[quote=spdrun]NB. The unloved late 90s ugly duckling. Seems to be quite a few of them for $5-7k at least in the East, and there’s something to be said for not having the flip-up lights. Z3s also go for under 10 grand.
Also, what about a motorcycle — as visceral as it gets and a hell of a lot of fun. Basically the “fuck you” to all of those who want everything on the roads to be safe and domesticated.[/quote]
It’s unlikely a $4000 NB miata is in decent shape, especially on the east coast. The subframe is probably covered in rust. Closer to $7000 for decent ones.
NBs are just fine. The might be slightly less desirable in CARB-nazi states like CA, because NB’s started to have 2 cats and OBD2 and finding CARB legal turbo/supercharger kits is even more difficult… but plenty of people have NBs. And CARB legal LS3 V8 swap is out of the question.
But they are still in pretty good demand. If I had the garage space, I’d pick up an NB and leave it stock with better suspension and nothing more.
The NC is probably the most tunable miata and most reliable. Easiest thing would be the Ford 2.5 engine swap. And then put a SC on that. The transmission on the NC is pretty solid, more so than the ND. Fiat was smart and used the NC transmission on the Fiat 124, which is why actually the Fiat 124 is more reliable than the ND Miata. I already broke the ND transmission twice in 22,000 miles, though it was partly used with a supercharger and raced, they probably took the gram strategy way too far and there’s probably enough driveline flex so that the shafts flex enough for the gears to well, you can imagine. If stiffer engine mounts and differential mounts don’t solve this, I’ll eventually do an NC transmission swap, though it will add about 50lbs to the the car. Other people already have. https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=712509
Anyway, scardey is probably too tall for a miata. And he’s too old for a Toyota 86, which would be a good second option. Toyota Supra would not work, because basically it’s a BMW drivetrain, which Scardey does not want. He could wait for the Infiniti version of the 2023 Twin Turbo Z. It’s a little on the heavy side…
