LM: ND Miata

In reply to dyintorace :

She has good taste. :D

Keith Tanner said:

People definitely responded to a bold color on the car, though, and it pops in pictures. 

It blows my mind that Mazda saw the reaction to orange and interpreted it as "what people really want is another shade of metallic tan." 

CrashDummy said:

Keith Tanner said:

People definitely responded to a bold color on the car, though, and it pops in pictures. 

It blows my mind that Mazda saw the reaction to orange and interpreted it as "what people really want is another shade of metallic tan." 

Yeah, it's sure not what I would have taken from that feeding frenzy.

CrashDummy said:

Keith Tanner said:

People definitely responded to a bold color on the car, though, and it pops in pictures. 

It blows my mind that Mazda saw the reaction to orange and interpreted it as "what people really want is another shade of metallic tan." 

Actually, they responded with TWO new boring colors! 

We need this:

I'll take a real blue. The fact that there is a 51 page thread on Miata.net about wrapped NDs says that people really do want color.

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

A BRG on Terracotta leather with rumored nav upgrade for 2024 would probably convince me to get another ND2. Also wish they had a little more steering feedback like my NA or that it was addressed somehow by the aftermarket. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Color choices would likely improve sales some.  Sports cars should not be painted like SUVs and CUVs.

Keith Tanner said:

The fact that there is a 51 page thread on Miata.net about wrapped NDs says that people really do want color.

 

Yeah, right now anybody that wants a good color has to budget another few thousand dollars to get it wrapped.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Color choices would likely improve sales some.  Sports cars should not be painted like SUVs and CUVs.

I have to assume there is a certain cost to offering a color. I wonder if the margins are so low on the MX-5 that the only colors it gets have must be for other products. The question of color isn't preference, it's whether it affects sales or the price they can charge.

I've always thought that a big part of the rational behind colors is to have something inoffensive enough that anyone who shows up at a dealer would take whatever is already on the lot. Few people buy vehicles for their color. I'm almost surprised they bother with anything other than however the primer happens to be...

I don't know why they bother with "style" either. Most CUVs don't have style. Save the costs, keep half as profit and reduce the price of the bland appliances. The funny thing is home appliances seem to have more style than most vehicles because it's difficult to differentiate them.

I also think it's funny how minivans died out because they were perceived as a sterilized parent vehicle. SUV/CUVs answered that problem by being no style blobs with anonymous color. 

I have to assume there is a certain cost to offering a color. I wonder if the margins are so low on the MX-5 that the only colors it gets have must be for other products. The question of color isn't preference, it's whether it affects sales or the price they can charge.

In reply to Snrub :

That thinking makes sense until you come to the "Competition Orange" special edition we were talking about from a couple of years ago. That was very much not a color from the existing Mazda selection.

Heck, Mazda learned this lesson in the 90s. The M Edition cars were mostly nothing more than a special color, a full options sheet, different wheels and a couple of badges. It was the color that made them stand out and drove the sales. But they seem to have forgotten other than with regards to the 30th anniversary car, which was basically an M Edition for the ND.

I guess I'm questioning whether those colors did drive sales. Miata buyers might have preferred cool colors, but if there were no other options would they have still bought a miata in grey/white, or do they head over to the competition to buy their CUV designed by chatGPT?

In reply to Snrub :

I suspect that if you could answer that question, you'd be working in marketing :)

Jeep certainly thinks that toy vehicles should come in toy colors. 

One more thing I forgot...leg room in the passenger side is less than the driver's side.  My wife has long legs and complains every time she gets in.  But she's fine in the driver's seat. 

In reply to Andy Hollis :

I'll admit I haven't sat in a ND, but are you sure there's less room? Maybe using her legs as a driver keeps her from noticing while as a passenger they are just kinda hanging out and the lack of required movement makes her fidgety or notice the situation more when on that side.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Snrub :

I suspect that if you could answer that question, you'd be working in marketing :)

Just not for Mazda... 

Oh, I did think of my one big annoyance with the car.  The navutainment system takes a decent bit to get all functionality going, like almost a minute.  There's times that it is pretty annoying, like if you have to stop to grab gas but you're using nav, it can be a while before it finally gets around to pulling Android auto up.  It often feels a bit laggy switching between modes and such, especially for the first minute or two.

Comparing the 2021 Mazda to our 2020 Chrysler, the Chrysler is worlds ahead in that department (it's live within seconds of starting the car, and always responsive).  I like the interface better in the Mazda, though.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Snrub :

I suspect that if you could answer that question, you'd be working in marketing :)

Jeep certainly thinks that toy vehicles should come in toy colors. 

I love the colors available on jeeps!  However, I can't think of a cheaper vehicle to tool up a paint line for, either.  Flat panels that can be done separately from the frame and all.

In reply to KinPer :

It has a slow boot and a fast boot. It depends on how long the car's been shut down. I've never seen it take anything like a minute, but I also don't use Android Auto. I suspect the lag here is getting AA up and running again. The slow boot time is probably more like 10 seconds but that seems like forever in our world.

As a built-in audio or nav system, it's okay. I've never had a complaint about the nav. The earlier NDs seem to occasionally have trouble dealing with a phone, especially when trying to run Pandora. I usually end up just doing a Bluetooth connection. The stock USB port doesn't have enough amperage to charge a phone - it's really just for data unless you install the CarPlay/Android Auto unit. Then it can charge. 

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to KinPer :

It has a slow boot and a fast boot. It depends on how long the car's been shut down. I've never seen it take anything like a minute, but I also don't use Android Auto. I suspect the lag here is getting AA up and running again. The slow boot time is probably more like 10 seconds but that seems like forever in our world.

As a built-in audio or nav system, it's okay. I've never had a complaint about the nav. The earlier NDs seem to occasionally have trouble dealing with a phone, especially when trying to run Pandora. I usually end up just doing a Bluetooth connection. The stock USB port doesn't have enough amperage to charge a phone - it's really just for data unless you install the CarPlay/Android Auto unit. Then it can charge. 

Keith - does the stock Bose system support Apple CarPlay? If not, is the unit you mentioned a Mazda item or a recommended aftermarket unit? We'll definitely want CarPlay one way or another. 

In reply to dyintorace :

I'm not as good with esoteric options as I was back in the 90s :) There's a Mazda retrofit kit available for any ND that doesn't have CarPlay (other than the Sport models without a screen). It became optional in 2019 or so and I think it was standard starting in 2021. None of our shop cars have ever had it (not a priority for our use) so I don't have any personal experience with it.

Ah, the used dealer down the way just got an ND on the lot. I'm not stopping.

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

Chicken.

In reply to Keith Tanner & KinPer :

I'm using the completely stock 2021 deck.  I'll stopwatch it next time I get in the car.   The fast boot doesn't really seem to reliably help, but maybe the threshold for fast vs. slow is like 3 minutes or something, less than the time it takes for a fillup?

It's normal for my car to not display the "please don't use your navutainment while driving" nag screen until I'm already pulled out on my street, which is at the end of my ~300' driveway.  That's at least 20 seconds.  I have to pull out of the garage, reverse, pull down the driveway, etc.  Then the message will display for a while, then, I can finally change radio stations.  

Perhaps there's an update available, I dunno.  I haven't had it back to Mazda since I brought it home.

Time to keep a log :)

On the charging/phone port front, the USB connection seems to charge at a fine rate when I'm plugged in for AA.

The AA upgrade also includes a USB port upgrade. If you had the non-AA deck, the USB power would make you sad. 

There may be different boot behavior with an AA upgraded deck, I don't have direct experience as noted. There is an extra tech stack that needs to be brought online.