Turbo Miata talk with strangers
 

I wanted to know how you guys handle talking with people about your car if you are somewhere. Are you receptive to their questions or are you like me cautious of someone who wants to know everything about your setup, how much hp you have etc...I don't advertise my turbo, but people can see the I/C and the gauge pod so they want to talk and start asking questions. I don't want to seem like an a$$hole but I don't trust many people. And although they may have good intentions I keep thinking they're looking for an opportunity to rip me off.

As soon as someone asks me a question, I give them a knife to the gut and run off.

back when I had the corrado, I always said it was stock. If they ask about the gauges (which I didn't and won't have on the pilar) I say they're oil pressure and temp.

With the 3" exhaust it's kind of aparent that I'm turbo. Nobody's asked so far but I do get revved at alot. I guess I would just say I don't know how much power it's making, it's just something I pieced together from junkyard stuff, etc. Make myself look like a noob that probably has a pile of half broken shit under the hood not worth taking. And of course I would never pop the hood for someone I don't know.

the miata so far hasn't seen much attention other than older people asking about the paint. though one day last week our lot guy at work came running in and told me there's some guy with an suv laying under your car, i ran out and he was gone.

might of been trying to steal your cat?

that's scary. My corrado disappeared on a tow truck, never seen again. Get a theft rider. I'm trying to work that out right now so I can sleep at night, and leave town for a few months at a time and not come back to nothing.

nobody looks at or asks about my car unless the hood is open. i never get people revving their engine near me or trying to play. cops dont look.

Guess it depends for me... I got to a lot of car meets, so of course I'm happy to show people. Never had any suspicious people around my car.... might not be cautious enough, because of that.

I always HATE when people ask me if it's turbo'd. I say "yea..." then they say " What stages is it" ......... I usually just stare at them. Sometimes I'll tell them what kind of turbo it is, and then they ask again "but what stage is it"... :crx:

As far as people reving at me? I hardly ever have anyone doing that... When I had my 350 whp MarkII MR2 I had people trying to race me ALL the time. Virtually all of them were stock cars with coffee cans. Had a few C5's that learned the hard way what I had.

Where I live there isnt much of a problem with vehicle theft. When people ask what I have, I just say it's modified, a little.

If I meet up with someone in a tuned car I'll talk with them about it. I wouldn't show some guy who just walked up anything.

I don't think a theif would pick a Miata as their first choice. Around here it would be a Honda or DSM, something they can easily sell the parts from. Of course that changes with location.

I'm pretty open but I'm in an extremely safe neighborhood. My neighbors don't care about the car anyway. It's only at work, the track and very rarely in public that anyone is curious. At worik and the track I'm completely open. In public it is so rare as to not matter. To the general public it's just a Miata. Only someone who really know's anything notices the 8" 6UL's, Naca headlamp cover and IC. 2 1/2" Enthuza exhaust is stealthier than I would have expected. Doesn't look out of place with just the simple exit pipe.

When the car is running, it is completely obvious that the car is not-so-stock since you can hear the turbo whine at anything but idle with the open down pipe. With full exhaust (rare) the car sounds completely stock, but still I have yet to have anyone rev at me since going turbo, exhaust or not, but I think a roll bar scares people off in my area more than anything else. When I am parked "my hood release is broken" and "Just intake, header, and exhaust". Oh I also run high 14s when I am parked too. :)

Its not that I am worried about theft though, thats not an issue in my area.

It may not look out of place but the woosh of a turbo spooling is kind of a dead giveaway. I also live in the land of young hispanic and italian men with blow outs, wife beaters, and gold chains looking to rev their fart can at anyone.

My car is only out in sight at the track or meets. So i'm always fine talking about it. It's fun to watch people try to guess whats going on, makes it easy to figure out the car guys vs nut swingers.

Theft in my aera isn't an issue, and everybody around here stereotypes Miatas as being chick cars, or gay. Nobody revs their engine at me either. The local VW tuner club knows my car though, and the "leader of the pack" found out how badly his 1.8T Jetta with "Stage Everything" can get beaten by a turbo'd MX5. This of course was after he insisted I popped my hood and told him I ran a junkyarded SR20 turbo (which is true) and he goes..."I guess it's OK for a Miata." My rules...anything refered to as "Stage 1, 2, or 3" means nothing to me and is for front wheel driven high school cruise nights to the mini golf course. Whatever happened to actual specs like compressor or turbine sizes? Pressure plate holding ft/lbs.? I guess everything became controlled by the standards of the aftermarket world...
ANYWAY...if someone is a punk, I don't show them shit about my car. If they're cool and actually know how to bend a wrench and understand things like cam duration, duty cycles, and volumetric efficiency...then they're worthy.

