The Mazda Miata: Legendary or not?

  • Thread starter Luminis
  • 472 comments
  • 40,840 views

Is the Miata a legendary car?

  • Yes

    Votes: 145 86.3%
  • No

    Votes: 23 13.7%

  • Total voters
    168
That's not on a stock motor. We're talking about a $6k to $10k motor with forged internals. đź‘Ť

Well, it's obvious that they'd have to rebuilt the engine with upgraded internals to withstand the boost, but even at 10'000$, that's still considerably cheaper.
 
Well, it's obvious that they'd have to rebuilt the engine with upgraded internals to withstand the boost, but even at 10'000$, that's still considerably cheaper.

Oh yeah and that's just the start. They are coming out with a new turbo kit that uses a better turbo with external wastegate, bigger injectors and tuned on e85 will produce over 500hp. :dopey:
 
Oh yeah and that's just the start. They are coming out with a new turbo kit that uses a better turbo with external wastegate, bigger injectors and tuned on e85 will produce over 500hp. :dopey:

Mh, that sounds really delicious! I'd still love to have a 20B swapped Miata... Just thinking of the possibilities makes me drool.
 
I bet most people on the road assume my car is way more expensive than it really is.
Woah buddy. It's just a Miata. Throwing some RPF-1s on it isn't gonna make it start looking like a Porsche....

All the NA Miata's over here are race cars. Its pretty cool going to Cars n' Coffee and seeing a mountain of MX-5's. I've seen even a couple of them kick the living s**t out of Z06's.
All the NA's over here are bone stock or live for the hella-flush scene. The rest live at MSR & ECR.

Still must have been ALLOT of tight corners and not much straights and also the Miata must have been extremely heavily modified vs a stock Z06
Um, no. At MSR anyway, the dominant car is the Miata. Roll cage, suspension, brakes, slicks, & if you want, a little weight saving, & the cars tear through the 2 & 3 mile courses. The 3 main straights are other cars saving graces, but once in the turns, the Miata is a natural at them.

We have instructors here who drive Porsches, M3s, & a Z06 w/ big nasty slicks, and there are still a few Miata drivers in the Advanced classes who never leave their rear view mirrors. The biggest power adders these guys have are usually exhausts & intakes to help the car run easier. There are no major mods like turbos or superchargers here.
 
Um, no. At MSR anyway, the dominant car is the Miata. Roll cage, suspension, brakes, slicks, & if you want, a little weight saving, & the cars tear through the 2 & 3 mile courses. The 3 main straights are other cars saving graces, but once in the turns, the Miata is a natural at them.

We have instructors here who drive Porsches, M3s, & a Z06 w/ big nasty slicks, and there are still a few Miata drivers in the Advanced classes who never leave their rear view mirrors. The biggest power adders these guys have are usually exhausts & intakes to help the car run easier. There are no major mods like turbos or superchargers here.

Id have to see that to believe it. I have been to my local roadcourse (Palm Beach International Raceway) plenty of times and never seen that at all. I dont see a whole lot of Miatas there at all to be honest though. There would have to be 0 straights on the entire track. Just one hairpin after another.
 
Id have to see that to believe it. There would have to be 0 straights on the entire track. Just one hairpin after another.
As with most of the info provided in this thread, you'd have to see anything to believe it.

But the fact is, it's the truth. Cry foul, cry whatever, I have first hand witnessed how intimidating a Miata is on the track knowing it does not go away easily. Naturally, it is not the fastest car out there as many members really do know how to wring out the most of a GT2 or a Ford GT, but for the majority, some Miatas leave some bruised egos.
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There really isn't much for straights on this track. Tons of corners just like I said there had to be in most cases. The straights it does have are really short. The Miata would get eatin alive in most cases on a track like this unless the Miata had some serious motor work and a gear change.
http://www.racepbir.com/road.html Whatever time that the Miata would make up in the corners would be lost and then some on the 6/10 mile back straight.
 
There really isn't much for straights on this track. The straights it does have are really short. The Miata would get eatin alive in most cases on a track like this unless the Miata had some serious motor work and a gear change.
http://www.racepbir.com/road.html Whatever time that the Miata would make up in the corners would be lost and then some on the 6/10 mile back straight.
1. It's pretty much agreed the Miata is not a straight-away car. 6/10 of a mile will obviously give everything but a Miata the advantage. I'll bet that's why there aren't any there; it'd be boring til' you hit the back end.

2. We can start bringing up what other race tracks are, all day, but I'm talking about MSR of which you said, there'd have to be 0 straights for my post to be true. There's 4 major ones for passing. The Miata only does well because most other cars can't go into 3 of them full throttle where as the Miata can on some decent rubber.
 
