The MX-5...and you., Dig into your inner auto enthusiast. Options

[SwissFerdi]

So, as we are all Celica owners, we all have the same baseline perspective to build on. What do you as 6GCers think about the Mazda MX-5? Would you consider trading your Celica for an MX-5 (specifically the NB - 2nd gen), and if you did, what would you consider to be the pros and cons of trading to an MX-5?

Thanks for the input.

[SwissFerdi]

Glad you liked the one you drove.

I used to have a 90 Miata and loved it, even my friends who knew nothing about cars loved to ride in it. I put Tokico springs and struts on it and that made a HUGE difference in how it handled. It was a great car, even though it was that old it only had 90k on it. The previous owner wouldn't admit it but the car had been tracked, you could see under it where there used to be a straight thru exhaust, and the car had a brand new top and frame on it because they had removed it when the car was new. It only gave me trouble once when the ECU went bad, but that's because the car had sat outside with no top on it and the ECU had gotten wet multiple times. I DD'd it, even in 6 inches of snow it got around like a champ. Very easy to work on, and there is a ton of aftermarket support out for them.

They are indeed easy on maintenance from what I've read. They seem like a decently simple platform to learn on as well. How much of a drop did the Tokico springs provide, and how much body roll was left (if you could verbally illustrate) after the drop?

And I say go for that one, I know what owners are on about now.

I agree with about the shifter. I've seen ones with short throws and it just looks ridiculous. They are very fun cars. When I test drove one I had the exact same response as you. It didn't stick on me much at first but I kept thinking about the car for like two weeks straight. I still wish I could have gotten it. I didn't really get to take it on the roads though so I didn't get too good of a feel of the handling. As for the steering wheel, my CRX's steering wheel had huge chunks missing out of it (weight reduction, not on purpose though). That and the fading seem like they can be kind of normal wear for a 20 year old Florida car. I'm honestly expecting to go outside one day soon and just see all the cars melted from the heat.

You're exactly right, I can't stop thinking about the stupid thing now. And yes, the FL heat does suck.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Aug 31, 2010 - 5:16 PM