truck and trailer, or turbo build?
 

Lets say you have $8k to blow out your ass on something. You have a daily driver that is a piece of shit vw that rarely runs, and you have a maita that gets some track time.

Do you go with a v6 4-door nissan frontier and a shitty aluminum trailer to pull the track car around, or spend $4500 on making the miata fast?

When you live in a hotel for work, you have alot of time to ponder this shit.

the frontier ,no trailer and a diy turbo kit.

but then I can pull the miata to the track, 5 hours away.

if you get a truck, watch craigslist for a cheap trailer. every once in a while, you can find one for only a few hundred dollars. you could also just rent a dolly from u-haul when/if you need to. IIRC it's $20/day.

If it were my choice, I'd get a truck, a trailer, and the turbo kit. I'd wait for a deal to pop up on the truck and trailer though.

get a trailer hitch for the miata. carry tires and luggage and hookers in a trailer.

well, I typically chop up the hookers after I fuck their corpse, so I don't necessarily need the trailer for them.

$8k?? I'd try to get all three, but fail miserably and go like $5k over budget.

a second vehicle makes modifying and racing a miata easier and gives you some piece of mind. i made sure my last car purchase could tow a miata on a trailer, convinced the wife she needed that honda pilot with all the bells and whistles for visiting clients. :D

i'd say go for the truck (no trailer) and some upgrades (or track money) for the miata.. if you REALLY need a trailer, you can rent one.

if you were going to the track every weekend i could see the use for a trailer, but otherwise i think it is better to not get one

Well, since you have a BRG miata and you shouldnt do anything to it cause its a classic car. Buy the truck and trailer.

im thinking a small truck like that will be hurting towing a miata and a car trailer

I'll be fine with trailer brakes.

but I already have the jetta for that.

It should be ok, a miata isn't all that heavy. My $100 Montero Sport with its 250k mile 3.0 does a fine job. :bigtu:

well a 2500 lb miata and 2500 lb trailer is pretty heavy for a 6 cyl in my view

I've pulled an NB on a steel trailer in a tacoma, and it was fine.

2500lb trailer? WTF man?

FWIW, my pos montero is rated for 5000lb, a frontier is probably about the same.

Anything with 200ftlbs of torque and a smallish trailer will pull a Miata w/o any problem. The first problem that always arises is stopping. No trailer brakes? Then you'd better stop for every light regardless of color! ;) I've towed a Miata more times than I can count with my wife's RX300 using a single axle steel trailer- so an aluminum double axle would be fine. The single axle is fine for shorter trips to the track (I'm an hour away). Just need to figure out the right position for good tongue weight to prevent the "tail from wagging the dog". The nice thing about the RX is that when not towing it makes a superb DD.

Other cars that have worked well for short tows- Rodeo V6, Jeep Cheorkee and Grand Cherokee (used my double axle steel trailer with the Jeeps). I also used a shortbed 92 F150 with the big inline 6 to tow my Miata around the southeast with the dubl axle steel and it worked great with a $75 trailer brake setup. Slowed a little on hills, but also got 15mpg towing.

I'd definitely consider the compromise when buying a town vehicle that's also going to serve as a DD. What's it going to do the most? Buying a big V8 truck to tow with once a month, is going to hurt if you're driving it daily at 12mpg.

Famous last words? I used to tow mine with a '99 4Runner Limited and I have a fairly light trailer (1300#) and it was unsafe in my opinion. I now tow with a '04 2500 HD and all is well. Don't skimp on your tow vehicle.

I ran cars for a wholesaler for 3 summers. In my experience when towing with a blown xterra, I was fine to pull 6000lb with trailer brakes. (I obviously prefer the turbo diesel / 3 car hauler).

That's it...I need a woman with a luxury suv...problem solved.

You hit the nail on the head. I need a small truck that gets decent mpg that I can parallel park downtown...and tow once a month.

i would not hesitate to tow a miata with my ka24e but my trailer wouldnt weigh anywhere near 1K lbs miatas are so frigin small we shouldnt need a trailer that big.

Seriously get a bottom barrel F-150, tows the Miata great. The V8, towing package and limited slip diff in my '04 ran me 17K out the door. I suspect that used you could get one for 1/2 that. Either that or get a Nissan Titan. Don't skimp on your tow vehicle, get one with enough ummph to really tow.

Mark

i dont think my ka24de would be up to the task of towing a miata. if you are going to tow, your going to want a beast.

my neighbor, who has a mustang race car, started off with a small truck trailer. he had to take the long route to most tracks as it didn't have enough Umph to navigate up hills and such.

he then bought some big ass ford twin turbo disel. then a huge 20 something foot trailer.

now he's just upgraded to a huge camper to replace the truck so he dont have to sleep in the trailer anymore.


if you are just going to a few track days a year dont worry about hualing the miata, if you aren't confident that the car will be able to drive back and forth, then i wouldn't feel confident in the car on the track at all.

It really depends on where you're going. I've been at both ends- the RX and single axle works great going to Rd. Atlanta just an hour north and no hills- cruises at 80 no prob. But when I was racing anywhere from south florida to Toronto, I had an f350 dually crew cab to pull the 28ft enclosed trailer.

I tow 8-10 times a year and most of my trips are 6-10 hours, so I want to be confident in my tow rig. I towed 2 times to Atlanta w/ the 4Runner and 3600# behind it over Monteagle Mountain was no fun. 2nd gear WOT on the way up and hold on on the way down even w/ trailer brakes. The 2500 HD shifts out of overdrive going over the mountain near the top. Torque is your friend.

Wheelbase is king. Get the longest truck you can afford.

After turbo, that is. ;)

Rather than injecting our opinion without much information, lets figure out how often you'll be towing. It might just be best to rent a trailer and truck

I think he's got an arsenal info even if it is opinions. He know that he should consider the size of the engine if he's got mountains. Long wheelbases make towing more stable. And if the tow vehicle is going to be primarily a daily driver, then he should consider the mileage when choosing. It's there in one shape or form.

bingo... I've seen car haulers as low as $350 in usable shape with good tags and registration on craigslist.

Like once per month. The more I think about it, although inconvenient, its more fiscally responsible to build a more reliable turbo car, and roll with the jetta as long as i can.

yeah you wont be using the trailer (any maybe even the truck) that much so i'd say stick with the miata

:)



Guess i'm the only one here irresponsible enough to vote "spend it all on the miata!!" It will be all types of nasty for what you have to throw down on it, and then I can live vicariously.

if its any consolation, I only get to drive the car for one week, after 8 weeks of working out of town.

I was fortunate enough to get deployed 3 hours from home, so I just drove the miata up here. I've had my car for about a year now, and I've probably driven it less than 30 times.

get a decent daily driver (ex. e30, another miata, accord something cheap from the 90s) and then blow the rest of your disposable income on the miata