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Re: Miatas

To: pgarside@acorn.co.uk, miq@wv.mentorg.com
Subject: Re: Miatas
From: megatest!bldg2fs1!sfisher@uu2.psi.com (Scott Fisher)
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 93 09:52:43 PDT
> Paul Garside says:
> > I have been puzzled by numerous references to Miatas, imagining exotic
> > Italian or perhaps Spanish sports cars of the fifties, made exclusively for
> > the US market by disgruntled ex-Ferrari or ex-Pegaso engineers (like Siata

That's it!  It's a cross between a Morris and a Siata! :-)  (No, that
would be a Siesta...)

> > or Cisitslia). But they seem so common over there and unknown here, so can
> > they be what we call a Mazda MX-5 (large Lotus Elan copy)?

When the first hoopla was flying around about the MX-5/Miata, my
dad asked me, "Is that the one that looks like a little Lotus?"

"No," I said, "it's the one that looks like a BIG Lotus."

> Yes, the Mx-5 and Miata are the same beast.  Large Lotus Elan copy?  Well I
> guess next to the family hauler/tow vehicle, the Miata has the most room for
> the two front passengers.

C'mon, Miq.  Park the Miata next to the Bugeye.  The Miata is BIG.
(At least, that's how I explain why I hit so many cones in my first
autocross driving it...)  It's ten inches wider than an MGB, though
(as Miq and I verified) it's within a fraction of every other
dimension.  And an MGB is significantly larger than an Elan, about
a foot (30 cm) longer and wider and probably four inches (10 cm) higher,
not to mention some 700 lb (330 kg) heavier.

> 4 2-seater cars is better than 2 4-seater cars.  Or as Orwell said,
> "2 seats good, 4 seats bad."  or something like that.

Ah, but is one 12-cylinder car better than three four-cylinder cars?
And which would be better, having one Jaguar XKE-V12 or having an 
Audi 5000, a Honda Civic and a Geo Metro?

--Scott "Well, THAT at least is clearly a rhetorical question" Fisher


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