"Luxury sports car..."

[bottlebomber]

Nice! I have to say, now that this search is over, I've been seeing them all over the road. I'm still apprehensive about the look of the front of the car though. 3-4 years from now when I can afford two car payments again, I'm really hoping that the FRS/BRZ has more power. Its one thing to buy a used car with no warranty to worry about and add power mods, but I obviously can't buy a $27,000 brand new car and do something that causes me to lose the warranty.

Yes, good point. The only mods the wife is likely to do is get a pink leopard print wheel cover.

 

[Airborneguy]

Gotta say, I'm really happy that I went this route. Brought the car in to have the speedometer cable fixed this morning and got to do half the work. When I got home, I pulled out the stupid "rice burner" sound-thing someone installed in the muffler. The car sounds much better now, but I'll probably still install a new exhaust somewhere down the road. I'm having fun working on a car for the first time, and can't wait to get into the bigger stuff. Tomorrow I'm pulling out the entire interior, and possible installing the new convertible top.

 

[tommybjr]

battin' .500

Luxury-No
Sport-No
Car-arguably

The way I see it, he's batting' .333

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Luxury-No
Sport-No
Car-arguably

The way I see it, he's batting' .333

Ahhh you must not know the difference between sportscars and musclecars.

You know what sports are, right? They're competitions of skill and/or athleticism. Now do you know what the most commonly-raced streetcar on American road tracks is (not drag strips or ovals).

I would bet it's the Miata, hands down. They even have an entire racing series dedicated to it. That makes it a sportscar in my book. Many of the classic British roadsters were similarly powered, or had quite a bit less.

Personally, if given the choice, I would rather race a Miata than drive a Ferrari.

 

[Airborneguy]

Because of the streets I drive, I'd chose the Miata also.

This car is DEFINITELY a sports car. The handling is amazing. It has the best stock manual transmission I've ever driven. The rear wheel drive and short wheel base really make you feel like you're sitting on a lot more power than you really are. I love it so far. I'm looking at a supercharger and some headers. I'm leaning that way over the turbo route.

 

[Tex]

Nice! I have to say, now that this search is over, I've been seeing them all over the road. I'm still apprehensive about the look of the front of the car though. 3-4 years from now when I can afford two car payments again, I'm really hoping that the FRS/BRZ has more power. Its one thing to buy a used car with no warranty to worry about and add power mods, but I obviously can't buy a $27,000 brand new car and do something that causes me to lose the warranty.

There have been hints of a 2014 STI model for the BRZ. It would be turbo'd.

 

[sweed]

There have been hints of a 2014 STI model for the BRZ. It would be turbo'd.

And hopefully awd! Thing would be awesome! Love my sti.

 

[stamandster]

Just as an aside

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/09/10/chris-harris-capitulates-on-his-hatred-for-the-mazda-mx-5-miata/

 

[Airborneguy]

That video caused quite a stir on the Miata forum, but was mostly dismissed as Harris being intentionally controversial. Most of the comments there admit that the Miata is underpowered stock, but recognized as a serious platform for modifications. I haven't decided yet how crazy I want to get. I guess it depends on how strong the engine is a few years from now when I can buy a third car.

 

[stamandster]

Gotta remember too that Harris just bought a Ferrari 599 and had a Porsche GT3 RS 4.0 previous to that ... So it's context too.

 

[passedpawn]

Good luck getting that black paint to show-quality. Mine is black also. Swirls, watermarks, dust, everything shows up. I've made a science of getting it glossy, but keeping it that way for any time is impossible if you are going to actually use the car.

 

[Hamsterbite]

If more people would take the time to research and find out what they really want in a car as you have done, things would go much more smoothly at the car sales lots.

Almost everyone starts out with unrealistic goals. You initially wanted:

• Sport
• Luxury
• Sub $30K
• Reliability
• Coupe
• Non European
• 250+HP
• Good fuel economy

Several of these priorities are in conflict with eachother, but it worked out. I was getting that the main thing you were after was fun that wouldn't break the bank, and I think the Miata was a great choice for that. (Just make sure you run snows if this will be your daily winter driver!)
It misses on Luxury to be sure. Reliability? Eh, that's debateable. HP? No, but power to weight makes up for it. Fuel economy...it's ok. But fun? Definately.

