Originally Posted by Cope52 (Post 2270363)

You guys have lower taxes in CN? Free health care? Lord Almighty!

Originally Posted by df.dima (Post 2270592)

I actually find it amazing that ND beat the expectations of 0-60 that most predicted, given the specs given out. Very nice job by Mazda, definitely a fan of what they are doing lately.

Now all they need to do is come up with a 2+2 coupe based on the ND and that would be very interesting.

I've used FR-S backseat exactly once to date. I could give up the backseat, but trunk space + seats down allow me to haul some major supplies. Love doing grocery shopping with it :).

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter (Post 2270852)

New car reviews are always strange. Don't get me wrong, the Miata finally looks pretty decent and is probably a blast to drive, but the body roll looks a tad wild. Maybe a professional driver could gut it out, but a lot of amateurs, myself included, would probably drive the flatter car faster.

Back to new car reviews and their oddities. The statement about how better tires didn't make the BRZ faster is a bizarre statement to make, and obviously wrong. A lot of the "problems" they describe with the BRZ seem to be directly related to the Primacies. Exit speed. Entry speed. Rolling on marbles. Etc.

Strange. For what it is worth, it also seems like both Jalopnik and Motor trend have an obvious bias in that Pobst purchased one (or has in the past--their sentence was ambiguous), and the Jalopnik writer is a self proclaimed Miata lover.

Impressive car. Impressive weight. Reviews are a bit strange.

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise (Post 2269657)

Good article! The Miata is shaping up to be a strong competitor to the Twins. Its weight is impressive, and its acceleration advantage until ~94 mph makes sense given its lighter weight (i.e. torque to weight advantage) and aero/horsepower disadvantage at higher speeds. It's also generating higher grip levels, although I suspect that's due to wearing MP summer tires.

Two let-downs with the Miata:

1) Body roll, even with factory suspension package - not sure why Mazda always includes body roll in every generation Miata. If it's rolling that much on MP summer tires, it may need suspension upgrades to run sticky EP summer tires at the track.

2) Less handling flexibility - Lago's comment that the body roll and lack of power means you have less mid-corner adjustability than in the BRZ. This is one of the things I love about tracking my FR-S.

Still seems like amazing fun. For me, the Miata's lack of a coupe option eliminates it though as I don't want add a roll bar just to bring it to the track. I do hope the new Miata lights a fire under Toyota/Subaru's rears to keep improving the Twins.

Lastly the comparison with the MK7 GTI was sad. As an owner of a MK6, I was hoping the new MK7 with PP would be a bit closer in terms of driving fun to cars like the Twins and Miata, but it sounds like VW hasn't closed the gap at all. MT would have been better off comparing a hot hatch like the FoST.

Originally Posted by HUNTERANGEL121 (Post 2270874)

Maybe the body roll acts as a way to put more weight on the outside wheels, making a progressively handling car for when it steps out on you?

Sent from my toaster

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter (Post 2270893)

Yes perhaps. They would say that for the Miata, and while it may the the case, Pobst and all the other reviewers would say the RCF has body roll and that though body roll equals grip, it doesn't inspire confidence. RCF vs M4 video as evidence, in which they rave about M4 and trash the F, yet M4 barely beats it. Seems contradictory, though one has nearly 500 hp and one has much less, so maybe body roll in a 500 hp car is frigfrightening and in a 180hp car it's fun. I wouldn't know.