2. We can start bringing up what other race tracks are, all day, but I'm talking about MSR of which you said, there'd have to be 0 straights for my post to be true. There's 4 major ones for passing.

I'd hardly call those major straights. What is the longest? 1/10 of a mile? That's not long enough to make a difference for a bigger and more powerful car like a Z06 or something similar. The Vette simply isn't geared for that type of track either. The Vette probably couldn't even get out of second gear where as the Miata would probably use 5th in some cases. If the Vette was geared different it would help allot. So I would hope its agreed that its not fair to run a Vette vs a Miata on a track like the one you showed and its also not fair to run a Miata vs a Vette on the track I showed.

On another note here is an interesting article that may spark some good conversation (although I know some of you would rather degrade someone or argue rather than converse with people). It looks like 2 totally different cars can be compared to one in other, well... sort of. http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/comparison/faster-than-a-miata
 
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On another note here is an interesting article that may spark some good conversation (although I know some of you would rather degrade someone or argue rather than converse with people). It looks like 2 totally different cars can be compared to one in other, well... sort of. http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/comparison/faster-than-a-miata

Well, it's pretty much a given that you'll have to chose a car that fits a given track to win. This is about the most extreme case I could think of. It's basically the whole 'Vette vs. Miata thing, just totally blown out of proportion
If someone was to test those cars on a track like the one shown by McLaren, I'd think that the Miata would lose pretty darn bad.

The one thing that really is evident when looking at this stuff, it's that you can get a pretty impressive performance out of the low power of the Miata.
 
I'd hardly call those major straights. What is the longest? 1/10 of a mile? That's not long enough to make a difference for a bigger and more powerful car like a Z06 or something similar. The Vette simply isn't geared for that type of track either. The Vette probably couldn't even get out of second gear where as the Miata would probably use 5th in some cases. If the Vette was geared different it would help allot. So I would hope its agreed that its not fair to run a Vette vs a Miata on a track like the one you showed and its also not fair to run a Miata vs a Vette on the track I showed.
Proving you really have no clue about the course I'm talking about. Z06s on that track run 2nd-4th on that course, as do most other cars of that caliber & above. It's why you're taught the course in 3rd gear when you first start & why beginners are taught to never shift into 4th unless you absolutely have to.

I'm going to stop talking about MSR now because you'll only continue to prove to me that you're coming up with silly assumptions, such as that a Z06 can't possibly run above 90Mph on the straights. :rolleyes:
 
Proving you really have no clue about the course I'm talking about. Z06s on that track run 2nd-4th on that course, as do most other cars of that caliber & above. It's why you're taught the course in 3rd gear when you first start & why beginners are taught to never shift into 4th unless you absolutely have to.

I'm going to stop talking about MSR now because you'll only continue to prove to me that you're coming up with silly assumptions, such as that a Z06 can't possibly run above 90Mph on the straights. :rolleyes:

The 2006 Z06 Vette reaches 125 in 3rd!! Where on that track can you reach that with those tiny straights? Also just FYI the Miata needs 5th which 125 is just about top speed for the Miata. I may have exaggerated a bit by saying it doesnt need to leave second but it sure dont look like it needs to leave third. The Miata in that case should be using all 5 gears while the Vette uses 3. Bottom line is the Miatas gears are much more suitable for that type of short track.
 
The 2006 Z06 Vette reaches 125 in 3rd!! Where on that track can you reach that with those tiny straights? Also just FYI the Miata needs 5th which 125 is just about top speed for the Miata.
You have never been in a moderately fast car before have you? Otherwise, you wouldn't under estimate how fast one can go from 70-120Mph.

This a stock Viper w/ slicks & brakes clocking right at 120Mph on one of the straights.


Pay attention at 4:02. 124mph.
This guy runs around a 1:25. The instructor with the yellow Z06 knocks out 1:23 at similar speeds. A 125Mph is easily doable on this track with around 500Hp.

Please, keep your assumptions coming for a track you have never been to.
I may have exaggerated a bit by saying it doesnt need to leave second but it sure dont look like it needs to leave third. The Miata in that case should be using all 5 gears while the Vette uses 3. Bottom line is the Miatas gears are much more suitable for that type of short track.
You can't really say that as everyone runs their own setup, & most of the Miatas aren't stock.

This track also isn't that suited to the Miatas, but they do well because they carry their speed through the turns into the straights. The fastest cars are ones well above a Miata because their drivers run through the turns much faster than the Intermediates & Beginners.
 
You have never been in a moderately fast car before have you? Otherwise, you wouldn't under estimate how fast one can go from 70-120Mph.
I havent driven anything crazy fast. The fastest car I have owned was a 6speed LS1 Camaro. Pretty quick but not on the level of a Viper or Z06 (especially in terms of handling).


