Automatic Miata

Too bad it's not closer to this end of the USA. One of our club members was hit on New Years and destroyed his automatic. The other car caught him right in front of the driver door and bent the whole front of the car. He had some injuries but his daughter in the passenger seat is okay.

Iva & Vixen

2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata

Why would anyone want an automatic Miata? IMO, part of the reason for owning a litle roadster like the Miata is the joy of driving it, and part of that driving experience is the stick shift :-).

And part of that driving experience is the reason my Miata will be for sale in the not too far distant future. I'm having more and more trouble with the clutch as my legs work less and less, soon I'll not be able to shift and would consider an automatic Miata unless, of course, you feel I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy a roadster?

Heck, I'm already 58, and it's a good thing that I bought mine nearly eight years ago, since I find it harder and harder to squeeze/get into the blasted thing??LOL LOL :-). But will enjoy it as long as I can also :-).

Well, I left the fold of the pure faithful. I just purchased an Automatic Miata. A 2006 Galaxy Grey GT AT6. Went to try out a 2004 Silver SE, but decided to try the 2006 since the price was so good. I enjoyed it so much I bought it. It isn't what most automatics are, that is for sure. I would not recommend one for racing, autocross, etc. for the purist, but for general road use and fun driving, it is remarkable.

Left to its own devices, it is an extremely smart automatic. Not a learning one, but very smart about shifting based on throttle position. Will hold the low gears longer if throttle is maintained hard, and shift sooner if lite throttle. It will even down shift by itself in a turn to be in the right gear to apply throttle/torque coming out. That may be dangerous in extreme conditions, since the shift will tend to come near the apex of the turn. So for those conditions, use the manumatic mode and the fun paddle shifters on the wheel. You get to control the shifts and can hold a gear right to the redline. Found the manual shifting to be as much fun as a full manual on the twisties, and the left leg can just relax.

After purchase, found that the comments in the miata.net forums for the NC Autos were all very favorable, and thought I should have read them sooner. Maybe I am just getting older, but it is the best Auto I have ever driven, and with the paddle shifters just as much fun as a manual.

So hold your expectations in reserve and give one a test drive. As a note, I found that when in manual mode, a release of throttle (or backing off) just like you would in a full manual helps the trans perform an upshift quicker. Without backing off, there will be a little lag in the upshift.

I have read about these automatics with "Paddle Shifters." Never seen one, and don't have any idea what they are :-).

We have 4 or 5 auto Miata in our local club - one is owned by a gentleman who was a thalidomide (spelling?) baby - his right arm is not fully developed and he is unable to shift a manual trans. Should he be forbidden to own a Miata?

While an auto might not be for you, please don't put down those who choose to purchase one.

Iva & Vixen

2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata

Iva, I don't see any "put down" in the above. It's a simple statement of fact.

But life is full of compromises, and of course there are many reasons -- including physical infirmities -- why people might want to or have to compromise on their Miata of choice.

As to your local club member, he should only be prohibited from owning a new black one with retractable hardtop. That one's supposed to be mine.

-- Larry

Iva and you brought up some very good points. I asked the question and got some good responses that never crossed my mind. Thanks all :-).

-- And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen

all these attractions, nay more, by the fear of prisons, tortures, and death, they were lost. Let us follow up this thought.

802. The apostles were either deceived or deceivers. Either supposition has difficulties; for it is not possible to mistake a man raised from the dead...

While Jesus Christ was with them, He could sustain them. But, after that, if He did not appear to them, who inspired them to act?

SECTION XIII: THE MIRACLES

803. The beginning.--Miracles enable us to judge of doctrine, and doctrine enables us to judge of miracles.

There are false miracles and true. There must be a distinction, in order to know them; otherwise they would be useless. Now they are not useless; on the contrary, they are fundamental. Now the rule which is given to us must be such that it does not destroy the proof which the true miracles give of the truth, which is the chief end of the miracles.

Moses has given two rules: that the prediction does not come to pass (Deut.

