I drove a friend's C5 Corvette, and I didn't like the seating position (too far back / hood too long) and I wasn't really a fan of the interior either. Power and handling should be good though. I rode passenger in a C6 Corvette and it seemed better.

 

I was offered a 987 Cayman in trade. Passed on it.

 

We have 3 kids so these are about as sporty of daily drivers as we can have. Also, I wouldn’t enjoy daily driving a FD at this age. I’ve put a couple thousand miles on my fd this year. When I start up the FD it’s to raise hell and nothing else. I’m not a big tech guy but modern vehicles are so much more practical for daily life. I also get 100+ phone calls everyday for work so when I’m in a vehicle I have to be able to communicate clearly which is very difficult in a FD.

 

Funny you say this. I dailied my FD for the past two weeks, while I was breaking in an engine and letting my roommate borrow my 2017 Civic. I almost enjoy commuting in the FD better. This car still just handles so good and is so easy to place on the road. You can see out of it easy and my AC is COLD. When I hop into my Civic it feels like it has a small preflight and engine shut down checklist, between the DI engine and electronic parking brake. The Civic also feels like a truck, big and sloppy. Also have been borrowing a C8 vette. It is a better car than the FD in almost everyway, but still harder to drive. You cannot see out of it and it has that dorky lunch tray for a steering wheel.

Side note about phone tech. I have a double din android auto Kenwood in my car and it has brought the car to this decade. I miss nothing from newer cars tech wise.

 

I'm not following how a civic feels like it has a pre flight checklist.

Hop in, push start without moving the keys from your pocket, release parking brake, put into drive, go.

That is about as easy as it gets and pretty far from a pre flight checklist. You have to do all that in an FD, except you need to actually insert and turn key to start an FD.

 

I haven't driven any of the 2000 and up Mercs. My experience is only with their cars in the 80's and 90's. Nice to know they have moved toward performance. How's build quality? The cars used prices drop like stones. Very inexpensive as drivers. Same with many newer BMW's.

 

Values of most European vehicles seem to drop quickly until this recent pandemic madness. One of the few exceptions are the G wagons, not my style though. Build quality seems great in her GLE but it only has 13k miles so time will tell. Most European brands seem to go with smaller, higher compression setups with turbos to get performance and decent fuel economy. Mercedes just throws a big v8 in and slaps on turbos to achieve big HP numbers with no concern for fuel economy. Most AMG drivetrains since the early 2000s have been pretty bullet proof. I wanted an X6m over the GLE and Macan Turbo but they have been plagued with engine issues. As much as I have loved the 10-12 bmws I’ve owned over the years they are only a half step above the fd in reliability.

 

We recently bought a 2021 Miata RF Club for our daughter and the more I look at it the more I like it. It's still underpowered compared to an FD, but the lightest weight Miata yet and you can bet there will be a supercharger kit for the ND2 soon. The Club model comes with BBSs, Bilsteins, Recaros, and Brembo brakes, all stock. .

I think the RF may be battling with the FC for 2nd best looking Mazda ever.

 

FC = yuck. I'll take an FB over an FC any day.

 

RF? Yeah agreed the FC isn't my favorite although a clean one is still decent. I prefer the RX3 after the FD, personally. Would love to get one someday.

 

With the civic you push the button to start wait a couple seconds for the parking brake to release after pushing the brake, wait for the screen to turn on, so you can press several buttons to navigate to the climate controls to turn on the ac blower, then navigate to a couple other screens to find the FM radio. When you shut it off you have to wait a couple seconds to release the clutch or put the car in neutral because the engine does not immediately cut off. As someone who actually flies planes it is not even close to a preflight checklist, but it is a lot more complicated than an older car like the FD. The FD is tactile. You just flip switches for the AC and radio, release the brake and go.

 

the miata is 14.9@93mph in the quarter mile, its slower than the FD, but not by much. the game changes when you turn though, the ND is faster.

ND also gets about double the gas mileage, and is amazingly reliable.

