Reply to: RE>Subject:
Dennis Wilson writes:
...any characterless high production Miata.
**** Here I disagree. The Miata has a *lot* of character. That's why Mazda
can sell so many of them and make it "high production". By modern standards,
its not a particularly fast car. Why knock it just because it's Japanese? (
By the way, the body style was conceived by *American* stylists in San Diego )
All right, we're British Car fanatics, so we shall be loyal to Merrie Olde
Englande. Well, I've got news for you. Merrie Olde abandoned us years ago.
If you want a cheery little roadster, you have to go to the land of the rising
sun.
If you really want to buy British, what can you get? Well, you can get a
Sterling, like my neighbor, which is plush and expensive but IMHO not
particularly exciting, or you can get a Lotus, which is out of my price range,
or you can get an "MG Metro" ( Urp. Can you say "badge Engineering"?)
One could say: "It wasn't the British' fault, they were trounced in the
marketplace by the Japanese". Well, and how did the Japs manage this feat? By
giving value for money. By giving people reasonably comfortable econoboxes
that they could drive without leaving a trail of oil, for 100,000 miles, and
then throw away. By giving them neat little sports cars like the Datsun 240Z,
the Toyota MR2, and, yes, the Miata. High-tech engines with things like double
overhead cams and 16-valve heads. None of this stuff is really new, you know.
But they invested the production engineering to actually make it work and bring
it to us at a price we could afford.
Somebody mentioned steadily rising collector car values as something that
will be denied the "plebian" Miata. Here also I strenuously disagree. I think
the Miata will have a price curve much the same as other sports cars; in ten
years they'll be junk, and in 20 they 'll be a treasured antique. I'd be
willing to bet money on it. In fact, I probably will, in about ten years.
In conclusion, I think I detect a hint of jealousy in all this
Miata-bashing. Mazda's making all the money here.... Well, the Brits can make
some of the money too. Just build us some neat little British roadsters, and
we'll buy'em. But make them reliable, make them competitive, and don't price
them so you have to be a Duke or an Earl to afford one.
- Jerry
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