18.), and that they do not lead to idolatry (Deut. 13.); and Jesus Christ one.

If doctrine regulates miracles, miracles are useless for doctrine.

If miracles regulate...

Objection to the rule.--The distinction of the times. One rule during the time of Moses, another at present.

804. Miracle.--It is an effect, which exceeds the natural power of the means which are employed for it; and what is not a miracle is an effect, which does not exceed the natural power of the means which are employed for it. Thus, those who heal by invocation of the devil do not work a miracle; for that does not exceed the natural power of the devil. But...

805. The two fundamentals; one inward, the other outward; grace and miracles; both supernatural.

806. Miracles and truth are necessary, because it is necessary to convince the entire man, in body and soul.

807. In

to do so, but some being able.

Let us, then, imagine we see society in the process of formation. Men will doubtless fight till the stronger party overcomes the weaker, and a dominant party is established. But when this is once determined, the masters, who do not desire the continuation of strife, then decree that the power which is in their hands shall be transmitted as they please. Some place it in election by the people, others in hereditary succession, etc.

And this is the point where imagination begins to play its part. Till now power makes fact; now power is sustained by imagination in a certain party, in France in the nobility, in Switzerland in the burgesses, etc.

These cords which bind the respect of men to such and such an individual are therefore the cords of imagination.

305. The Swiss are offended by being called gentlemen, and prove themselves true plebeians in order to be thought worthy of great office.

306. As duchies, kingships, and magistracies are real and necessary, because might rules all, they exist everywhere and always. But since only caprice makes such and such a one a ruler, the principle is not constant, but subject to variation, etc.

307. The chancellor is grave and clothed with ornaments, for his position is unreal. Not so the king; he has power and has nothing to do with the imagination. Judges, physicians, etc., appeal only to the imagination.

308. The habit of seeing kings accompanied by guards, drums, officers, and all the paraphernalia which mechanically inspire respect and awe, makes their countenance, when sometimes seen alone without these accompaniments, impress respect and awe on their subjects; because we cannot separate in thought their persons from the surroundings with which we see them usually joined. And the world, which knows not that this effect is the result of habit, believes that it arises by a natural force, whence come these words, "The character of Divinit

Your hands never leave the steering wheel, squeeze the left paddle to shift down and right paddle to shift up. Very nifty.

From Wikipedia:

"A semi-automatic transmission (also known as clutchless manual transmission, dual-clutch transmission, automated manual transmission, e-gear, or paddle shift gearbox) is a system which uses electronic sensors, processors and actuators to do gear shifts on the command of the driver. This removes the need for a clutch pedal which the driver otherwise needs to depress before making a gear change, since the clutch itself is actuated by electronic equipment which can synchronize the timing and torque required to make gear shifts quick and smooth. The system was designed by European automobile manufacturers to provide a better driving experience, especially in cities where congestion frequently causes stop-and-go traffic patterns.

In standard mass-production automobiles, the gear lever appears similar to manual shifts, except that the gear stick only moves forward and backward to shift into higher and lower gears, instead of the traditional H-pattern. The Bugatti Veyron uses this approach for its

7-speed transmission. In Formula One, the system is adapted to fit onto the steering wheel in the form of two paddles; depressing the right paddle shifts into a higher gear, while depressing the left paddle shifts into a lower one. Numerous road cars have inherited the same mechanism."

Pat

Christ; God without power over the will of men; a predestination without mystery; a redemption without certitude!

885. Any one is made a priest, who wants to be so, as under Jeroboam.

It is a horrible thing that they propound to us the discipline of the Church of to-day as so good that it is made a crime to desire to change it. Formerly it was infallibly good, and it was thought that it could be changed without sin; and now, such as it is, we cannot wish it changed! It has indeed been permitted to change the custom of not making priests without such great circumspection that there were hardly any who were worthy; and it is not allowed to complain of the custom which makes so many who are unworthy!

886. Heretics.--Ezekiel. All the heathen, and also the Prophet, spoke evil of Israel. But the Israelites were so far from having the right to say to him, "You speak like the heathen," that he is most forcible upon this, that the heathen say the same as he.

