LM: ND Miata

I remember in 2019 when ND1 prices were coming down nicely.  I was really looking forward to one.  Now I don't think prices will ever fall on these cars.  

WonkoTheSane said:

Nothing to add other than don't drive one if you're not prepared to buy one.

2021 RF GT Deep Crystal Blue over Napa White, just like maschinenbau. 

I'd agree that you may want sway bars, but I'm happy without for the moment.  The one mod I did was to make the RF top one-button & works under 30 mph which makes it a lot more fun and Miata-like.  I know it's "first world problem" but holding down the button for 13 seconds or whatever felt like an impediment to fun compared to an NA soft top of "click click fun."

I've got 19k on mine now, and I'm knocking back 34.9 mpg, daily driven.

That is gorgeous! I'm hoping to go drive one soon!

Since we're sharing photos... 2019 RF in Ceramic Metallic.  I think the stock wheels on these ND's are some of the better looking ones I've seen.  I get stopped often by non-car people asking what it is, expecting to hear that it's some sort of exotic.

I suppose photos were inevitable. Here's mine on last summer's road trip.

Keep the pictures coming! We're pretty serious about one so y'all keep up with the enabling! :)

It's a shame Mazda doesn't appear to have ever offered Soul Red with terracotta leather in the US. It's the only combo that would tempt me towards a GT over a Club.

In reply to dyintorace :

(In the spirit of the old VW bug ad about snowplow drivers)

"What does the guy who instructs in Lamborghinis and Ferraris all day drive to the track?"

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

I did have quite a few people ask me what it was, and they all looked surprised when I said Miata. I think the NDs will age well.

I liked the soul red color itself, but I wanted brighter more classic colors like classic red on a miata. Imagine a BRG, or mariner blue or even sunburst ND.

Mine

For those with the Recaro seats, are they comfortable for hours at a time?

In reply to dyintorace :

In my opinion the seats are one of the only true weak points on these cars, whether standard or Recaro.  I'm relatively broad shouldered and the bolstering of the Recaro seats was uncomfortable for me.  The standard seats fit my upper half better but they lack lumbar support so I get a sore back after a few hours.  I'm 6 feet tall and installed the seat lowering brackets, which helped with comfort as they also tip the seats back a bit.  As mentioned it's very body specific.  I suspect that if you were 5'7 and skinny like the average Japanese male that either seat would be perfectly comfortable.

I've done stretches up to 5 hours in my standard cloth seats without issue, but it wouldn't be my car of choice for a cross country trip.

I'm skinny and have done 6 hours in the GT leather seats without issue. I find them very comfortable in general. 

The regular GT leather seats are fine for me too. 6ft, ~160, and I was good for 8+ hours a day for two weeks straight. That said, there is little leeway, so personal fitment is something to pay close attention to before committing.

Put me in the standard GT seats are fine camp. I've done multiple eight plus hour stints with no problem, as a 200 lb 6 ft man. That said, I'm also the kind of person that is happy to drive 6 hours to Watkins Glen in my sparco sprints in my track Miata, so maybe my opinion isn't worth that much as far as comfort goes?

Good to know re the seats. There are a few locally for sale that I'm going to go try out. And my buddy has the Recaros in his RF so I can try those out.

Man...this car that sold on C&B recently seems like a great deal. I love everything about it!

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/35E5pNgZ/2019-mazda-mx-5-miata-club

I'm 5'10" with stumpy legs (blame the McTavish half of my genes) and a fairly broad set of shoulders. I've done a thousand mile day in the non-Recaros and found it perfectly comfortable.

It was in our turbo RF. One advantage the ND1 has is that there's an emissions-legal turbo kit available for it ;) It's not the revvy sports car engine of the ND2 but it's very effective and quick.
 

The biggest problem with that car is that you couldn't see it from the outside while driving.

Rare orange one on cars and bids

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rGoBwZ0g/2019-mazda-mx-5-miata-30th-anniversary-edition

OHSCrifle said:

Rare orange one on cars and bids

 

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rGoBwZ0g/2019-mazda-mx-5-miata-30th-anniversary-edition

I saw that and made the mistake of showing my wife. She said "ooh, I love the orange. I'll take that!" 

Unpopular opinion here - but the orange doesn't really suit the shape in person to my eyes.  It blows out all the surfaces and you lose all the details, like the yellow did in 1992. Plus the orange interior bits are a bit over the top, they remind me of the craze to paint interior plastics in the 90s. People definitely responded to a bold color on the car, though, and it pops in pictures. 

This opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it :) Mine will be black.

You got me looking again, and sent me down a weird rabbit hole. Something with better fuel economy wouldnt be bad, and I stumbled accross a white ND1 Club bbs soft top car for 15K. I think man thats cheap lets check it out. Its a rebuilt title car, which wouldnt bother me for a fuel economy daily, and explains the cheap price, then I notice its got the AVO turbo setup. I didnt need to see this.

Opti said:

You got me looking again, and sent me down a weird rabbit hole. Something with better fuel economy wouldnt be bad, and I stumbled accross a white ND1 Club bbs soft top car for 15K. I think man thats cheap lets check it out. Its a rebuilt title car, which wouldnt bother me for a fuel economy daily, and explains the cheap price, then I notice its got the AVO turbo setup. I didnt need to see this.

I already described my views on one shortcoming of these cars (seats) and now I'll describe the other- weak transmissions, particularly in the ND1's. Mortality rate is significant at stock power, I wouldn't trust one with extra power unless I were willing and able to swap a transmission when needed. I'm told by the local Mazda performance shop that it's not as straightforward as the NA/NB cars, where one person could do the job alone on jack stands in a few hours. Reliability has improved with the ND2 cars. I think they're on the 4th or 5th iteration of these transmissions now. 

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Im not concerned. I can pull the trans and replace it. I also routinely drag raced mine trying to break a revision 1 trans. 4 and 5K RPM launches on a prepped surface many many times. Not saying they dont break, just that Im not worried about it and I dont think they are as fragile as theyve been made out. If it breaks you put the newest one in and hope for the best.

If I got another one it would be a street car with an occasional drag pass and autox, lots of edelbrock cars running around with the same use case.

Plus transmission failures has been a miata standard outside of the NC, got to keep the tradition alice.

Transmission failures in the NA/NB require more than 2x stock power levels, though :) The number of trans failures in the ND wasn't as great as the internets would have you believe, but it wasn't zero. I think only one of the BBR/FM turbo cars has lost a trans.

An ND trans swap is roughly the same as the earlier cars, just with a twist. Literally, you need to rotate it. It's not different enough to take the idea off the table. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

To be fair the 1.6 cars didnt have any power to begin with. Werent people killing 1.6 diffs at close to stock power?

You pretty much cant get a modern performance car without a "catch" nowadays. A relatively uncommon relatively inexpensive transmission replacement is a small price to pay. All else equal id take it over an impending MT82 failure, or an  LTx that valvetrain could grenade at any moment, or a dead motor from RTV in the pickup tube, or literally anything on a modern BMW.

In reply to Opti :

With extreme abuse, you could break the ring gear on a 1.6 Miata at stock power levels. But I'd put that under the "you have to be trying" level. That was fixed with the 1.8 cars, that's a 400 hp rear :) 

The transmission question wouldn't keep me from buying an ND1. I'd get an ND2 if I wanted the best sports car engine, or I'd turbocharge the ND1 if I wanted the fastest option with a stock block.

My ex- has bought a Launch Edition new and still drives it often (she has 6 cars at the moment...). Her only real complaint about it is the tiny trunk, which usually isn't an issue for her, but is something to keep in mind depending on the other vehicles in the fleet.