 

If the BMW's you've owned were unreliable, I think they must have been much newer cars than those I have owned. I bought my first BMW in 1971. Still have a 1976 530i and an E30 M3. The cars powered by M10 and M30 engines were all extremely reliable. I wouldn't own a 2000's BMW. Not really BMW's at all. Just some European luxury cars.

 

The 2022 Toyota 86 looks promising, although it might be a bit more of a practical daily driver and less stripped-down-weekend-sportscar than the FD. Someone on youtube dyno'd a preproduction model at 200-ish HP at the wheels and said it works well on the track considering how street-friendly the suspension is. Not turbocharged so they aren't going to be easy to add power.

 

The fact that they haven't served up a version of the BRZ/86 with a factory widebody and STi motor and brake upgrade baffles me.

 

Jason Cammisa has some good commentary on that topic...

 

Fixed that for you

 

Most of mine were mid 90s and up. My E36/46 M3s were fairly reliable. My x5, 540i, and wife's 330 all had they typical issues that come with their respected models. I really wish I had just gotten the X6m and hoped for the best. Im not sure I am ever going to love this Macan.

 

Edit: I missed the part where you said below. We could almost agree on that. lol

Haha. I don't view the FDs as the disaster a lot of forum members and past owners due. There is a simple formula to having a pretty damn reliable FD but most either half *** it, or often times even worse, over complicate it. Good compression stock port motor, new or close to new harness, small single/twins, deleted AST and FPD, deleted emissions/rats nest coupled with radiator/IC/meth injection is a pretty spot on reliable FD even on Pettit Ecu or Base Tune PFC. I just did some doughnuts behind my shop about 20 minutes ago in my R2 on my way to pickup the greatest chicken sandwich on the planet from Popeyes. I don't drive it as often as I would like due to my kids but its gets driven every couple weeks at least and runs perfect every time.

 

YEP. The biggest enemy of the FD is owners. Of course, the enemy used to be Mazda dealer techs in the 90s

Dale

 

Closely followed by letting a car sit, I guess also an owners fault.

I let my e60 M5 sit for a year, had a water leak through the idiotic door card design, so I just put a cover on it and left it.

I started getting it ready to sell. New battery, new gas, started right up. However, now have an airbag light on due to the passenger seat sensor, stability control light on, check engine light on, brake light on (it's yellow, so that means low brake fluid but it's full). And who knows what else.

I did drive it, runs amazing and great sound and torque from the V10. Oh I wish I didn't let it sit... I love a streetable 500 horsepower with sequential 7 speed. So fun

 

Our fourth Miata, and the FD is definitely quicker up a mountain road. I tested it myself. lol

 

ND is hard to beat as a daily driver, though (if you can fit). You can actually put the throttle all the way down for more than half a second, you'll be required to row up and down the gears constantly.. makes quick trips through town to the grocery store and back fun while keeping speeds reasonable and feeling like you're going faster than you really are. Don't mind the heated leather seats, putting the top down on sunny days, having a warranty, or getting almost 40 mpg cruising on the highway, either. If you care to, you can perform a few mods to it and be competitive with cars costing 4-5x at your local autocross.. plus you'll actually have regular car meetups/club events and have more than 4-5 people show up (rotary turn-outs probably better in other parts of the country). Would never replace everything an FD brings but could satisfy some people depending on what they're looking for. I recommend supplementing, instead of replacing.

 

I completely agree. I ran an NC PRHT as my daily for over 10yrs. Miata is definitely the answer.
However, the car had too much wear on it to bother doing a restore on it.
Next best thing is to pickup an RX8. Specifically an R3! Best decision I’ve made. While I do miss the top down driving some days, it can’t compete against the civility the RX8 brings. Having 2 rotary vehicles isn't too shabby.

 

Before I got my FD I was actually considering the RX8... then I was like, "why should I get 'almost my dream car' when I could just get my dream car?". I don't think I can justify an rx8 at this point, though I commend you for running two rotaries! The 40mpg highway I can get in the ND was big for me. I would love to one day put an NA 20B in an rx8, though... maybe I'll sell the ND when I need four doors for a family and can switch to the rx8 then (do child seats fit lol).