NC Miata?

Well, the answer could possibly be....

I'm considering a Miata as a 4 season daily driver/commuter. I'm pretty familiar with the NA/NB's, and was looking at a really nice '03 with under 40k miles...until I found out how much NC pricing has dropped. I still love the NB, and am seriously considering that option

My understanding is that the NC makes for a more refined, slightly quicker car. How is their reliability? As bulletproof as its predecessor? What about the folding roof? I'd definitely want a hardtop for wintertime, but a folding hardtop seems to offer the best of both worlds as far as quiet highway commuter/fun backroads car. Reliable?

Thoughts?

My first thought is that I like S2000s a lot more than NC Miatas. My second thought is the the PRHT is fugly. My third thought is that I should apologize for being totally useless in regards to what you really want to know, but at least your thread is higher up the page now.

Seriously though, if the insurance costs aren't a deal breaker for you, at least consider the S2000.

One of the issues with S2000s in this scenario is the availability and cost of hardtops - they ain't cheap, if you can find an OEM one, and the "good" aftermarket options range from more expensive than a used OEM hardtop to frighteningly expensive.

That said, it'll probably work out a little cheaper than an NC still...

I actually looked into getting a PRHT, I don't think they look too bad, but that very quickly descended into starting to look for a new rather than a used car because I had trouble finding one that even had the PRHT, let alone with the options I wanted.

S2000 hard tops are absurdly expensive, I concede that point. The transmission in the Mazda probably tolerates morons better as well. Just sharing my opinion. It's worth exactly what was paid for it, I know.

Interested to see how this thread goes. I'm considering an NC in a few years for a daily.

How's the noise level of the S2k on the highway? I confess, I definitely considered them, but worried that the cost of ownership would be higher. (True? Don't know) The NB I'm considering is a rather sharp looking white Club Sport, FWIW.

EDIT: the S2k's, at least locally, are much higher mileage at the same price...

99.9% of my seat time in Miatas has been in NAs. The S2000 is quieter than those. You can easily have a conversation at a normal volume, but you won't be hearing any needles dropping or anything of that sort - it's far from a luxury car.

Insurance is higher. The guys I know who are daily driving S2ks are all getting 26-28mpg and could probably do better if they set out to.

Take one for a drive and a test sit first. The NB was a slight evolution to the NA, the NC is a brand new car. The sills are higher and it feels bigger.

To me, the biggest difference is the sensation of speed. An NA/NB Miata feels faster than it is. The NC masks its speed better - it doesn't feel as quick as it is. That's a problem for some people. They're a good road trip car for sure, I drove one 2000 miles in two days solo last fall. Not terribly noisy.

The engine is basically a Duratec. They don't seem to have any major problems that I've heard of. The original 6-speeds did have a fun flaw where they would break one of the shift forks after about 200 laps, leaving the car stuck in the 3-4 gate. There are rumors of the 2007 engines suffering internal failures although the source of those is not one I trust. It is true that Mazda went to forged internals for the 2009+ manual trans cars though.

The PRHT only looks funny when it's up. Otherwise, it's a pretty clever roof. You can get removable hard tops for the soft top versions.

NC owners are a different demographic than NA/NB owners - even when the NA/NB cars were the same ages that the NC is now. I don't know what it means exactly, but let's just say they are much less likely to have been flogged hard.

BTW, one nice thing about an 03 Club Sport is the manual steering rack. It was only used on the 50 Club Sport cars and a small handful of 1999 base models. Much nicer manual rack than the one in the NA. That's about all the Club Sport has to offer, though. Otherwise, it's just a normal Sport package.

I belong to a club that has over a hundred Miatas . One fellow owns an NA, an NB and recently bought an NC. He says the NC cockpit feels like it has less leg room than the NA/NB chassis. But he'll tell you that the car is also a more comfortable car for doing the long distances to Miata gatherings.
Another member put his NC up for sale and went looking to find a nice NB to replace the one he traded for the NC because he found that he felt like he was sitting too low in the NC.The window ledge is higher. The soft top NC has more storage in the cockpit behind the seats. Finding a removable hard top might be difficult ( I've only ever seen two) and they originally were priced close to the cost of the PRHT option !!
I haven't heard any NC owners complaining about reliability issues, but this far north 98% of the members put their Miatas away in November and take them out in April. They don't have a lot of mileage on the NCs yet.

