HIVE OPINION - NC Miata

In reply to Keith Tanner :

But who leaves a Miata suspension stock? My nc has 34k on the clock. The stock stuff was alright. The biggest difference made was updated sway bars. Then I upgraded to Konis and progress springs, even better. 

Vajingo said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

But who leaves a Miata suspension stock? My nc has 34k on the clock. The stock stuff was alright. The biggest difference made was updated sway bars. Then I upgraded to Konis and progress springs, even better. 

The majority of Miata owners do. We like to think that modifiers are the baseline, but in reality we're the outliers. And when you first test drive a car - especially a new one - it will likely be on stock suspension. 

First thing to do on any 2006-12 Miata is new shocks. The early NC Bilsteins were awful. They'd lose the plot driving down a straight road. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Actually that's right. My first na8 was stock, despite being 22yrs old. I guess I'm just used to the facebroke miatas I see, poor hooned-to-death examples of cars that once had decent suspension geometry. 

This is a bad, bad thread.

The NC is at best suitable for grocery runs with the stock suspension - especially the early versions.  With an upgraded suspension it can be brilliant.

I've been thinking about buying another and the second thing I would upgrade be intake/exhaust/tune which makes a huge difference too.

I think the 2013+ Club Sport is a fantastic looking NC.  

I had a student with a supercharged NC a few years back and I just wasn't very impressed by it.  It was quick and fairly easy to drive fast, but just not what I'd personally spend my money on.  I still prefer my 1.6L Spec Miata and Sport packaged NB summer car.  They both feel very much like I expect in a light, balanced car.  

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

The NC is at best suitable for grocery runs with the stock suspension - especially the early versions.  With an upgraded suspension it can be brilliant.

I've been thinking about buying another and the second thing I would upgrade be intake/exhaust/tune which makes a huge difference too.

 

I wouldn't say stock suspension is that bad. I placed 1st in STR last year with only sway bars. That's it. Didn't even have 200tw tires. Just some BFg 340tw summer tires. Next guy behind me was a MSM with mods. He was consistently 1sec behind on course. Could be driver. Could be... it wasn't wretched handling that's for sure. The only complaint I had was the lack of spring control at the limit over rough expansion joints. Besides that, even the stock springs were good. 

In reply to bluej (Forum Supporter) :

Oh no... why??

Benjamin_Casto said:

In reply to bluej (Forum Supporter) :

Oh no... why??

Typically, on this forum, when someone says that it's because the auto porn deviates around here like to get our jimmies rustled about a particular car. Some of us then obsess  over finding this particular vehicle until obtained, ignoring things like family, bills, work, etc. it's a good "bad thing". 

Try it, you'll like it

Claff said:

Try it, you'll like it

I like it and I don't need to try it!!  What year?  Wheels look great too.

 

I wouldn't say stock suspension is that bad. I placed 1st in STR last year with only sway bars. That's it. Didn't even have 200tw tires. Just some BFg 340tw summer tires. Next guy behind me was a MSM with mods. He was consistently 1sec behind on course. Could be driver. Could be... it wasn't wretched handling that's for sure. The only complaint I had was the lack of spring control at the limit over rough expansion joints. Besides that, even the stock springs were good. 

Sway bars seem to go a long way toward curing the stock suspension.  My '07 was a MSR, which was mostly much stiffer sway bars with slightly stiffer springs and Koni shocks.  Loved that setup and it was fine for street driving.  My experience is also with the NC1 - I've heard the NC2 is a bunch better but never driven one in anger.

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

And I'm the opposite. I almost want to drive a stock nc1 just to see how much better my nc2 is. I can only confirm it's leagues better than the na8

fornetti14 said:

I like it and I don't need to try it!!  What year?  Wheels look great too.

This is the 2013

Vajingo said:

And I'm the opposite. I almost want to drive a stock nc1 just to see how much better my nc2 is. I can only confirm it's leagues better than the na8

The biggest difference between the NC1 and NC2 is that the 2 can be tuned to rev quite a bit higher. When we ran the '08 in STR we were on the rev limiter constantly (Spring Nats Tour '17 was probably on the limiter for 2/3 of the course for the faster driver). I raised it with a tune to 7500 or 7600 and then broke it. That's when the '10 showed up. That car is tuned to run to 8000 RPM.

In reply to Claff :

Interesting. I never thought about raising the limiter just for autocross gearing. Good idea. 

Claff said:

fornetti14 said:

I like it and I don't need to try it!!  What year?  Wheels look great too.

This is the 2013

We had a '13 Club PRHT as well.  It was my wife's DD, and we drove it at the occasional HPDE where they would allow it.

The NC is a great chassis, but very soft from the factory.  Springs, shocks and sway bars will really transform the car.  Add sticky tires and a good alignment and they're really pretty quick.  More power stock, and more contact patch than an NA or NB.  If I were starting over today, I'd build an NC as my track car.

The PRHT is an excellent street car, but difficult to set up with a real roll bar, which can limit track opportunities.  Soft top is a better choice if it's going to be a serious track car.