Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats.

Hi guys! Patrick in Ann Arbor reporting for duty.

I've managed to drive for the last 16 years without owning a Miata. Earlier this summer I was looking in to getting a 2002 or a 914 to restore, but after doing the financial math I figured it'd be smarter to just buy a Miata and be done with it. Better handling, cheaper parts and waaaaaaaaay less rust. I picked up a '90 w/ 54K miles a hard top for $2600 last month. It's awesome. I've wasted thousands of dollars trying to make other cars handle well, and this thing blows them all away even with junk tires and stock suspension.

My past cars have been mostly European. My first car was a 924, followed by a string of VW/Audi stuff...a Scirocco, four Mk2 VWs, an Audi 4KQ rally car, a crappy 5000 turbo quattro, a VR6 Jetta, and a B5 Passat. There was a Volvo in there somewhere. I seem to recall an '03 Civic SI, but it wasn't very memorable... mostly because it never broke.

Since having kids, I've moved up in size a bit and have spent the last 4 years playing with an E28 535is and then an E34 535i. Nice cars, but pretty much the opposite of the Miata. The E34 in particular doesn't wake up until you're well in to 3rd gear and doing something really stupid.

So far I've done all the fluids, the shift boots, timing belt/water pump, PCV valve, upgraded to H4's and foamectomied the seats. Everything has been a piece of cake, relatively speaking. It's been a decade since one of my cars visited a professional for anything other than muffler, body or alignment work. It's nice working on the Miata after suffering through a recent timing belt change on the f-ing Passat and a clutch on the E34.

I'll get around to making the car more powerful, but right now I'm kind of digging how hard you need to work in order to make forward progress. The car is either at WOT or on overrun 90% of the time in city traffic. I'll probably get tired of that at some point....sooner the more time I spend here.