It's a 1992 Sunburst Yellow (very rare colour), it's got an FMIII turbo kit and puts 220hp to the rear wheels (basically an FMII with an external wastegate), and it's got a roll bar, Tein Flex with 9/6 springs (very recent addition), torsen rear with 3.9 gears, brakes from a 1.8, and the list goes on...

Very cool and fast car, but damn it's small, too small for me and my 6'3" (the rollbar certainly doesn't help).

 

How in the hell do you fit? I'm 6' and I have just enough room to push the seat back on my wife's 2003 which is larger than yours.

Funny, i was thinking of this thread yesterday. My wife swapped cars with me and I had the Miata. I call it the 5/8ths car. Everything is 5/8th normal size Anyway, I'd drive over some rough pan areas and could feel the flex. This reconfirms my previous comments about the stiffness of the chassis. Definately very good for a convertible but nothing like the RX7.

 

Well, I'm 5'9" and I love how the Miata feels like it fits like a glove. The car my friend owns is a '99 and it's mostly stock. Like I said, I could feel some flex but it handled so well it seemed like it didn't affect it much.

I don't know what all the different braces are available for the Miata but I would guess with the level of flexing I noticed, and seeing how popular racing Miatas has become, there would be considerable improvement available.

 

It's a tight squeeze for me. My knees are nearly touching the wheel, so I can't steer more than 90 degrees or so without letting go with one hand, and it's generally cramped. The roll bar's a big part of the problem, because it forces you to sit further forward and more vertical than you woul be able to normally, otherwise your head gets in a territorial dispute with the rollbar, and in a rear ender that could easily be fatal. It also just doesn't allow the seat to move that far back anyway. My dad's about 6'1" and he drives it every day in the summer. He's removed a bunch of the foam from the seat bottom and that gets him lower, and he's thinking of hard mounting the seat to gain that extra 3/8" or so. I don't get to drive it or ride in it much, but I enjoy it when I do. As a fun autocross car I would definetely consider a Miata, but it'd have to be a purely fun car, I'd never be able to live with it every day, it's too small and too impractical (the trunk's a joke).

It's about as cramped as a 1973 Triumph GT6 MkIII that my dad had before it. Despite being big himself, he subscribes to the Colin Chapman philosophy of small and light, and so do I, to a point, you gotta have a comfortable daily driver.

For Miata torsional stiffness discussion, go here: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=189795

 

I don't see a issue with flex in a miata, the only issue I see is rear end. When I built my miata it was built to except 20B in the future with only the shifter on trans move forward 4'' and drive shaft shotened

 

rp built one I believe.

 

Well,

A have a buddy(don't we all!!) with a type R Miata or something. It drove like a tank... really heavy & rough compared to my '88 S4. Not even close to being desirable or fun to drive. The girls like it I guess... so all you Miata guys would seem to be little girlie men or something... it's just that it was no where even close to the light handling & smooth revving of my RX-7.

Ramses666

 

im not sure what you meant by that, but I'm not exactly a little girlie man... im 5'11, 180#... and my miata runs about the same as an s4 NA. I have one of thsoe too, but the miata gets much better mileage, and also its a vert.
heavy? wtf u talking about? it weighs 2100 lbs...

 

The one you drove probably had heavy wheels, they spoil the handling. Miatas are light and nimble feeling. The guys that drive them are not girly men. They're one of the best stock autocross cars out there, so they obviously handle well.

 

Well, I suppose the car I drove was a dog. It was just the feel of the driving to me. No where even close... Maybe there were some hydraulic problems.. I know there was a leaking cylinder... maybe clutch or possibly steering.. still... it shouldn't have made that big of a difference. Convertible is nice as I've llive in FL. The Miata I drove actually handled & drove fine. It was the feeling or vibrations that left me with the impression of driving a tank relative to the smoothness of my NA s4. I apologize for the "girlie man" reference. It was not intended to offend, but rather to stimulate conversation. The Miata left me with an impression of a Fiat Spyder of the late 70's era, but heavier with a stouter tranny & rear end.

Ramses666

 

My wife always said that I looked sexy driving my FC. I don't think she'd say the same about me driving a Miata...

Still love 'em though.