"Just an intake and exhaust is all."

+1 to anyone I don't know. They ask about the gauges, I just say I had them, so I put them in. If someone I don't know seems really knowledgeable about things and has a true interest, it's a different story after I judge that.

Shows are a different thing, the hood is usually up. Although I do hate stupid questions, like the above mentioned "stages."

As for thefts, fortunately not prevalent where I am.

I'm going to tell people, "mugen header, greddy v-tak controller, Apexi front mount air intake, APC cam gears, and the autometer monster tach is going in soon. I have twin turbos on order from TRUST in Japan but its held up in customs."

I'm going to tell them I've had Hustler coat everything under the hood in his AIDS riddled semen.

I'll have to throw something in there about apex seals and roller rockers too.

its a performance coating.

I used to get questions in my subaru like: "wow, is that a turbodiesel?"

With the miata, for whatever reason people ask me "what kind of car is that" to which I reply: " I think its a mazda, not sure"

edelbrock carbs!

The roll bar scares them off?!? I've actually had people laugh at me for having a roll bar on a Miata. Idiot kid's in the fart-can-ricer-mobiles roll up, look over and laugh to each other about it.

Unfortunately hasn't happened since I went FI.

It is fun showing off the car to all the drag guys in the trucks and muscle cars. The couple of times I've gone now it's been the same routine. Cold shoulder when I pull in. After a couple runs everyones walking up to me, "whatcha got in that thing?!?"

I guess around here it does. People messed with me alot when I just had a cat back, put the bar in and it significantly dropped, went FI and that went away completely. I think the only car that has ever really fucked with me since going turbo was some guy in a Viper, but we were outside Chicago on the interstate in decent traffic. He would have smoked me then anyways. :)

yeah... but he'd still shit his pants that you only lost to him by a fender hahahaha

No issue with theft in PCB, so I've never had a problem. Most of the car guys I hang out with were at my house during the install anyways (we like to make them a combo install/party day).

I've always gone with intake/exhaust though if anyone in public asks, although my G/F and her family have me hooked on saying "bolt ons" instead. Her dad has a fully gutted, swapped, built/turboed drag EG hatch that he insist is only bolt ons. He insist that just about everything he put in bolted in one way or another.

lol...well technically he's right...except for the welded in cage if he has that. :)

I couldn't count the number of people that have asked questions about the car. Parking lots, red lights, gas station, etc. Usually people ask what it is the most. At the gas station one time this dude in a STI asked if it was really turbo and if he could look under the car....lol. I told him go ahead bro. :bigtu: He then told me to hit it when I left so he could hear it. Always cool when you know someones watching and it backfires and shoots flames!

Depending on my mood I will answer questions and play along. I don't like peoples hands on my car, leaning on it, smoking near it, etc. So if anyone gets too close or too aggravating I turn into dickhead mode. I feel like its better to be nice to those that are interested and like the car. I usually walk away thinking to myself that's another x amount of people that wont fuck with the car if they see it parked somewhere.

I would say my miata is pretty well known around my area. I have been without the car and had it come up in conversation and people are like "ohh shit that blue miata with the turbo.....that shits fucking sick man" Most of the time the attention is nice, but sometimes its too much, especially when its random kids that are looking for trouble. I have let myself get violent while being in the miata a couple times....so I know there's a few people out there that know not to even fucking think about it. :vash: But that's only 3-4 times it was negative attention in all the years I've had the car.

Vash-

The cage bolts in too...kinda.

The only people i dont wanna talk to about my car are cops and insurance companys everyone else is fair game. So long as they dont tie back to the first 2.

ooooh JUST YESTERDAY me and the wife pull in to walmart and this older guy (55-60) comes up as Im puttin the top down and asks: "Wow thats a neat little sports car, what kind is it?".......Im like "its a mazda" and then I remembered this thread and started laughing. Guys like "Wow neato" :giggle:

I seem to get that alot with my car, especially with the hardtop on it. I don't mind people like that. It's the honda driver with the tin can exhaust that has their seat tilted all the way back that I look out for.

when I had the corrado, I got all kinds of morons who didn't know what it was. "Is that a lotus?" "Well, it has a big vw on the grill."

