough for me atm but I'm really curious about the MX-5 and others. Someday I'll test drive them. I know the Cayman back in the day was quite planted.

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I'm in suburban Toronto, it is a SOLID 30 minute drive one way BEFORE I FIND A CURVE. Absolutely brutal roads, utterly joyless.

Have you tried asking chatgpt/etc? You might be surprised.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by HDMI

Are there no women there?

There are... The further south or north you go the more curves they have. Down south you got all the latinas, up north you get the country girls.

Central Florida however, is all the transplants from wherever without the curves.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by tranquility

You're talking about 1st Z4, right? I have the 2nd gen and it's ok, but I can definitely feel some weight. It's good enough for me atm but I'm really curious about the MX-5 and others. Someday I'll test drive them. I know the Cayman back in the day was quite planted.

Have you tried asking chatgpt/etc? You might be surprised.

Yep the 1st Z4. It is a nimble chassis with more oomph than the Miata and less $$$ than the 987.2 Boxster (I would avoid a .1 boxster).

Nope no curves, nearest are up past Vaughan or in Burlington and even then it's like 2km max.

[freakystyly]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Nope no curves, nearest are up past Vaughan or in Burlington and even then it's like 2km max.

Agree, the escarpment area (some roads are OK) & forks of the credit (heavily policed). Last time I went to forks, I saw 3 people getting their cars taken away. And the time before that it was clogged with leaf admirers.

That's about all the roads that aren't a grid within a reasonable 1-2hr drive.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by QUiKSR20

I am convinced modern German cars in general are engineered to fail outside of the warranty or lease
which sucks because they are fun to drive. The only reason I daily a GR86 and not a 240i which I was set
to buy is our ownership experience with the last 2 BMW's. I was mentally done, I still have my E36 which I love.

Truth! The N55 F22/87 are the only late model BMWs I'd ever consider. Generally not tech heavy, pretty easy to work on, and a simple air to air intercooled turbo motor (for a German car). Between my 2016 M235 that owned for nearly 8 years and my 2018 M2 for almost a year, the only repair I've had to make was to my M2 when the T-stat failed in the winter. I'm not interested in the B and S series motors. They are far better at intercooling and ultimate power, but they are way more complex and I'm not as power hungry as I was back in the day. My M2 does mid-12s stock. That's plenty fast for me now.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Yep the 1st Z4. It is a nimble chassis with more oomph than the Miata and less $$$ than the 987.2 Boxster (I would avoid a .1 boxster).

Ya, BMW doesn't know what it wants to do with the Z series: is it a sports car, a GT or I dunno what that 3rd gen is supposed to target and the whole pt of it all. I'm not biased at all, they should've just modernized the 1st gen.

[QUiKSR20]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Truth! The N55 F22/87 are the only late model BMWs I'd ever consider. Generally not tech heavy, pretty easy to work on, and a simple air to air intercooled turbo motor (for a German car). Between my 2016 M235 that owned for nearly 8 years and my 2018 M2 for almost a year, the only repair I've had to make was to my M2 when the T-stat failed in the winter. I'm not interested in the B and S series motors. They are far better at intercooling and ultimate power, but they are way more complex and I'm not as power hungry as I was back in the day. My M2 does mid-12s stock. That's plenty fast for me now.

Exactly, Im not looking for 600HP anymore... Im fine with a light nimble and most of all FUN car!
Once they went water based intercooling they just doubled the plastic hose connections that fail.

The M2 is awesome and I agree, 12s is fine, Now that electrics cant beat
most at pure acceleration ( boring but fast ) theres no point chasing that metric..

Just buy something fast enough that handles great and puts a smile on your face without breaking the bank in repairs.

[RyanB123]

I've thought this as well, it seems pretty overrated. I get that people say you can push slower cars to the limits, which makes them more fun but a slow car is just boring to me. Maybe the people who like them come from a 100hp car so its not as bad but if you've been driving 400hp+ BMW's for years and go to this it seems like a massive downgrade.

I'm not saying it should be as powerful as an M car but 180hp is just slow by todays standards. I know it's not built for straight line performance but not having enough power to get thrown into the back of the seat is just underwhelming.

[HeelToeShift]

These cars are not about speed but momentum and carrying speed consistently. Drive a Miati on a track, especially a tight one, and you'll see where it shines.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

These cars are not about speed but momentum and carrying speed consistently. Drive a Miati on a track, especially a tight one, and you'll see where it shines.

It shines on handing out point bys.

Honestly.iata drovers are THE WORST at track days. They all run crazy low tread wear tires and act like they're some kind of super fast driver because they don't have to slow down going into corners (because they didn't gain any speed to begin with). They will ride your ass around the corners because "you're in the way" and "it's dangerous for them to slow down" (actual dumb things I've heard Miata owners say in drivers meetings). You think they're gonna give you a point by if your car is faster though? Not a damn chance.

I usually just point them by and coast for a while until I have space for myself. Don't need some tweaker in a Miata crashing into my car. When I start coming back up on them, I back off again. I'm sure they all think they're whooping me, but really it's self preservation of not wanting to be around them. There are no trophies at most track days after all.

[Donatello.]

This most certainly must be a troll post. You leaned into corners like your SUV...lmao wtf?!

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by tranquility

Interesting and good thread. I guess I kinda had similar expectations as the OP having still not driven a MX-5 yet. I know there is bodyroll but from what he described, wow, doesn't sound so hot, and I'm one who definitely doesn't care for straight-line speed and prefer light weight and great handling on curved roads. Maybe OP should try the GR86/BRZ, the Elise/Exige or 4C.

It's by design in stock form and still out handles so many other cars.

Also, just lower it and problem solved. I am on GWR springs.

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by ZL9M2

Drove one at Road America a number of years ago skidpad, autocross, braking, and came to the same conclusion. I think it's a "cool sports car" if you're coming out of a Ford Taurus or something, but was of no interest to me.

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

You're right - my expectations absolutely were wrong going in - but even before I began to compare it to other cars, those expectations were built on years of hype surrounding the car.

I do want to at some point drive one that's been modified to see if that fixes the issues I had with it. Not sure if I'll get that chance, but maybe one day. I keep thinking if I could tighten up the steering and suspension while giving it a little more power, that might fix 90% of the issues I was experiencing.

They were never built to be fast in a straight line. There are turbo & sc kits out there so...

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by Donatello.

This most certainly must be a troll post. You leaned into corners like your SUV...lmao wtf?!

Not a troll post at all. The car leaned significantly... definitely more than I would ever expect a sports car to lean. Took me by surprise.

[MisanoblueZ4]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

Not a troll post at all. The car leaned significantly... definitely more than I would ever expect a sports car to lean. Took me by surprise.

The Miata actually gives a lot of feedback to the driver.

This thread also made it on the Miata Forum and they are equally destroying BMW’s and their owners 😂

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=796175

[ayilar]

Originally Posted by MisanoblueZ4

The Miata actually gives a lot of feedback to the driver.

This thread also made it on the Miata Forum and they are equally destroying BMW’s and their owners 😂

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=796175

Actually, half of the posts in the Miata thread recognize the good points made by the OP in the present thread. That objectivity is worth praising.