I hate you, you were right. Now it's decision time.

I thought you people had lost your mind. "miata is the answer, miata is the answer" you chanted like some brainwashed cultists. I laughed at you, I looked down my nose at you. I thought you must lead boring lives to get excited over such a slow car.

Then it happened. I grenaded a CV at autocross, and a guy let me drive his very well sorted NA for the afternoon session.

I'm sorry, I was wrong, please forgive my blasphemy.

While my times were much slower than in my frankenfiat, i couldn't believe how much FUN that stupid stupid car was. More than fun, it was as if it was a part of me. The fiat is so stupid fast in a straight line (at least for my tiny driving skills) and it's handling so terrifying, every second on an autocross course is an overload of sensations and one continuous butt pucker. The miata, on the other had, seemed to read my mind, it just did what i wanted it to. I found myself actually having time to think, "oh wait, I should have taken that turn differently" where as in the fiat all I think of is "CRAAAAAAP, TURN, Please Turn, Thank YOu, BRAAAAKE, oh don't let the rear end come around, OH NO IT'S COMING AROUND!!!"

So now I'm left with a decision, Do I want to keep the Fiat - I love the looks it gets, that most people walk away assuming I'm at least partially nuts or completely stupid. It's lovely to launch away from some DR in his pampered C6 at a light. But it's going to take me FOREVER to get better driving it. Plus, it's always "almost done" and the wife and kids are getting dang tired of me living in the garage.

I could get a miata. get none of the comments at the autocross or car show, and actually learn to be a better driver. It's still fun when autocrossing, but I can't imagine it is a tenth as grin inducing taking it around town on a friday night.

I found you a something: http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/4464443234.html

Yeah, I know, now i need to sell the frankenfiat

Reminds me of one of the guys I used to run with. We started out together, him in a STX '04 GTi, me in slow HS cars. After a couple of seasons, he rebuilt his GTI for DSP using a fairly proven formula for making that car fast (if not always competitive). He quickly figured out he had built the car to be way too fast for his skill level at the time. He sold it and bought a well-prepped ES Miata. After a RWD learning curve, he was soon posting top-10 PAX times in a very competitive region.

my real problem is most of the things I'd be giving up with the fiat (unique look, REALLY quick) I know I can get back down the line with exocet+turbo. It's making it harder to keep devoted to the fiat.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/open-classifieds/fsft-miata-1996-with-70k-miles-in-st-louis-4500/84153/page1/

Still for sale.

id keep the fiat, but then again i like different/unique cars.

Miata never was the answer......FD RX7 and E36 M3 were.

This is going to sound crazy, but have you considered turning the fiat down a little bit?

Vigo wrote: This is going to sound crazy, but have you considered turning the fiat down a little bit?

BLASPHEMY!

yes, I have. I've just never had time to put the boost controller on it to dial back the pee ess eyes. and it seems so WRONG.

I've gotten plenty of looks/compliments with my Miatas. Modify one to the extent of your Fiat and you will too.

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My first

Another vote for tuning the Fiat. I refuse to drive a hair dressers car!

(kidding, if it was CARS/NASA rally legal I'd would own one)

Just cut to quick and get an S2000. Or a Lotus. The big silly Miata grins disappear the first time you look up and notice the joggers are gaining on you in the straights.

I've owned a Miata since 1990 (and now DD a Mazdaspeed), but I autocross a TR6. Why? Certainly not to be the fastest car out there. It's the challenge of being the fastest car out there. To me, driving the TR6 fast takes more skill and it's simply more fun than the Miata when driven properly. The problem, as you noted, is that it's much harder to drive well. After a good run in the TR6 my heart is going crazy. I will always be more consistent in the Miata, but I feel there's more speed waiting to be had with the TR6 if I just focus and become a better driver. Plus, there are so many Miatas at an autocross already. I always complement someone who brings something different, and a Fiat is pretty damn cool.

Miatas are so cheap, why not get one just to try out? I seriously doubt you'd lose money on a good one. It would be much, much harder to replace the Fiat if it doesn't work out.

In reply to JoeTR6:

I just went and voted that lovely green thing in your garage up one. I loves me some TR6. One of these days...

I'd vote for tuning the Fiat down a bit too.

I vote for turning it up. To 11. I think you're not quite scared enough. I'd rather be terrified of a car than bored with one.

You can't install a boost controller and then turn down boost with it. Boost controllers can only add boost.

I'm leaning towards keeping the fiat, I'm never going to be a great autocrosser, and the looks and grins from the fiat are worth the hassle. I may drive the rest of the season in my dads s2000

Another vote up for the TR6. I would argue autocrossing a vintage sports-car versus a modern one is a completely different activity all together. I explain it as wooden roller coaster versus steel. I like wooden roller coasters.

Definitely the Fiat.

You really don't want to be adding to the overload of Miatas already on the track. Used to go to the autocross as an observer just to see the weird and wonderful variation in the cars competing, now it's like walking through the mall parking lot, at the far end, near the Hair Dresser.

If I get a miata, I'm doing this paint scheme

I am probably one of the few who have actually owned a Fiat 850 Spyder. While mine was painfully stock with something like 68 horsepower and questionable at best floors, it is probably in my top 5 of all time fun cars I have owned (the total number today is 88 cars in my lifetime) I can say with ALMOST certainty, you will regret getting rid of it after a certain period of time.

Try this; dial it back a fair amount. Run it as much as you can until you have maximized your performance and can do not better, then crank it up a notch or two and repeat. You may find you have the best combo of OMG what the hell is that thing and a good Auto cross monster after all....

I'm one of the organizers of my autocross club. I am the only one who has never owned a Miata.

Is my car hard to drive? Yes, but that's more rewarding to me. Also, I like having something called "torque."

I guess I'm going to be the dissenter and vote for the Miata. If you get bored with the power, you can always go the Flyin' Miata route later. But for now, as you've observed, its a great training tool.