Finally pulled the trigger on a new ride
 

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1372049700
2006 with 42K on the clock, already has a Borla exhaust-sounds pretty good.
Actually surprised me with how peppy it is. Needs a tune and maybe some headers(quite spendy!) for another 20hp or so. Maybe some motion control coilovers and larger discs and call it good. Already deluding myself about where this is going(really needs a 3.8L tranplant from Carrera S).

very nice.. i see these things all over la whenever i visit

noice. Why the F don't we hang out more?? Is the M3/5 or whatever it was still around?

berry cool... my dad bought a 2005 last year, and it is sic as hell. needs moar booooost, but i cant talk him into doing it. lol very good purchase... im not gonna ask how much you paid, but did you get a good deal on it????

Yeah the M3 is the daily, have to have something you fit two car seats in.
I should probably go to more automotive stuff, be social, have friends but with children ages 1 and 3, IF I get free time I tend to fall asleep immediately.
Yeah, the first gen caymans are getting surprisingly cheap. They do have some uncertainty regarding the poorly designed intermediate shaft bearing that might toast your engine and a few other quirks but it is a hoot to drive. Great steering feel, seems very forgiving(haven't gotten any lift throttle oversteer but haven't really provoked it yet, though to be fair newer 911s suffer this a lot less too)
It needs a little more power, cable shifter isn't the best, engines not that durable if you want to track them heavily.

Those cars are absolutely gorgeous. Love em.

Kinda curious though, and maybe I'm completely wrong here, but: why m3 and cayman? Aren't they kinda sorta the same thing or very similar? Just in overall application: roughly same weight, good but not ultra powerful or ultra torquey engines, etc.

In some ways they are similar and I think it is just personal preference. During street driving it is pretty rare that you can deploy anything close to the performance of most high HP cars. I like relatively sharp handling cars as opposed to monster HP. I am old so I prefer my daily type cars to ride at least reasonably. It is fun to have a torquey v8 for street driving too.
I love turbo cars but the STI is loud and it gets annoying having ricers trying to race me.

Ah I see. Which is more fun?

I'd say the cayman is more fun than the M3. The steering is more communicative and I will always have more fun using a clutch and shifter(even though I am not the greatest at footwork-but that is what makes it fun if you get right sometimes. The M3 has an amazing engine sounds awesome at 8K and if you want it to be it is a drift machine. It has a DCT(wife requirement) and although there is no question it is faster, just not as much fun.
The STI is a lot of fun too but is much more raw, it needs a rotated kit to sort of finish it up, but it is already fast enough with the Dom 4.
Don't get me wrong I'd love a muscle car with a crazy rat motor or a 440 max wedge. FD Rx7 with an LS swap or even a 2jz, lotus7/caterham/Birken.
Almost bought a 2002 with an S14 swap recently. Would like to have E28 M5 someday, need a datsun 510 with a built L20 and dual webers, but a Mazworx SR20VE would do.
OK flight of fancy over.

wait......you still have the sti, your crazy miata, the m3, and the cayman?

I hate you

that is all

Mmmmmmmmmmm!