This guy runs around a 1:25. The instructor with the yellow Z06 knocks out 1:23 at similar speeds. A 125Mph is easily doable on this track with around 500Hp.
It seems to me that its more like barely doable. If it was easily doable would mean that 130 might also be doable which its obviously not. If you can get over 125 it wont be far enough to make it worth taking the time to shift up to 4th and then back down to 3rd before the corner

Please, keep your assumptions coming for a track you have never been to.
Your right I have never been there. All I can do is try and judge it by the picture. My point remains the same. The Miata is better geared for that track than the Z06. The Miata will use 4-5 quicker gears than the Z06's 3 long gears.
 
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Your right I have never been there. All I can do is try and judge it by the picture. My point remains the same. The Miata is better geared for that track than the Z06. The Miata will use 4-5 quicker gears than the Z06's 3 long gears.


Which mean absolutely nothing? A Vette has somewhere around 3-4x the torque of a Miata and it makes power at pretty much any rpm. It needs five gears to go over 125mph in a decent amount of time because its a ~120hp four cylinder. If you had the same ratios in a Corvette it would be banging off the rev limiter at 145mph and you'd spend about 2 seconds in every gear.
 
It seems to me that its more like barely doable. If it was easily doable would mean that 130 might also be doable which its obviously not. If you can get over 125 it wont be far enough to make it worth taking the time to shift up to 4th and then back down to 3rd before the corner
It's still doable, which you believed it couldn't. That's the 2nd assumption you've made without much reasoning about this track.

And it still is easily doable, though maybe I should wrote 500whp+. We've had some other high horsepower cars knock out 125Mph like nothing, such as the Ford GTTT that was lost here a few weeks back, that put down a 1:25, which is amazing for a beginner & 1,200whp car.

The Viper in the video is bone stock, power wise, which means it roughly throws down 450whp to around 500whp for the newest ones. Add in another 50 through exhaust, cams, headers, etc. & I'm pretty positive 130Mph is attainable speed.
Your right I have never been there. All I can do is try and judge it by the picture. My point remains the same. The Miata is better geared for that track than the Z06. The Miata will use 4-5 quicker gears than the Z06's 3 long gears.
Again, making assumptions when you have never been here. Judging by the picture won't do you any good, as the picture doesn't let anyone see the amount of elevation changes that play a role in this track, that in turn, show how difficult some of the turns are.

Stock for stock, I'm positive the Z06 is a better geared car for this track, seeing as it will make the necessary power in every gear. The instructor is pretty definite proof because even the turbo Miatas at this track have a difficult time matching it.

Otherwise, (besides Eric's valid point) it doesn't matter; nearly everyone runs different setups, so unless you care to make the assumption of who's running what, you don't really have an argument there.
 
-> ...
check these badboys out

=Pics=

Don't they just look yummy? How can anyone say the Miata is not a great-looking car? Especially for being 20 years old.
^ Man, if only the NB (Miata) Roadster Coupe was ever exported, it would give the Z3 Coupe a huge run!

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Mazda_Roadster_Coupe_NB8C_top.jpg


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Mazda-Roadster-Coupe-Type-S_2.jpg


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^ Yeah, yeah, yeah! The NC MX-5 (Miata) PHRT is also called Roadster Coupe in some countries (namely in JDM-land):

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(didn't vote) :sly:
 
If the NA came in a coupe, I would've bought it. For now I'm fine with a hardtop, eventually I might buy the fastback top:
fastback.jpg
 
The PRHT does away with the need to offer a coupe version...

Miatas on the track... I remember one of my first track days. To keep the hotdogs from going too fast on the track (many novices in the group), we had chicanes before some of the worse corners.

The Miata track rats? Street tires, and they were going through those chicanes at full throttle... :D ...I'd never seen a bunch of happier fools, and I absolutely fell in love with those cars that day.
 
One of those coupes came up for sale somewhere overseas like a month or so ago. There was a link to it on miata.net. All I can say is it was sexxxyy and I wouldnt mind owning one.
 
Here is 5 roadsters that are all around better. 65' Shelby Cobra, 66' Mercedes 300SL, BMW Z3 or Z4 (which ever you prefer), Porsche Boxter S, Honda S2000. Mind you this is only Roadsters. There is now way that the Miata makes the top 20 all time list.

bahahahahahaha fail.

Z3, Z4, and Boxter S aren't better cars than a miata.
 
The Boxster is a pretty amazing car. How is it not a 'better' car than the Miata? I'm far from Porsche's biggest fan, but I give props where props are due.
 
The Boxster is a pretty amazing car. How is it not a 'better' car than the Miata? I'm far from Porsche's biggest fan, but I give props where props are due.

Because it costs more.
*That's always their argument against every car*
 

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