I always tell people it's a Mazda Miata, but the look of cluelessness on their faces doesn't always go away.

I've never had anything done to my car, so there hasn't been much for me to tell. I probably won't advertise that it's turboed but if somebody asks I have no reason not to tell them I guess. Except cops and insurance, for obvious reasons.

We have the typical "what's this and what's that" around here as well.....
I really love it when they ask, "Do you actually race that thing?" I usually ask them what their first clue was....the full roll cage, fire extinguisher, the harnesses, or wait....it's gotta be the SCCA stickers."
I'm usually not that open to complete strangers asking to look, but at an event or a meet, it is only customary; and I do not mind the attention.

Same here. I have never gotten reved at in the 8 years I've had my car. The only car I've raced was a Z34? Cavalier the night I installed the base GReddy kit. Barely won and there were 4 fat people in the cavalier.

No one has asked to see under the hood but I don't think I'd have a problem showing them. I leave my car with the top down all the time, even at six flags. I don't have any insurance over basic stuff on that car. Yeah kinda dumb, it would be easy for someone to reach in, pop the hood, and remove everything. But WTF are they going to do with 2 tiny turbos.

It'd be a reason to start over with something different. :)

I am continually getting " What is that? I like that car". I respond "A earliy 90's miata. You can pick one up cheap. It just has different rims" And they look at it like. that can't be a miata.

I especially get that on the yellow lowered one with rims and exaust.

I don't like poping the hood either. If I am at a meet I'll pop it if asked. But not for punk theiving kids.

It makes me sad to realize that I have to paint my pretty intercooler black.


A few months ago a kid at the gas station goes, "whoa! Cool!!! is that a race car?"

of course I replied, "yes, its a racecar." The battery was dead so I also asked him to help me push-start it. lol

I forget the guy's name, but I have pushed started a Lime green Ferarri to grid at MSR; so don't feel bad.
"I'll be honest, the paint is about the only thing that runs good on it....." :giggle:

I will pretty much let anyone look at my car but stupid questions drive me crazy, but I try to remember to when I didnt know alot about cars and try to explain stuff to people that I think can understand. It's been awhile since I anyone ones stealing cars around here. Dont worry about the miata getting stolen. My turbo integra would be the one to go and that would be ok with me 2 turbo cars is to much to play with. Guess that why I use the integra for a daily driver and the miata is more for fun.

I've got a buddy at work who thinks his '02 M5 is the fastest thing on the road. He loves quoting "400hp". We were at lunch today with a buddy who has an R32 and we were talking about driveline loss's of AWD/FWD/RWD... and a general discussion about power to weight ratio.

M5 guy chimes in that his BMW weighs 5200lbs. I told him I was sure it only weighed about 4000lbs because my Dodge Ram weighs abobut 5200. He insisted that it weighed 5200lbs because it said so in the owners manual and he would go out and get it and show me. He comes in an opens the page... GVWR:5200lbs. I give him a short education on empty/curb/gvwr/etc... and he replies (I shit you not):

"Cars are always weighed with people in them because all the car companies and magazines load the cars down for their testing."

I said "You mean, when Car and Driver publishes a 0-60time, they did it with an entire family with all their luggage in the car."

He says, "Well, no, they usually just use sandbags to simulate people."

He swore up and down that he was right and nothing me or my buddy said would convince him otherwise. I know you all have had conversations like this.

I actually have no friends family or coworkers that could even change their own oil. Case in point, one coworker today told me her mechanic is charging her $450 to change the brake master cylinder and it'll take a half a day. I've never talked to any stranger about my car who would understand if you were telling them the truth or complete bullshit so why try?

FUCK YOU GUYS!


im keeping my turbo...

I know a kid who gets the keys to his dad's E39 M5 every so often. He was REAL surprised (and so were his passengers) when my lowly little Miata started gaining on him during a 30-110 pull. ;) This was without the hardtop; with the hardtop on the ownage would have been epic.

I enjoy giving rides in the car at meets and stuff, and if someone's interested I'll go pretty in-depth about the setup. If a random stranger asks me, I just say it's turbo and that's enough to confuse them until I can grin and drive away.