[tahdizzle]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

LSD and Bilstein's are part of the Club package, that is the track oriented Miata offering and at $29.5k it is more expensive than the Toyobaru and you are correct, it is likely a significant increase in performance over the base ~$25k model.

The ~$3.4k Brembo package comes with brakes and BBS wheels, that is the package I am arguing is not a substantial performance upgrade, it's what pushes the Miata past the $32k mark. I don't think the 10 lbs weight reduction and added brake cooling add a significant performance advantage, it does add some performance no doubt, but not enough to reduce the 1.3 second gap significantly.

I do not know the tires offered on the Base vs. Club vs. Brembo package, they are listed as 205/45/17 Bridgestone S001's for MotorTrend's as tested, 280 treadwear to the HP Primacy's 340 treadwear (in 215/45/17). Both tires are not performance oriented imo, both tires will be replaced before serious hotlapping occurs. As I posted earlier, everybody points to rubber as an easy out, but in this case it's not like we're comparing performance tires to non-performance tires, they're both classed as 'sporty summer tires'.

I think the point that daemano was trying to make was that, from a performance standpoint a base brz @ 27k would still put down the same numbers.

A base miata would not put down the numbers that the tested version would have. I agree with daemano that it would be a fairer test of "Best bang for the buck" performance.

It really seems that they tried to inflate the cost of the BRZ to justify the comparison.

I agree from a price standpoint, a series blue BRZ and a Clubsport ND is a fair comparison.

As is a Premium BRZ vs. a Base ND Miata. But Mazda doesn't want that comparison.