2004 Miata MP3 Player Option - Cautionary Tale

Seth,

I'm considering the 2004 MazdaSpeed MX-5 Miata, would you mind letting the group know how you like it, and what you paid for it?

Thanks!

Ive posted before, but will reiterate...

I paid $26k with Mazda 3.9% financing.

I bought the car because I wanted a second car which was a convertible. Test drove 350z, regular Miata, and S2000, considered the Z3/4 but didnt have enough interest in either (although my primary car is a 2000 540i).

The 350z was a POS, the regular Miata was underpowered but great in every other aspect, the S2000 was awesome - I never liked them until I drove one. But I wasnt looking to spend $33k on a second car when I could get the Miata MazdaSpeed for $26k - it was just too good a deal to pass up.

So within an hour of the first two arriving at my dealer I test drove one and bought it before service could even inspect it for sale. The silver color and default package with cool wheels, great stereo, was icing on the cake.

I love the car but I have to admit it is a bit frustrating driving a car you need to wind up to 4500 RPM to play with. I can own the road at any speed with the 300HP V8 540i, but only certain circumstances with the Miata - not enough room to wind it up around town, and not comfortable at high speed California freeway driving at 80+ because you are low and the suspension is very stiff. Otherwise its awesome.

Bottom line is that it is a very fun convertible at an unbeatable price, and I dont regret the purchase at all - it delivers what it promises.

It's probably a good thing you didn't buy the S2000 then. I find it interesting you liked the S2000 but make the above comment about the Miata. The S2000 you have to wind up to about 7k to play with.

The newer S2000 have had their engines re-tuned to provide more torque at lower rev's than the earlier models. So you don't have to rev them up as high as before.

-------------- Alex

Not only that, but there is so much spare horsepower that they are plenty fun at lower RPMs.

BTW, I just went up against a Ford F-250 an hour ago and the MazdaSpeed is in the body shop :(

'04 MS Miata:

0-60: 6.64 seconds Peak torque: 4500 RPMs Peak HP: 6000 RPMs

'00 BMW 540i 0-60: 5.5 seconds Peak torque: 3600 RPMs Peak HP: 5400 RPMs

I'll admit to not understanding the statement "wind up to 4500 RPMs" like it's some ridiculous number. I have a stock '95 Miata, and unless they've seriously changed the 1.8 engine since then, it's no problem getting to peak torque/HP and they don't happen in my car until 5000/6500 RPMs. Heck, that's half the fun, right there. If you don't bounce off the rev limiter a few times a week, you're probably doing something wrong.

You simply cannot compare the Miata to a 540i and keep a straight face. They're both passenger cars with sporting aspirations, but that's like comparing a minivan and a 3/4-ton Dodge Dually because they can both haul stuff. The Miata isn't about "owning the road at any speed", it's about feeling *connected* to the road at any speed. The Miata isn't an intimidation car like a 540--it's a very personal car designed to evoke a more intimate feeling.

Anyway, long story short, you must be seriously tearing up the town if a Mazdaspeed Miata doesn't have enough performance to satisfy you on a trip to the supermarket. OTOH, if you were talking about the Interstate, you'd have a point.

I like the way people consider *their* level of performance 'intimate', but once you leave their price range it becomes an 'intimidation car'.

LOL!

BMW drivers reputations for being intimidating is well-deserved, but its not their personality its the car's. We are actually very embarrased at the way we drive, but its the way the car wants to be driven, I assure you.

Im sure MazdaSpeed owners would need to make the same apologies to Geo owners.

The 8-cylinder BMWs like the 540i especially are autobahn cruisers, and feel as safe at 100 then most production cars feel at 65. As a result, 65 feels like driving 35 on the freeway in a Miata.

Absolutely on the interstate. I love my little Miata, but not only is it less fun to drive on the Interstate then my 540i, its less fun to drive on the Interstate then most cars in general, unless you have an exceptionally well paved freeway. Sitting that low on suspension that stiff is like reading the asphault in braille.

Sure you can. It just needs practice.

...

Slow? Almost all BMW drivers I see are *very* slow to accelerate, providing an instant traffic jam, and not very fast in the curves. They are however, again almost all I see, *very* fast on the straight ends (interstates.)

And it is not just that the car is really for business reasons (price) necessarily targeted to an older audience. I had a young friend with one. She had some long-term disagreements with the local police about speed limits, but starting from rest it was more than my patience would stand. I think it is the car that invites such driving.

Leon

Blah blah blah ...

Get off the interstates already!

What *are* you talking about, Seth?

Dana

Myself and another member of the local Miata club were headed from Portland to the coast a few weeks back. During a twisty section we got behind a Z4. He would slow down to 30 for the curves and then floor it to 80 on the straight stretches. I should point out that these were curves that could easily have been taken at 50-60 (I know because we were doing it in our Miatas).

Shortly after installing a Jackson Racing 5.5 psi S/C in my '02 SE, I found myself at a stoplight next to a gentleman in a new Z4. He looked over and smiled the trademark "Smug BMW" smile, then gunned it launched hard when the light changed.

The "Smug BMW" look was replaced by a surprised "What are you doing here?" look when he next looked over at me. I don't think the S/C whine quite registered.

You know the punchline:

Priceless.

Dana

No, I simply consider a small two-seat roadster that weighs slightly more than 2k lbs. to be infinitely more intimate than a 5-passenger sedan.

