Miata questions...

[speedminded]

Mazmart does sell them and they're usually in great shape but you can generally find them on ebay or on the Miata.net classifieds. I spend a lot of time on that forum and there is a wealth of knowledge about everything relating to miatas. I personally don't like hardtops, too much hassle and my car spends 99% of its time with the top down anyways. The cars are not straight line cars and weren't designed with that in mind. If you want a cheap and fun car to drive roads with corners you can't find a better car. I can take my relatively stock miata to an autocross and beat much faster cars, including several turbo hondas. The FM II turbo kit is pretty sweet but there's something about instant boost that I like about the supercharger. The greddy kit will only fit a second gen with some modification but its not that hard to do.

"not straight line cars", that is exactly why they should have hardtops...dunno if they provide much rigidity to the body but the idea is there.

As for the autocross comment...a front wheel drive on a flat course is hard enough then you throw in power? Before the LSD i would gently roll into the throttle coming out of the turns and light up the inside tire...How does a stock miata compare to a showroom Mini?

[Cool Cat Racing]

"not straight line cars", that is exactly why they should have hardtops...dunno if they provide much rigidity to the body but the idea is there.

As for the autocross comment...a front wheel drive on a flat course is hard enough then you throw in power? Before the LSD i would gently roll into the throttle coming out of the turns and light up the inside tire...How does a stock miata compare to a showroom Mini?

Depending on which mini they do rather well, throw in a Works S and that changes a little. Any car without an LSD is going to have traction problems, at least with RWD it doesn't make the car push too bad. Mines got an LSD so I don't worry about it, let the back step out and have some fun. Any car can be made to be fast, especially when its as light as a miata. As for the hard top, it takes the fun out of the car for me. It doesn't add any rigidity and just adds more weight. 90% of the fun is not having a top for me.

[FDslider]

90% of the fun is not having a top for me.

I can see that. I have ridden with Mike (droptopdrifter) with the top up, and with the top down. Having the top down does add to the fun factor.

[speedminded]

I can see that. I have ridden with Mike (droptopdrifter) with the top up, and with the top down. Having the top down does add to the fun factor.

I'm quite familiar with 356 speedsters, bug-eyed sprites, spitfires, mga's & mgb's, xk120's, etc...all beautiful convertible sports cars (minus the MGB-GT) so it's not that i don't feel comfortable in a convertible, i'm just not fond of any convertibles since then...i think the S2k and miata with hardtops are so hot and would prefer an M coupe (M shoe) over a M roadster or Z3 anyday! I won't even get into what i think about the Z3 coupe). Then you have the modena vs. modena spyder ($50k more to go topless!)

[Cool Cat Racing]

I'm quite familiar with 356 speedsters, bug-eyed sprites, spitfires, mga's & mgb's, xk120's, etc...all beautiful convertible sports cars (minus the MGB-GT) so it's not that i don't feel comfortable in a convertible, i'm just not fond of any convertibles since then...i think the S2k and miata with hardtops are so hot and would prefer an M coupe (M shoe) over a M roadster or Z3 anyday! I won't even get into what i think about the Z3 coupe). Then you have the modena vs. modena spyder ($50k more to go topless!)

And that 50K is worth every penny to me. The spyder in black or silver with the top down is pure metal sex. Throw on a Novitec Rosso body kit and supercharger and the car almost makes me cream my pants just sitting in it.