Miata as my only car?

APEXistud

Member
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1990 Mazda Miata
I was wondering...How many of you own a Miata as your only source of transportation? And how is it? I was recently discussing my plans to buy a Miata with Rishie of AutoRND and he was cautioning me on having a Miata as my only vehicle. As we all know he has a Miata, a P5, a 5 Series BMW, a Tahoe, and about 5 FC RX7's. He has shown me a few Nissan 240SX's most with SR20 swaps, but I know nothing about that motor and living in Cali has me worried about having the car smogged every year, not to mention that most of the 240's he's shown me have more than 140k miles on them (not the engine of course)

He was just reminding me that the space in the Miata is little to none and small grocery trips start to become a hassle. I still think I'll be able to manage since I'm a pretty simple guy who travels very light and doesn't take long road trips that often, but it has made me think twice about going for a Miata.

So please give me some feedback about your experiences with your Miata's? If you own a Miata, is it your only car or is it your second car. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
 
i had an fc as my only car for 4 years. true, it has a little bit more space than a miata, but not much. i was fine. took tons of road trips. that car got me through college. never had any problems with the space. as a bonus, if there was a group of us, by default i didn't have to drive since it was a two seater.
 
I have a Miata as an only car. I used to have a Protege sedan. It really isn't that terrible. Just like you, I have no s*** that I need to haul around so space really isn't that much of an issue. No back seat means less passengers ;)


If you're a bit tall you might find the legroom to be insufficient. I'm 5'10" and have no issues with legroom. I'm usually too busy grinning when taking turns to notice the little room the car has. The trunk is small but not useless. I don't know what kinda crack you people are smoking but I can load a grocery trip in there no problem. Again, I'm a teenager/college student so I don't have much crap to carry.

It comes down to whether you like driving more or comfort more. You are treated to 50/50 weight distributiion, light weight (~2300 lbs), RWD, and an orgasmic transmission.

The driver sits nearly in the middle of the car and it feels like you are the axis around which the car is turning, when in a corner. The Miata feels very confidence-inspiring in corners as it literally begs you to push it more and see just where the limit of lateral grip is. At the same time, once you find that limit, you are not punished by run-you-off-the-road understeer, nor will it snap into spinout mode. Forgiving is the best way to describe it.

It's connected to your brain, I swear.
 
i don't know if being a high school student is nearly the same position as you are in, but for what i did (club stuff, driving around so cali), it was great ! my dad used to drive my car daily and would make grocery trips all the time. the trunk would be full and if needed, the area of the top was used. great car if you want to be cheap on gas and only need to transport yourself and perhaps a girlfriend :D hehehe
 
Ditto!

I've hauled a motorcycle, Christmas Tree, 2 Tires/Wheels, Two other people, just to list a few things. :D
 
redwagon02 said:
You'd be surprise at what will fit in the car.

Very true. I fit four wheels/tires (205/55/14), ratchet set, a hydraulic floor jack jack, toolbox, small cooler, four 18" traffic cones, and a helmet into my Miata each time I attend an autocross. I can manage this with the top up, hehe. It tends to surprise most people how much junk I can fit in there. I need to get some pics this season next time I load up.
 
I agree that its a car that is surprisingly versatile. Hell, I carried two trees home in the trunk once.

The only reason I do not have my '92 Miata any longer is that my wife refused to drive it any more. There were a number of times I was home with my three boys while she was gone with her SUV and I was s*** out of luck if I needed to go anywhere. And it happened enough times where I finally needed to get a bigger car. If it weren't for that reason, I'd still have the Miata.
 
My brother had a 1990 Miata as his only car for about 5 years. According to him it had his ups and downs.

You never have to drive a group of your friends around, but you pretty much are required to borrow a friend's car if you want to carry anything of size with you.

Although I do remember one time in high school when he had two girls in the passenger seat.

Crammed in a Miata with two hot chicks > Everything
 
Scott said:
My brother had a 1990 Miata as his only car for about 5 years. According to him it had his ups and downs.

You never have to drive a group of your friends around, but you pretty much are required to borrow a friend's car if you want to carry anything of size with you.

Although I do remember one time in high school when he had two girls in the passenger seat.

Crammed in a Miata with two hot chicks > Everything

I concur :cool:
 
For over a year my red '99 miata was my only car. I was single.

Then I met my husband who HAD to get one (traded his Ranger in on an '01 miata).

this is how we rolled:
conoco.jpg


We never had any issues about space. :D
Now we have the Protege5, and RARELY use the space (only when we've moved).

I say go for it! The benefits FAR outweigh the drawbacks.
If you do run into situations where you need to haul something, just get a hitch and one of these cute lil $200 trailers:
akio_axtrailer3.jpg


(thumb)
 
Scott said:
Crammed in a Miata with two hot chicks > Everything

definately...i've had the pleasure myself. oh yeah, when my dad was driving this daily, he bought me a bike for my b-day and stuffed it into the trunk. of course it was sticking out, but hey, it fit !
 
My 91 is my only car. It actually started out as my second, as I was racking up too many miles on the Cadillac. Then as time went on, the Cadillac got driven less, and less. Soon I sold the Cadillac because I never drove it anymore!

The Miata is as versitile as you want it to be. I remember hauling around 4 servers, a firewall, and lots of cables, once. Also, once I hauled a sod roller! The top was down (duh) and it rested between the cockpit brace, and the rain rail.

When I move a few months ago, i borrowed my dad's CRV.
 
We have a a second way to get around which is a 97 dodge pickup,however 95 % of the time we use the Miata for everything. I drive the Miata to work and back everyday.
The one thing we did is kept the small tire which gives more room and we use the area up over the back of the seats to put groceries and other stuff once in a while we get a little crowded when coming from the store butr not often
I never thought I WOULD GIVE UP MY PICKUP FOR ANYTHING ,only problem you can't snuggle and get close like you can in the pick up
 
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