I have a NC PRHT purchased new and I drove it two years as a daily driver year round. Now I only drive it on occasion in the winter on clear dry days. Not that it isn't perfectly capable in the winter, it is. With the right winter tires anyway. The roads are so beat up here and so much salt is dumped on the roads in Michigan it was just too nice a car to put it through that. So now I have a winter vehicle and a summer vehicle. I have done some mods, the usual stuff CAI, CAT back exhaust, lowered, wider tires/wheels etc......as I said just too nice for these hacked up winter roads. It's been perfectly reliable and enjoyable to own. I wanted the PRHT mostly for security purposes.

I know most people won't agree with me but I feel the Miata and the S2K are different levels. I have driven the Hondas and really like them but I just wanted a simpler and cheaper Miata.

Own an NA, driven an NB or two in anger, made a salesman grab the "oh E36 M3" handles on an NC. (Hey, he wanted me to take the test drive, and I wasn't anywhere near the limits of anything!)

The NC is, IMHO, the Buick of the Miata lineup. Take everything you experience in an NA or an NB, and make it number and more pleasant. This might be just what you're looking for in a daily driver, but I really don't think of it as a "Miata". It's a two-seat convertible with a decent engine and a decent suspension.

I'd love to think of the NA as an evolved Elan. I can't think of the NC that way, there's far too much Camry/Accord in it.

I've had both the NA and NB. The NB was the Mazdaspeed version. NC is a much better car overall than the NA or NB. Easier to live with. A little more interior room. Don't get beat up as much by the wind with the top down. Still fun to drive.

MG Bryan wrote: S2000 hard tops are absurdly expensive, I concede that point. The transmission in the Mazda probably tolerates morons better as well. Just sharing my opinion. It's worth exactly what was paid for it, I know.

Transmission in the S2000 is an Aisin AZ6, not a bad unit. Shared with the Mazdaspeed Miata.

I DD an NB, and I've autocrossed an NC twice and an S2000 one run. My impression from all of it, is that I would prefer the S2000 over all of them; the only reason otherwise is the aforementioned hardtop issue.

This being said, the only reason that the NC doesn't get my pick is because the S2000 exists and is simply more to my liking. I definitely could see driving one every day.

I would not use any of them in the winter without the hardtop.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

MG Bryan wrote: S2000 hard tops are absurdly expensive, I concede that point. The transmission in the Mazda probably tolerates morons better as well. Just sharing my opinion. It's worth exactly what was paid for it, I know.

Transmission in the S2000 is an Aisin AZ6, not a bad unit. Shared with the Mazdaspeed Miata.

Very far from a bad unit. The S2000 variant has some significant differences from the MSM from what I've read.

Not just the MSM, that's the same 6-speed used in all 6-speed Miatas. Including the NC with a different case, from what I understand.

NC isprobably the better car but not the best Miata.

fastoldfart wrote: NC isprobably the better car but not the best Miata.

Agreed old fart - now tell me about YOUR car....

I've had several NA's and had an NC as a daily for a while. I can't say I agree with people who discredit the NC and say it's not a "real Miata". It is. I think Keith hit it right on the head, the NA just feels like it's going faster, because it's more raw. The NC is a more refined car. It's a bit quieter, though with that said, it's still somewhat noisy. But it's got a much better power band than the NA, handles really well and is better suited to a long and/or daily drive. The one thing I hated about my NC was the seat. Didn't care for it at all. Lumbar support stuck out really far and wasn't adjustable, and it wasn't a good fit for me overall (I'm an average size guy).

Personally, I'd stay away from the PRHT. Looks cool, and sure it'll give you more coupe like feeling. But that's just a lot more mechanical/electrical parts to take care of and/or break. I haven't heard anything going wrong with them, but they're still fairly new. 5 or 6 years down the line who knows. Plus, if the car is ever hit, it can damage that stuff and fixing it is a nightmare. I loved the soft top in my NC. One latch, and I could drop the top in less than 3 seconds. Simple, easy, nothing to break.

It's funny, we used to say "the NB is a better car, the NA is a better Miata". But all the NA guys put NB parts under their cars...

The sensation of speed became apparent to me when I was at Hallett last year with a Miata event. I was driving our supercharged NC (known as Nancy, fitted with the Targa package) while Brandon was driving Igor. Igor is a 1999 with a bunch of bolt-on upgrades such as an FM II and V-Maxx suspension. Nancy was on Star Specs while Igor was on Nitto NT-01s. From behind the wheel, Igor feels a whole lot faster while Nancy is a bit more bland. But on the track, there was very little in the two cars. Nancy just got down to business. But you do have to address the crap stock suspension before they start to work properly.