Time for a Miata

[zinfamous]

I decided to put this off a year or so. Least exciting end to the thread ever, but I really want a 2019 and can't stomach buying a new car. The piece that really killed it for me is the ~$750 first-year excise tax bill I'd be hit with. F that. I'll take the 1-2 year used ones and pay the 30-40% rate rather than 90.

motion for ban!

 

[repoman0]

motion for ban!

If it helps my case and since I know the goal of this subforum is to convince people to spend money on their cars ... I seem to have automatically taken not spending money on a new car as a license to spend it on things for the M3 instead. "Saved" $30k, so time for a new suspension, Recaros to replace the shitty uncomfortable stock seats, and CF roof to ditch the sunroof and gain headroom.

 

[repoman0]

New conclusion to this thread: I'm about to buy another old BMW instead. Very different direction too .. 2400 lb 2.0L fuel efficient convertible to 4000 lb 5L V8 grandpa mobile. Roughly the same amount of money gone out the door but at least I'll get the 10% excise tax rate on a 2001!

 

[Muadib]

So you have 3 old BMWs now? What's the point of that?

 

[repoman0]

So you have 3 old BMWs now? What's the point of that?

The 330xi will be sold. Going to transfer my plates and take it off insurance, and park in my driveway until someone buys it. There is no point to even having two, but these two together cost me about as much as a typical new low-end luxury car ... so why not. The M3 will turn more into a track machine than it already is as time goes on, and the M5 will be a soft and comfortable daily driver with a lot of torque.

 

[zinfamous]

damn, I want an M5! grats!

 

[Muadib]

damn, I want an M5! grats!

Me too!

 

[repoman0]

damn, I want an M5! grats!

thanks! I had kind of overlooked these because the E39 5-series styling never really spoke to me (along with the 12/19 or 13/21 EPA ratings, depending where you look) but they’ve grown quite a bit on me. Should be a pretty good sleeper once I take the trunk badge off.

The Miata idea kind of went away for the foreseeable future once I got this child ... I mean puppy. Hopefully I don’t have a real child for the foreseeable future.

 

[repoman0]

These are really tempting me again for a daily / track toy combo ...

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

These are really tempting me again for a daily / track toy combo ...

View attachment 40851

The miata is a bit too squishy for me in the factory configuration. The first year(s) that had dampers that were overspecced lended themselves to spring upgrades rather well. The newer years after they retuned the dampers to better fit the factory configuration do not.

Also if you're not buying new you've gotta pay attention to what transmission revision you get. Seems like they've gone through several trying to fix various defects and failure modes, including switching to an (ugh) dual mass flywheel.

 

[ISAslot]

Count me in on the tempted club too.
Red Club soft top plz

 

[repoman0]

The miata is a bit too squishy for me in the factory configuration. The first year(s) that had dampers that were overspecced lended themselves to spring upgrades rather well. The newer years after they retuned the dampers to better fit the factory configuration do not.

Also if you're not buying new you've gotta pay attention to what transmission revision you get. Seems like they've gone through several trying to fix various defects and failure modes, including switching to an (ugh) dual mass flywheel.

Yeah, the soft suspension seems like one of the common complaints, but I don’t think I’d mind. My M3 is on coilovers and just far exceeds my skill level. Supremely confidence inspiring and tons of grip but breaks away so fast that it makes me nervous ... doubly so now that those cars’ values are so rapidly rising and destroying it on track would hurt. Anyway a bit of body roll to really tell me what the car is doing and to advance my car control skill level would be welcomed, and then suspension upgrades down the line would be simple

I had thought they fixed the grenading transmissions starting with the 2019 ND2? Along with the 7500RPM engine that’s the main reason I want a newer one.

