Well, it's been a long, long wait, but my 30AE was finally delivered this week. Rather than chance driving it 100 miles down a busy highway, I had it trailered in.

Snug as a bug, etc.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9d3f30457c.jpg


Badge number
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b9edbf6e54.jpg


3 delivery miles
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...54700be65c.jpg


Bugs! Must've been at the front of the car carrier.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...536d5cb881.jpg



Dealer was instructed to not unwrap, wash, detail or even drive during PDI. They removed the film from the front end anyway but, thankfully, didn't wash it.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...167e707727.jpg


At the detailing shop, awaiting paint correction, full XPEL Ultimate coverage and nanocoating
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...14984633ce.jpg


Now another long-ish wait. At least I got to drive it (off the trailer to the bay door). Not much time to get it broken in and prepped for Laguna Seca in October.

Congrats. Such a please car to drive and look at. I'm loving it.

Sonny and I did the same thing as you. Left all the wraps on, unwashed, no plates installed, straight to the detailer. So worth it. Only thing that will ever touch the panels on mine is high pressure soapy water, de-ionized rinse and a clean microfiber towel to dry it off.
If you are going to run those wheels, you can get the coating on them too. Makes it much easier to keep them clean. Sonny and I know a place to get cool aftermarket wheels for ours :)

Here in California they're starting to enforce front plates. Got a fix-it ticket for it last week. There are a variety of tow hook boss front plate gizmos on Amazon, ebay, etc. A few are offset which allows the body color plug to stay in place. No holes in nose that way.

Thanks Emilio. I think of this as my other 949-inspired car (the first being my kick-ass MSM with Xidas). I can't wait to get properly acquainted with it. It's gonna be a fun road trip!

So my son and I picked up our 30AE this afternoon. I've managed to keep this a secret from him for nigh on six months and surprised him after picking him up from school. Once we got to the detailer, I handed him a a special t-shirt to put on. He gave me a funny look but it was all worth it once I took him into the presentation room.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3ffcbf1352.jpg


He tried it on for size (he loves the interior):
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6ff43cddd6.jpg


After that, it was a bit of role playing:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ff21f21a33.jpg


My first mods (Roadster badge sourced from Rev9 and Plasti-dipped by yours truly):

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d28174dc02.jpg


Custom plate:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0d3221f65f.jpg


This will be going where the Skyactiv badge used to be:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0991f3b3d4.jpg


And finally home:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b3ca05e003.jpg


Second mod was to change the OEM brake pads to G-LOC GS-1s (R10s will go on the front for Laguna Seca). Shorty antenna installed soon after and hood lift kit should be done tomorrow. FM Hush-o-matic should be on its way and alignment/Verus catch can installation is scheduled for next week. Now I get to do the fun part - breaking it in. Wow, I still can't believe it's finally here.

Congrats. So cool of you to make it something special for your son and share the excitement.

Nothing special, but not bad for a law mower sized engine :)


Need to test my NB8 with Dragy to see how fast is it.

My custom badge from The Ersatz Artisan arrived this afternoon. I think blacking out the other two badges was the right call.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f130d8d599.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...75a7e024ac.jpg

Time for an update: I now have just over 700 km on the odo (mostly local commuting) and close to the 1K break-in mileage (kilometerage?). Then it will be an early oil change, pack the trunk and head off to Miata Reunion. I haven't caned the engine yet (currently up to a self-imposed limit of 6K) but I'm very impressed with just how smooth and torquey it is. One can easily trundle around town in 4th or 5th gear and squirt around traffic with no effort at all. Obviously it doesn't have the mid-range rush of my old '93 but what that would be asking a bit much from a normally-aspirated 2.0 litre. Still, the car is a hoot to drive and I can't wait to be able to properly thrash it on a back road.

A few other observations: The Recaros are wonderful - comfortable and supportive (the bolsters don't allow any lateral movement at all). They remind me of the factory Recaros in my old 2L 16V GTI which, to this day, are the most comfortable seats of any car I've owned. Steering feel is fine, with a lot more feel and heft than the '16 I test drove several years ago. I wish the steering wheel was a little meatier (the Nardi I retrofitted to my NA was far, far superior). I love the heated seats, keyless entry/start and other conveniences (I run Waze using Android Auto, which is very convenient). The stereo is entirely adequate - not brilliant but also not the suck-fest that some tout it to be. The exhaust note is fine - perhaps a little mellow but that may be fixed fairly soon with a HoM. I love the way the inner coloured door trim flows forward into the Porsche-like fender swells. The headlights are brilliant (in all senses of the word). The interior, particularly the Alcantara touches, makes me smile every time I sit in the cockpit. The brake pedal, while not as direct as my heavily tweaked L.E., is relatively firm and quite progressive. SS brake lines will be installed this weekend, along with front track-worthy brake pads (G-LOC GS-1s were installed as soon as I got the car home), so I'm hoping for a bit more in that department. Oh, and gas mileage is great. I'm getting about 30% better mileage on a completely green engine.