If you didn't rule out Europeans, you might have stretched on budget to get more luxury in an older BMW Z4, or a Merc SLK.
For more power and more refinement, I'd have looked at an S2000.
For more raw excitment, a Caterham super 7 kit. Don't even think about driving this in remotely damp conditions though. It may be street legal, but it's no daily driver. A coworker of mine used to have one in the late 90's. It weighed less than 1200 lbs, and he built his with a Ford Focus 4 cylinder drivetrain. This thing had supercar acceleration and scared the hell out of anyone brave enough to shoehorn themselves into the pasenger "seat".

 

[Hamsterbite]

A coworker of mine used to have one in the late 90's. It weighed less than 1200 lbs, and he built his with a Ford Focus 4 cylinder drivetrain. This thing had supercar acceleration and scared the hell out of anyone brave enough to shoehorn themselves into the pasenger "seat".

He also had a Detomaso Pantera though, so this is clearly someone on a different kind of budget. Even thought the Caterham kit itself isn't that expensive, it's a lot of money for something that should only be taken out on the nicest of nice days.

 

[Airborneguy]

Good luck getting that black paint to show-quality. Mine is black also.

It will be some shade of blue when I get finished with it. My friend owns a 3rd generation body shop in Brooklyn. His work is impeccable and he already promised me a deep discount. I'm tired of black cars; I've had waaaayy to many.

 

[Airborneguy]

If more people would take the time to research and find out what they really want in a car as you have done, things would go much more smoothly at the car sales lots.

Thanks, there was a method to my madness. I did a ton of research on at least 5 different small "sports cars" once I decided I was going the used route. This one sort of fell in my lap. It really helped that the seller was willing to meet at my step-father's shop, unlike many of the other people I contacted. He went over it with a fine tooth comb and gave me the thumbs up.

I'm tackling the top tomorrow (hopefully). We'll see how that goes...

 

[tommybjr]

Ahhh you must not know the difference between sportscars and musclecars.

You know what sports are, right? They're competitions of skill and/or athleticism. Now do you know what the most commonly-raced streetcar on American road tracks is (not drag strips or ovals).

I would bet it's the Miata, hands down. They even have an entire racing series dedicated to it. That makes it a sportscar in my book. Many of the classic British roadsters were similarly powered, or had quite a bit less.

Personally, if given the choice, I would rather race a Miata than drive a Ferrari.

Wow

Really?? Really??

I will keep my 335i.

 

[passedpawn]

Wow

Really?? Really??

I will keep my 335i.

Yea, I thought Sir H was a bit over the top there too. I have a very wealthy friend that bought 2 new ferarris (his and hers). I drove it and it's a monster. I don't think you could compare a miata and that car. Here it is in my driveway ( I was terrified driving it on the wet roads)

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Wow

Really?? Really??

I will keep my 335i.

Absolutely. If you have ever raced ANYTHING, you know that driving a slow car at 100% is a ton more exciting than driving a fast one at 1%.

I have a Honda Blackbird, but I would trade it for my old SV650 with a third of the power and a heap of track time in a heartbeat.

And Miatas are very good cars for driving "all out".

 

[passedpawn]

Absolutely. If you have ever raced ANYTHING, you know that driving a slow car at 100% is a ton more exciting than driving a fast one at 1%.

Good point.

 

[motobrewer]

I have a Honda Blackbird, but I would trade it for my old SV650 with a third of the power and a heap of track time in a heartbeat.

that is 100% completely different than the difference between a 335i and a miata....

a proper simile would be an 1198R over an SV650

 

[Airborneguy]

I get what he's saying and totally agree with it. I knew what he meant the first time when he used 'race' for the Miata and 'drive' for the Ferarri. It's a common theme on the Miata forum, often expressed by people who actually do own much faster and expensive cars. They say that on regular streets, the miata is the most fun car to drive because the opportunity to take it 'all out' is much more frequent compared to faster cars which rarely can be pushed, at least legally, on streets.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Yup. The most fun streetbike I ever rode on the street was my old CB1. It had something like 26hp coming from a high-revving inline 4. I could chirp the tires, go through 3 gears and still be legal on many roads. Quite a hoot to ride like that.

Compare it to my Blackbird where even on open country roads, I can get a reckless driving ticket (20mph over) in first gear.