> I must admit I would be alittle peeved if I got burned by a Miata, but
>I'm driving a car with 10000000000 times the character, and one which has
>REAL chrome, and a classic look. I wonder how many miatas will be around in
>20 years time with the following our LBC have???
Speaking of the Japanese invasion, I had the opportunity to try a Miata
on for size last weekend, and came away disappointed. (To be completely
fair, I didn't take it for a test-drive; I had a friend along and would
have felt silly leaving him standing around the dealership for X minutes
while some salesleaze flapped his lips when I was trying to drive.
Two things that struck me about the car right away were the
ergonometrics and the feel of the important bits (clutch and gearshift).
My folks have a rotary Mazda that I used to drive quite a bit, and I was
always impressed with the positive feel and relatively short throws of
the gearbox -- I was shocked at how sloppy the Miata felt. The clutch
felt pretty tentative to me also, although I admit it's tough to tell
too much without power.
Does anyone know what sort of linkage they used on the shifter? It felt
like cables to me... . (So did the Plymouth Laser RS Turbo AWD I drove,
but that's a different story.)
As for the overall feel of the driver's position... my 22-year-old
Europa feels like it has more room, better-positioned controls (with the
exception of that wacky passenger-side ignition switch), and in short more
comfortable than does the Miata.
My conclusion... Lotus: There is no substitute! (8^)
-coryc
PS: To any Miata owners, apologies for my prejudicial opinions. If
you're willing to lend me your car for a month's evaluation I might be
persuaded to change my mind... . (BTW: What do you think of a used '91
with hardtop, and 19,000 miles for an asking price of $17,000?)
| >> Disclaimer: I speak for Sequent only in our hardware manuals <<
|||Cory R. Carpenter, Tech Writer |
| |
|Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. |"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate |
| Beaverton, Oregon, USA | things." -- Vice President Dan Quayle |
| coryc@sequent.com | |
|