2006 or 2007 Miata

1) in my mind and in the minds of most owners and reviewers it is a great car

2) from what I've heard the folding hardtop is a new trim level which adds something like $1,500 to the car's price. It will make the car a bit more secure and, assuming they include some sort of headliner, will make it warmer/cooler inside and probably quieter also. The hardtop adds a bit of weight but not much and probably not enough to be a serious performance drag. It will certainly be possible to buy a 2006 when the

2007 becomes available (hint: some dealers will still sell you a new 2005 right now and there are probably a few 2004s to be had) but what you will be getting will be the leftovers so getting exactly what you want will become problematic - no special orders then.

3) ordering anything you want in the way of a standard trim level in a standard color with standard options should be no trouble it all

4) I know that California insurance is high but as such things go the Miata should be a relatively cheap car to insure. That assumes of course that you aren't 19 years old with a bad driving record and living in a dangerous area. Hell, I was paying < $500 a year for liability and collision on my 1991 Miata and changing over to the 2006 raised that to ~$620.

I guess I thought of a few tech question

- does it run on regular (87) octane gas or require premium fuel?

- how is the factory LSD? and suspension upgrade? If I am not mistaken $500 gets you both of them?

- I think there is a HID option, how is it?

- I know it has some kind of traction control with the premium package, what does it do? and can it be turned off so the driver can have complete control? beside the ABS I suppose.

I am thinking the 2007 hard top would be pretty good, supposed to only add 70 lbs.. seems it would be better security when parked.

Thanks

John McGaw wrote:

-Premium (although intermediate seems to work fine on long interstate cruises)

-LSD is a Torsen viscous type and seems to work well but does not lock up solid like old-style USA types. Upgraded "sport" suspension does not make a hard ride but I can't tell how much benefit it yields (but it does come with pretty yellow shocks)$500 sounds right and I think the LSD is worth it by itself

-I thought that the HID was part of the premium package? Don't know if it is available separately or how much that might cost that way. Stock lights seem plenty bright to me but tastes vary.

-traction control can be switched off IIRC. It is the sort which determines if the driver is getting out of line and selectively applies the brakes to one wheel at a time to bring it back. Have never tried it since my "sport" doesn't have it and it never kicked in during my test drives on the "premium" because the salesman was giving me the evil eye when I really pushed it.

Torsen, not viscous. They're two different technologies. The Torsen is an excellent choice for spirited driving on public roads, and should last forever with no attention.

Agreed. The concensus among hardcore drivers is that the springs and shocks aren't nearly stiff enough, but if you like the way it works, that's all that matters.

Octane requirement is 91.

Initially, I thought the PRHT was a wacky, over-the-top (pun intended) idea. But I think the demand will be higher than anticipated. At an $1800 premium, it's only $300 more than the old removable hardtop, without the drawbacks of storage and wrestling it into place, not to mention being able to enjoy an unseasonably nice top-down day without advance planning. If I were in the market for a new NC, I'd want the PRHT for sure. There's no downside except the initial cost. Well, and that it's ugly, but not from inside the car, which is all I care about.

That's what I thought at first as well, but it will offer the best of both worlds. No mater how much you like top down driving, the top has to go up sometimes, the exception being maybe not if it is a purely recreational vehicle located somewhere where rain is very rare.

It adds a bit of weight and I wonder about the life expectancy and replacement cost of the electric motor. Then I think about never replacing a vinyl top again....

Pat

Amazing. I've had a Torsen since my '91 Miata and all that time I just assumed it was some sort of viscous arrangement and never bothered to check it out. So much for intellectual curiosity...

Thanks alot, I discussed with my significant other and we now both think the hard top would be a good choice, one of the few reasons one is we have a tree that drop saps in spring I cannot imagine what would happen if that falls on a soft top. so I will probably not get the HID lights and use the budget for the hard top instead.

Regarding the LSD then, I understand it is the "gear type" then not the clutch type (vicious?) Is there noticable gear whine and does anyone know it is a 1 way or 1.5 way LSD?

The sports suspension I think I would get anyway, if it is stiffer than stock I would go for it. I figure by the time shocks need replacement it would be time to go aftermarket, and warranty would be over by then too.

I saw specificati> Lanny Chambers wrote:

I've never had a problem removing sap from the soft top on my 1990 - just a little Simple Green and a full application of elbow grease takes it right off. Removing sap from the hardtop is more complicated since you want to get it off Right Away so it doesn't damage the paint.

Of course my '90 is not clear coated so that might make a difference.

Iva & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata

Exactly what I've found...

Stock lights work fine

Cute little Icon on the dash, let's you know every time you "break traction". You don't know how much I wanted to type "every time you break wind!"

Have never tried it

Yeah, there are a lot of advantages to the NC but looks isn't one of them. I understand that Mazda wants to have a corporate design language across all their models and there are benefits to the new design, for example where getting rid of the coke-bottle shape opened up more room in the passenger compartment. But the old shape just looks better and there's no getting past it.

I do not notice it. But then, I would not pay that much attention when it is operating. :)

Do they make 1.5 ways?

As noted, the suspension remains soft, some say softer. However, the shocks still seem to be effective at killing the energy in the rolling motion quickly in my experience. I am a lot faster in my 2006 in AutoX than in my much stiffer Sebring 96 with Konis and R-Springs in the rear. But I am not a good driver. Still, I am happy I got the suspension upgrade.

The traction control makes the car supposedly safer. Also extremely sluggish, I have been told by one of our better Miata AutoXers, who looked at one. What do you expect when you brake wheels while trying to go fast? The salesman told him to turn of the traction control, and that made a lot of difference. I am glad I did not get it.

Don't know.

Leon

John,

If you had a '91 that had never had the rearend changed, you did not have a Torsen rear end. You had a VLSD. ('90 - '93) That rearend was a viscosity type "limited slip" rearend.

Go look in miata.net at the list of items near the bottom of the page. You will see an item about how to ID Open, VLSD and Torsen rearends.

Bruce Bing '03 LS

The "Coke - Bottle" look is called "Area-Rule". It is the aero drag curve of an object in flight. I don't think that the Miata (oh crap !) MX-5 goes fast enough to take advantage of this in most of it's road time, but the White ones might. Leon can you help us here ??? :-)

Bruce Bing '03 LS

I guess that might justify some of my confusion. Too late to go and check the diff in the '91 by now -- it was traded in April. But at least now I know what sort of diff the '06 has. Just need to keep those particular gray cells alive now...

It is called "coke-bottle" shape, but you could call it "slide-rule". :)

Only if the object starts flying at a Reynolds number of 1 or so and ends in the transonic range.

Sure. White Miatas readily drive transonic speed. However, usually white Miatas do not have the Mitsubishi (cars) sized wings to take advantage of the coke shape. The refined taste of their drivers will simply not allow it.

Leon :)

Are you trying to imply that this subtle modification is in bad taste? It does need to be white, but that is always a given.

Pat

Now see Leon, I knew you could add to this. :-)

Bruce Bing '03 LS

OH please Pat, save us from that !!!!! (but isn't it a nice color ?? :-) "Bing"

I thought those things were for the G/F to push the car to the gas station when he said, "Oh honey we are out of gas, I guess we will stop here in the woods."

Up that high, she won't need to bend over to push. :-)

Bruce Bing '03 LS

The top strip of the buildings? Sure. Looks like the R-Speed lot.

Smart GF.

But does she have a coke-bottle shape? That is the question.

Leon