New to the Miata world

[wrh3]

I have been interested in Miatas since the first ones hit the US dealerships but have never owned one. I finally picked one up last week, a CPO 2011 Special Edition. This car was purchased to replace my 2005 Mini Cooper S which will be passed on to my son with ~170k miles. The Mini has been a great road warrior car since I drive ~800 interstate miles a week for business.

Have not really had a chance to drive it yet but looking forward to putting on some miles and maybe doing some performance mods. I have been involved with many car clubs but this is my first Mazda, looking forward to meeting some local owners, maybe a mountain drive when it warms up a little.


Bill
www.billswebspace.com/miata.html

[RotorNutFD3S]

Very nice! Welcome to the madness!

[mustangtomiata]

It is imPossible to own a miata and not do something to it! The sky is the limit with these cars, welcome!

[ZOOMX5]

Nice looking car, welcome! There is already a big aftermarket for the NC, and it doesn't take much to make one awesome.

[aintnostang]

I just got my first Miata, and now i understand... I've never driven anything like it. Could not be happier with my new car.

[mx5andreas]

You got a beaut! And they are fun, you unlock the true potential with the mods!

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk

[oldgrayfrog]

Another NC driver! They're multiplying like rabbits all of a sudden... 170k on a MINI? Wow, that's a lot of love. I was over at RSpeed, which incidentally specializes in the care and feeding of both Miatas and MINIs, and saw Hector remove the entire front end of a MINI to do some almost routine maintenance. That kind of killed the MINI for me, that and the poor lady who had to pay almost 10k for a transmission replacement on a car that she had just taken out a loan on. Poor thing was in tears, and that was with Joseph, the owner discounting everything he could and using rebuilt parts. I still like the cars though, I just think I'd probably lease them, and then hand it in when the warranty expired. But what the hell do I know, my daily is a VW? Welcome to the party, it's a very friendly crowd here.

[wrh3]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

The Mini has required very little in the way of maintenance (still on original engine/SC/trans/clutch) and is pretty easy to work on, my guess would be the bad trans the lady was upset about was a CVT auto or early Midlands manual- the first few years they were over here were rough and I would not recommend any of the first gen models outside of the 2005/2006 S. The new turbo Minis got off to a bad start as well and never really appealed to me.

And I hear you about mods, my wife laughed when I told her I was not doing anything to this car (she seems to think I have a mod addiction) :rolleyes:

[Beastinthebushes]

Heyoooooo!!!

[nickt93]

Welcome Bill! I think you'll enjoy being part of our community.

Your car is hot - I love the color of the leather seats. Also digging the debadged look.

[Beastinthebushes]

Your car is hot - I love the color of the leather seats. Also digging the debadged look.

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe Nick is hitting on your car.

[theothersawyer]

Welcome and nice car! Do I spot a Lotus in the garage?

[oldgrayfrog]

Lotus, Lotus,! Yes, the young woman had of course bought a car with a CVT *sigh* I'm not going to say the obvious....I will leave the words unspoken in your minds.

[jester911]

Welcome to our little world. Nice looking NC.

[wrh3]

Good eye- Yes, I had a 2005 Elise years ago and missed it, so I scooped up a 2011 since the Elise is NLA for the US in its current form once the 2011 inventory is gone- all of the federal exemptions expired and Toyota is no longer producing the 2ZZ motor. I'm anxious to see if Dany runs Lotus into the ground or if they get sold off since the Proton ownership change-up last week.......regardless, the next Elise will be heavy and may(probably will) lose some of the intrinsic qualities that make it such a great drivers car.

I run into a few Mini CVT Owners who didn't do research before buying and don't realize the ticking time bomb they have (or the expense to replace). Sounds like a good time to convert to the Getrag 6 speed when the CVT goes.

I wanted to get the clear paint protection film installed before really driving the Miata (can't bring myself to say MX-5) but may go ahead and drive it out of town next week anyway to see how good/bad the suspension really is before making any decisions on mods.

[oldgrayfrog]

Congrats on both beautiful, or well all the beautiful cars. I'd recommend getting Keith Tanner's new book "Performance Miata" it has a lot of info, specifically about the suspension on the NC. If you are looking for more power, FM has a supercharged kit, and they have figured out how to flash the ecu to make it safe. Of course, you would have to be mighty bold to do that with a car in warranty:)

I morn the loss of the Elise, it really surprised me that Lotus didn't have the resources to manufacture a current gen air bag for it and the Exige. I think that the loss of the Toyota engine could have easily been overcome, as folks have been doing swaps into the Elise almost from day one. I'd love to see the newest generation Mazda four cylinder direct injection motors go into the car personally. I'd love to own an Elise, I have been riding around in my Miatas the last few years in Elise seats and love them, but prices just haven't come down as far as I'd hope, for what would be a fourth or fifth car for me. I just look at $25000 and think "I could get a Viper, or a 996 gen Porsche 911, or even a Maserati coupe for that." So I never end up buying an Elise, and now that they aren't being sold new anymore, I doubt that the remaining ones will be going down in value any time soon.

[theothersawyer]

(can't bring myself to say MX-5)
I feel the same way! I hate MX-5 and to me they will always be referred to as Miatas.

[Jack-MX5ATLanta.com]

Waheyyyyy!!! Welcome!!!!