Whoa, there, Sethy-boy; grab your ego and step down from the pedestal. It has nothing to do with price and all to do with size. Neither I nor my SO care to drive vehicles the size of a 5-series. The "intimidation car" comment comes from the 540i being an Autobahn/Interstate cruiser, i.e. they're good in the left lane for clearing traffic. You seem to agree with this. That's not at all what the Miata is designed to do.

That said, an '00 540i goes for mid-$20s these days. More than a handful of us could be driving one tomorrow if we cared to; most of us don't. If you want to look as high-fallutin' as you're acting, it's time for a new ride.

I think the "BMW driver reputation" is something mostly made up by, well, BMW owners so they can act special.

That said, we've been looking for a new family car for my SO to drive. We're considering the 3-series and absolutely *nothing* larger than that, but it's proving next to impossible to find one with AWD, a stick, the 3-liter, and navigation. We don't want to order one, so we'll keep looking. If we find an Infiniti G35 with the same conditions first, we'll probably get that and even save some money.

Uh...sure, OK, if that's what puts you to sleep at night. Seth, I think you're somewhat confused--I have no doubt the BMW 5-series is about as good as sports sedans get, but that's not the point. There's a guy I work with that had a 540i and a Honda S2000 at the same time at some point last year. He'd see the point in a second.

Nah, I've never found that Miata owners find a need to make apologies to anyone. Like most people here, I grin and wave like an idiot just as much when I see a worn-out '90 A-package as when I see the newest Mazdaspeed model. I think this is why I've never bothered to buy a new Miata--I like the old one just fine.

See, Seth, the Miata isn't made for the freeway.

Say, Seth, why'd you buy a Miata again? You sure haven't embraced the overall Miata philosophy very well, and instead seem to be treating the ownership of a fun little roadster entirely too much like you'd treat the family wagon.

Wait a minute, I thought you said the S2000 was awesome? (with which I would agree) Nothing with four wheels has as peaky an engine as an S2000. Perhaps a more torquey but less sporting (and arguably ugly) Z3/4 would suit you better. As the saying goes, if the music's too loud, er, uh, the suspension's too stiff...

David

Have you test-driven a Mazdaspeed Miata? I recently removed the JRSC from my '02 SE, putting it back to stock temporarily. It's proven to be a sharp reminder to *me* of the difference...

[Also, I'm quite happy with my initial impressions of the new set of AVS ES100s added recently; did you buy a set of them, too?]

It sounds like Seth's expectations are not well-aligned with what a Miata offers. However, these are cars, not religions. I'd hate for us to start looking like we have a "Miata Attitude" similar to the "BMW Attitude".

Cheers, Dana

No, I have not. I'd probably be more apt to go the JRSC route. It's also time for new shocks--looking at KYB AGX.

Unfortunately I ran into an emergency situation and had to have a set of cheap Falkens installed locally. I needed the Miata for three 500+ mile road trips in about a week's time and couldn't schedule the installation of anything better. I'm not impressed with the tires I'm currently running, but I've promised myself that I'd save judgment until the new shocks are on.

Guess I coulda asked to borrow your SUV, huh? ;)

My opinion is that there *is* a Miata attitude, except that it's largely about having a good time and meeting people and less about making people think you're Important.

Next time you're in California, stop by and you can take my JRSC '02 for a spin (assuming, of course, I've had a chance to re-install it). You'll be stuck in a loop of rationalizing why you don't really need a JRSC afterwards ;-)

I've got 20k miles on the stock shocks, I'll probably have to wait another 5-10k before I can replace the shocks with the KYB AGX I've been considering without incurring too much hassle from my (more practical) wife.

[...]

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Sure; or, to save a little gas, you could have borrowed the '98 Monte Carlo ;-).

[...]

Sure, I'm really thinking about the part of The Attitude where one projects an air of superiority because of their choice of car. I don't want that to creep in from the BMW Attitude.

Dana

Well, I'm sure your BMW 540 is very, very nice, especially if you ever have more than one passenger to carry, but "reading the asphalt" is what I like the best about my Miata. The strong, sound-proofed cabin of the highly civilized 540 protects its tenants against the wind and the sun too; again, no thanks.

I once had a 300 HP car but I think my 116 HP Miata is way more fun to drive. Sure that sounds wack, all the car nuts I know think I'm crazy when I tell them, plus I'll admit there have been a few moments when I wished I had another dozen or two more HP, particularly when the AC is on. But I'm not trying to set a new world land-speed record, I just want to to make my boring commute more entertaining. One of the things I enjoy a lot when I'm out driving is where I see a thread-hole in traffic, downshift and pound it, zip zip zooom! listen to that great approaching-redline growl as the Miata makes another one of its classic house-cat moves.

"I can do the same thing in my BMW, but where you're talking about getting from 40 MPH to 70 MPH, I'm going from 65 MPH to 110!" Exactly, and how often do you get an opportunity to go 110 MPH on the public roads, anyway? Maybe if you live in Montana or New Mexico you can get away with it regularly, but in the populated parts of the U.S.A. if you drive a lot in the 110 MPH range you're risking both your own life and everyone else's, plus if you have a lead foot like me you'd probably lose your license pretty quick too. When I had that Chevelle SS396 I got thirteen points in four months, something about those howling, smoking tires tipped off them damn traffic cops every time. Whereas in a Miata, as well as being able to take corners at speeds that would have put the SS396 on its roof, I also get to enjoy all-out pedal-to-the-metal action at least once or twice a day.

Yours WDK - snipped-for-privacy@ij.net

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