'07 Si Sedan and a Miata

grafmiata wrote: If the car is properly maintained, the main recurring expense will be plug wires. Early Miata's for some reason tend to bake wires fairly quickly compared to alot of cars. I'm using Magnecore's on both my cars now, but I've had no problems with NGK's on previous Miata's. Off-the-shelf wires from typical auto-parts stores usually crapped-out by 15k miles. And like Junkyard said, when something does wear out, that's a perfect excuse to upgrade!!! ]

Here's another question: How much benefit do the early cars get from the LSD? I have one on the Si and its great for getting the power down coming out of corners, but with a less powerful car does it still have benefits?

DLC wrote: Here's another question: How much benefit do the early cars get from the LSD? I have one on the Si and its great for getting the power down coming out of corners, but with a less powerful car does it still have benefits?

Well, the early LSD's were a viscous unit, which after a good bit of miles would wear to the point of just being along for the ride. Had one on my '90, which had fairly heavy 16 rims and a really tired engine. Wheelspin wasn't in the cards with this car, regardless of the differential. I believe Mazda went to the better Torsen unit in '94. Or somewhere around there.

My '92 has an open diff and crap Goodyear Eagles. If I really lean on the car in some twisties, the lack of a limited slip does become apparent. Not annoyingly so, and there are plenty of open-diff Miata's that still do allright in autocross and stuff.

My '94 turbo has the Torsen diff, but is currently on really crappy tires... That are way too small. Kinda hard to say right now how much difference the Torsen makes, because the car wants to be sideways most of the time.

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I find the VLSD makes a nice positive improvement, even in a stock 91 on Falken Azenis. Actually, the improvement is even more pronounced on less grippy tires. In tight corners, like making a left turn onto a cross street in a hurry to get through a small hole in traffic, it helps the car just go instead of creating a lot of smoke out of one tire and not really going anywhere. :) Even in an autocross setting on Azenis I find I can put down power out of corners better than with the open diff the car came with.

One nice thing about the Miata is if you find the almost perfect car and it's just lacking an LSD, it's pretty straightforward to swap diffs and upgrade. You can even put a Torsen in a 1.6 car that way (though that combo isn't legal in stock class, if you care).

DLC wrote: I'm wondering if there is someone out there who has experience with an '07 Civic Si sedan and NA/NB Miatas. I've got the Si now and love it. I have very fond memories of my first car, which was a '71 240Z. The idea of RWD and better weight balance appeal to me. So I'm thinking of selling the Si and getting an NA/NB Miata and some kind of cheap used sedan for the winter/carrying more people. Right now the only negative I see is that the Miata is down a little on power, which doesn't worry me much, and that it has less luggage/passenger room, which doesn't bother me at all. Anyone have other reasons I should just stick with the Si? Anyone think that RWD and the 50-50 balance thing are overrated?

Take the suggestion to go test drive one. Find a Mazda or used car dealership with something as close to your price range as possible and go drive it. I did that years ago and that's when I knew I would own a Miata at some point. The lack of power can be frustrating, but otherwise they are fantastic driver's cars.

If the Civic meets your everyday needs, you could just get one a few years older than what you have to create the budget for a Miata. Owning a Miata also makes it more affordable to own a larger vehicle like a truck or SUV since you can use the budget-friendly Miata for moving 1 or 2 people around and let the more expensive to operate vehicle sit when its capacity isn't required.