 

[repoman0]

Count me in on the tempted club too.
Red Club soft top plz

That Mazda red is just ridiculous. Fiancee (GF when I started this thread, lol) bought a CX5 in that color recently and it’s so nice. Seeing the MX-5 in the showroom got me thinking about it again ... I looked for NCs for a few weeks, found that they’re really expensive and really held their value, came to the conclusion again that a new one is the way to go.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Yeah, the soft suspension seems like one of the common complaints, but I don’t think I’d mind. My M3 is on coilovers and just far exceeds my skill level. Supremely confidence inspiring and tons of grip but breaks away so fast that it makes me nervous ... doubly so now that those cars’ values are so rapidly rising and destroying it on track would hurt. Anyway a bit of body roll to really tell me what the car is doing and to advance my car control skill level would be welcomed, and then suspension upgrades down the line would be simple

I had thought they fixed the grenading transmissions starting with the 2019 ND2? Along with the 7500RPM engine that’s the main reason I want a newer one.

About a year ago when I was seriously contemplating a miata I spent a long time reading through miata forums. My memory is hazy now but there were multiple revisions that owners identified in 2019+ vehicles, and there were others with older miatas that received replacements that were a newer revision but still failures and yet newer revisions reported.

Between the transmission revision alphabet soup, transmission failures, switch to dual mass flywheel, and making the suspension just a little bit harder to upgrade I decided it was not the right time. I'm still holding out hope for a new S2000.

 

[repoman0]

Ugh, it’s happening. Found one in the spec I want a few hours away.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Ugh, it’s happening. Found one in the spec I want a few hours away.

Got a link to the listing?

 

[manly]

Ugh, it’s happening. Found one in the spec I want a few hours away.

dibs on your Bimmer when you're dumping one for a song!

 

[repoman0]

Got a link to the listing?

This one: https://www.koeppelmazda.com/new/Ma...-5+Miata-2148ea780a0e0ae8657c364946ea27d1.htm

No need to haggle because the published discount is decent compared to what I’m seeing on the forums, along with loyalty discount. They seem easy to work with so far. No pics because the car is in their warehouse fresh off the boat (or transport truck from west coast or whatever).

 

[repoman0]

dibs on your Bimmer when you're dumping one for a song!

TBD which, if any, are leaving to make room. I already dumped the POS 330xi for a song ... biggest mistake not to junk that car. The others seem to be worth a good bit more than I paid these days so might just hold on to them!

 

[zinfamous]

You can do it!

...now I'm looking at Mazda 6s...

 

[repoman0]

You can do it!

...now I'm looking at Mazda 6s...

Thank you for the encouragement. It is mine as soon as I send back the deposit authorization, which I’ll be doing tonight. Four years of thinking about it is enough ...

The 6s seem really nice! They were a serious contender for a lightly used car replacement when I got the critical rust diagnosis for my 330xi. Should have gone that route rather than paying out the nose to repair it.

 

[ISAslot]

Thank you for the encouragement. It is mine as soon as I send back the deposit authorization, which I’ll be doing tonight. Four years of thinking about it is enough ...

The 6s seem really nice! They were a serious contender for a lightly used car replacement when I got the critical rust diagnosis for my 330xi. Should have gone that route rather than paying out the nose to repair it.

And did you get it? Hurry, some people are living vicariously here

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

And did you get it? Hurry, some people are living vicariously here

My guess is he put down a deposit to go finish up the deal this weekend. I'd be surprised if he had it already.

 

[repoman0]

And did you get it? Hurry, some people are living vicariously here

My guess is he put down a deposit to go finish up the deal this weekend. I'd be surprised if he had it already.

Correct, I put the deposit on it, now sending paperwork back and forth to secure the loyalty credit and deal with registration since the dealer is out of state. I’m hoping to only go there once in person to pick up the car, so completing the deal over the phone and online might take a little more time.

 

[repoman0]

Dealers are such a PITA. It shouldn’t be that hard to quickly close the easiest deal ever without trying to charge bunch of random extra fees that I’m not going to pay. I will blow up the deal out of principle if they don’t relent

Every time I’ve bought a used car, which has thus far in my life always been an old BMW, it has been an absolute pleasure to deal with the private party owners. Never mind whether they were happy to be dealing with and passing off their treasured vehicle to a fellow enthusiast or excited to pawn off their unreliable POS to a sucker ... always been great in either case. I’ll just wait for the right used one, hopefully with pre-installed roll bar, if need be.