I have a black and tan 93' with about 100k on the odometer. I've loved having it for the last three years and have toured the country with it every summer--about 25k's worth of driving. It's pretty loaded, PS, PW, CC, PM, AC, etc. though I don't really use AC much and don't really care about power steering.
However, there are the usual annoyances: the paint's getting a bit old especially on the nose cone, a few rattles that there weren't before, the alarm wiring needs to be traced for an intermittent short. But enough.
A local dealer has a few turbo MazdaSpeeds on sale this weekend for around $22K out the door. I drove one and just loved it. It has the same tight handling mine does, maybe even a bit tighter, and the power difference is more than obvious obviousl My biggest problem is parking on the street in a semi-residential area of a big city
So we're talking $5k to fix up the older car and $20k plus $500 more a year in insurance and registration for the new one.
Questions:
How much more power would turbo/supercharging give my 93'? It's a pretty tight handler but there are definitely times on the highway and in the mountains that I'd love the turbo.
What's up for 2005? I've heard the Miata as such will be transforming into something similar but with a stowaway hardtop. I could really care less about that.
What part can you [easily] pull from the engine compartment for a MaxdaSpeed to make sure no one can steal it with anything other than a tow truck?
How stealable are Miata's these days?
What would you do?
Feel free to have fun with this... ;-)
JJ