Overall, while I still miss my old car, I'm very happy with the change. To my eye, the ND is gorgeous, the colour is sports-car-appropriate and I find myself opening the garage door just to be able to give it another look. Needless to say, it passes the enthusiast test of whether I look back over my shoulder whenever I walk away in a parking lot. It's a keeper!

Congrats! Regarding exhaust, I went with the GWR super street single tip with the glass pack insert. After it mellowed in a couple hundred miles, it sounded excellent. However, I recently installed the JBR dif mount, and I'm not as in love with the tone now. Weird huh? The dif mount does help with the ol' rubber band drive train effect though. Think poly dif bushings on a na/nb.

I wonder if, just like a drinker, the exhaust moved passed the mellow stage into just downright annoying (i.e. the JBR mount installation is just a coincidence). It could be a resonance issue, I suppose.

A couple of observations I forgot to add in my above post: The car is nice 'n' quiet with the top up. That multi-layer top does a bang-up job in keeping things civilized. While I find the "tippy-toes" stock wheel/fender gap visually annoying, I'm quite pleased with how well the car rides on our bomb-cratered roads. Some speed bumps can even be taken without slowing much at all. I'll reserve final judgement until I drive the car in anger on a non-Prairie road, but at the moment my inclination to swap out the suspension is much abated. Lastly, and most surprisingly, while top-down wind control is better than my old NA, it's actually not a good as the MSM. Maybe it's the taller/wider windows in the older model that make the difference (windows are always up for me at highway speeds).

Sequential kit for ND2
 

Sadev sequential kit for GMX5 from LRR

https://longroadracing.com/home/global-mx5-cup/sadev/

Looks like ND2 tunes are heating up. ~190 WHP on corn & a muffler:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...43eb9d33cc.png

Has someone cracked the ECU on the ND2? I haven't checked in about 6 months now.

Openflash has. Shiv, the owner, even bought his own ND2 to make tunes with. I don’t know who tuned the one wack just posted up. I wish I had more than one E85 station, otherwise I would definitely go for that!

I just bought an Eternal Blue ‘19 RF GT-S as a daily. I love how much quieter it is on the highway! I plan on putting on my old GWR race muffler that is laying around and getting Shiv’s tune for engine mods. Then some lowering springs and some sway bars and it will be my daily for a long time.

Geez, Chili, you've gone from an ND1 (IIRC) to an ND2 ST to a Fiata Abarth and now to an ND2 RF. At least you can tell us which is best.

That's Shiv's OFT dyno. Base ND2 has been dynoing at ~170 whp. Mufflers are looking to be worth ~5whp, and mid pipe another 5-10 whp. Looks like the headers developed for the ND1 only really pick up some mid range torque on a ND2, but no real top end gains. That's ok with me. The catless headers sound too raw for my taste for a daily. I think a tuned ND2 on corn with a mid pipe & muffler could crack 200 whp.

I have had a 2016 Sport, 2019 GT-S, 2017 124 Classica, and a 2018 Abarth 124. I still currently have the Abarth. Now I just got the 2019 GTS RF. I keep trying to buy sensible cars for my daily commute, but I get sooooooo bored with them. I bought a 97 Corolla a month ago that has been getting me 33 mpg average for only 2k, but it kills my spirit to drive it. My ND1 and first ND2 both averaged 35+ mpg even with me doing a top speed test (120+ mph) on the way to work. Every. Single. Day. The Fiats struggle to average 29 mpg even driving them way easier.

The RF is overwhelmingly the choice for a daily that won’t see the track. It is so much quieter. I normally have the stereo (Bose in the Abarth and RF) at 40 in the soft top. In the RF, I run it at about 25. I plan on selling the Fiat after returning it to stock and buying an NC2 as a track car. The RF will be strictly a street car! I will get rid of the Fiat payment and buy the NC2 outright. They are getting down to the 10k mark now.

I have watched Shiv walk away from to many partly finished projects to ever want to give him my money.

Interesting. Well, it seems to be a one man show so far for the ND2. OVT is out, ECUTEK hasn't done anything, nor has versatuner. Near as I can tell, they haven't even started looking at the ND2.

My 30AE has an OFT and Racing Beat axle back. Made an average of about 4whp more in back to back dynos with the off the shelf OFT stage 1 tune. Most gains above 5500. Throttle response a bit sharper everywhere. 200rpm higher redline (I think). Still getting 25mpg around town and I'm not driving slow.
Might be more gains with a custom tune.