Electric Six - Gay bar, duh.

 

--Ian

 

Solid start to (my) page 69, gents.

 

1 Down: 999 left - MX-5 Miata Forum

 

Mazdacomp keeps spamming me about the ND, but it's cool spam:

 

This is a good one.

 

And that camera shows the view of a 6'4" driver

 

Looking at the shadow of his helmet in the first seconds of the video you can seen the camera was mounted on the top of his helmet, not the side. If I mount it on the side, it hits the head restraints. Guessing he did what he could for the brief test drive and probably wasn't allowed to attach a camera to the car.

 

And I was trying to be funny (not only trolling), knowing that 6'4" is one of the design parameters (for a working racing position below 2" of the cage top).

 

Mazda Gives New Miata To Unlucky Owner Of The First Wrecked 2016 Miata

Way to go Mazda!

 

Finally got a build date that isn't for the 35th anniversary ND edition: 8/17/2015.

Gonna be here late Sept/early Oct, I guess. :(

 

I doubt they are "giving" it to him.

I read somewhere else someone had a deposit on it in Jacksonville, then backed out when the dealer tried to tack on a bunch of extra documentation fees.

So essentially Mazda told that dealer, "Hey we are taking this car and transferring it to this dealership for this guy." Which happens all the time in the new car business.

Although the press does look good.

 

Even when I special ordered my '13 GT Mustang, in a very strange spec (compared to what most dealers kept in stock).

White, Track Pack, no other options. I think Ford had it built in 3 weeks and to the dealer in another 5-6 days.

If you ordered a relatively common option setup, it may get here quicker.

#settingyouupfordisappointment

 

<p></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The current demand for the Miata is much, much higher than it ever was for a 2013 Mustang, and shipping (literally) from Japan takes a bit longer.</p><p>You place an order on a new Miata, &quot;get in line buddy&quot;</p>

 

I agree, most likely they are selling it to him to replace the one that got wrecked. They might be selling it to him at a sufficient discount to make up the difference in what he paid and what the insurance company is paying him, though.

--Ian

 

Yeah. In 1999 when I placed an order for a MY2000 S4, the delay was 9 months.

--Ian

 

Which is a smart move on their part:
they get an already loyal customer to love them even more
they get excellent press, and probably more customers
they still sell the car

win/win/win

 

There's a very important element missing from this analysis though. He got his LE totaled. Yes he could have gone and ordered another Miata, but not an LE. The chances of finding and securing another LE were virtually none at all, and he would have had to travel for it and such. No matter the financial contribution, Mazda simply making one available to him at his same local dealer (assumption, but a safe one I think) is quite significant.

 

I finally saw one in person yesterday at MATG, looks even better than it does in pictures.

 

After driving this car my first impressions and the way I describe it to everyone is to imagine that Mazda went back and built an NA with 2016 tech, styling, quality, etc. Very much back to their roots, except way more torque in the mid-range than any previous generation - Feels like our NCs with the 2.5 swaps. The car doesn't feel large in any way and tossing it into a corner in totally stock form feels just like my NB (also all stock) - considerably soft so you have to take care with turn-in and be patient while it loads up the outer tires and then keep inputs very light - but very nicely balanced with just a small input from your feet making precisely the change you expected. It's the kind of car that puts a smile on your face without even breaking the speed limit, just like the Miatas of yore. If you didn't know it had electonic steering, you'd never guess. And the transmission - the best of any generation.

We've already had ours taken apart a good bit, lots of measuring, notes, drawings for new parts, etc. and we got our hands on a factory LSD and swapped that into the car on Friday, likely the only LE in the country with limited slip right now. Note that diff swap requires dropping the rear subframe. Brian has the car out at the autocross this weekend and reports are very promising - despite the overall softness of the standard setup and tires, the car was already within striking distance of most of the field of Stock Class and STR Class Miatas out at the event.

I'll be autocrossing it next weekend which I'm looking very forward to, and that will give focus to which areas of the car get attention first and dictate our priorities for product development to increase speed and fun factor.