I'm getting a little frustrated with the Me-Otter - it's in good shape for the age ('95) but somewhere in the last 4 years or so when I had nice cars in the UK instead of the crapcans I have over here, my standards seem to have risen.
Anyway, today I caught myself getting frustrated over really minor body issues for a 17 year old car (the bumper cover doesn't fit perfect to the passenger side fender) and figured that if I'll continue down that rabbit hole, I'll end up with the nicest $4k Miata for some insane outlay, only to have it collect a bunch of stone chips on the track.
I also found what looks like a rather nice Shinka RX8 so I'm tempted to just go "sod it" and sell the Me-Otter and get an RX8. I'd guess that's the "bad idea" part. With all the parts I have for the Me-Otter and the savings stash, I should be able to get a manual 2004-2005, maybe even 2006.
Primary use would be as a fun car with some commuting and the occasional HPDE thrown in. And if I'm not constantly fiddling with it, I might actually get around to fitting uprated parts rather than turning this into yet another restoration.
What does the assembled multitude think? I have had rotaries in the past, most of them mildly tuned, so I'm not exactly unfamiliar with this sort of car.
Knurled
SuperDork
9/30/12 9:33 p.m.
Hold out for an '09-up model.
Woody
MegaDork
9/30/12 9:45 p.m.
I know what it's like to fall out of love with a car.
Javelin
MegaDork
9/30/12 10:08 p.m.
In reply to Woody:
I know what it's like to fall out of love with a Miata.
Woody
MegaDork
9/30/12 10:08 p.m.
Javelin wrote:
In reply to Woody:
I know what it's like to fall out of love with a Miata.
Who's to say those cars weren't Miatas?
In reply to Woody:
The one at the front looks exactly like mine, right down to semi-permanently opened hood.
This is the fourth Miata I owned and for some reason I always get fed up with them after about a year. Trouble is, it's the only really trackable car I own and I don't think I want to track something that's worth much more than 10k.
7pilot
Reader
9/30/12 11:11 p.m.
It matters little.
Nice MX5 or Nice RX7.
Once it leaves the garage...
m
As someone who has about four grand into a daewoo nubira restoration i have no idea what youre talking about.
Knurled wrote:
Hold out for an '09-up model.
This. The transmissions are supposed to be much more robust and I imagine the engines are better sorted as well. Also, get one without the sunroof unless you've got a pretty short torso. I have to have the seat reclined a lot when I race because the sunroof is so low on our '06.
The trouble with getting an 09-up model is mainly cost. They're fairly hard to find out here and still seem to command $20k+, which is roughly double of what I want to spend...
The RX8's a much bigger and heavier car, problems you can never fix, and it's not as reliable or cheap to run. Stick with the Miata.
Can't go wrong with either