887. The Jansenists are like the heretics in the reformation of morality; but you are like them in evil.

888. You are ignorant of the prophecies, if you do not know that all this must happen; princes, prophets, Pope, and even the priests. And yet the Church is to abide. By the grace of God we have not come to that. Woe to these priests! But we hope that God will bestow His mercy upon us that we shall not be of them.

Saint Peter, Epistle ii: false prophets in the past, the image of future ones.

889.... So that if it is true, on the one hand, that some lax monks and some corrupt casuists, who are not members of the hierarchy, are steeped in these corruptions, it is, on the other hand, certain that the true pastors of the Church, who are the true guardians of the Divine Word, have preserved it unchangeably against the efforts of those who have attempted to destroy it.

I find, then, this great and numerous people, sprung from a single man, who worship one God and guide themselves by a law which they say that they obtained from His own hand. They maintain that they are the only people in the world to whom God has revealed His mysteries; that all men are corrupt and in disgrace with God; that they are all abandoned to their senses and their own imagination, whence come the strange errors and continual changes which happen among them, both of religions and of morals, whereas they themselves remain firm in their conduct; but that God will not leave other nations in this darkness for ever; that there will come a Saviour for all; that they are in the world to announce Him to men; that they are expressly formed to be forerunners and heralds of this great event and to summon all nations to join with them in the expectation of this Saviour.

To meet with this people is astonishing to me, and seems to me worthy of attention. I look at the law which they boast of having obtained from God, and I find it admirable. It is the first law of all and is of such a kind that, even before the term law was in currency

of borrowed qualities.

324. The people have very sound opinions, for example:

1. In having preferred diversion and hunting to poetry. The half-learned laugh at it, and glory in being above the folly of the world; but the people are right for a reason which these do not fathom.

2. In having distinguished men by external marks, as birth or wealth. The world again exults in showing how unreasonable this is; but it is very reasonable. Savages laugh at an infant king.

1. In being offended at a blow, or in desiring glory so much. But it is very desirable on account of the other essential goods which are joined to it; and a man who has received a blow, without resenting it, is overwhelmed with taunts and indignities.

2. In working for the uncertain; in sailing on the sea; in walking over a plank.

325. Montaigne is wrong. Custom should be followed only because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just. But people follow it for this sole reason, that they think it just. Otherwise they would follow it no longer, although it were the custom; for they will only submit to reason or justice. C

more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4,5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."

It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isa. 59:18. "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isa. 66:15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. 19:15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath of almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as t

as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost. The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. -- "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -- By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. -- The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a

in four, in two, in one? Why into Abstine et sustine[1] rather than into "Follow Nature," or, "Conduct your private affairs without injustice," as Plato, or anything else? But there, you will say, everything is contained in one word. Yes, but it is useless without explanation, and when we come to explain it, as soon as we unfold this maxim which contains all the rest, they emerge in that first confusion which you desired to avoid. So, when they are all included in one, they are hidden and useless, as in a chest, and never appear save in their natural confusion. Nature has established them all without including one in the other.

1. Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes one dependent on the other. But this is not natural. Each keeps its own place.

1. Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the subject is new. When we play tennis, we both play with the same ball, but one of us places it better.

I had as soon it said that I used words employed before. And in the same way if the same thoughts in a different arrangement do not form a different discourse, no more do the same words in their different arrangement form different thoughts!

1. Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects.

1. Language.--We should not turn the mind from one thing to another, except for relaxation, and that when it is necessary and the time suitable, and not otherwise. For he that relaxes out of season wearies, and he who wearies us out of season makes us languid, since we turn quite away. So much does our perverse lust like to do the contrary of what those wish to obtain from us without giving us pleasure, the coin for which we will do whatever is wanted.

2. Eloquence.--It requires the pleasant and the real; but the pleasant must itself be drawn from the true.

1. Eloquence is a painting of thought; and thus those who, after having painted it, add something more, ma