MotorTrend's Head-2-Head MX-5 MiataRF vs. Toyota86

[Sport-Tech]

Originally Posted by Gforce

Cost recovery versus sales volume. Their makers have to earn a profit on each unit sold or they will stop making them. Believe me, if they could lower the price they would.

Either of these Japanese sportscars is a bargain compared to any of the alternatives.

Canada will always pay through the nose for cars since we insist on each manufacturer complying with our own special set of car making regulations and testing process. You can find out how stupidly expensive that is when you try to import a car from the USA. Even cars made in Canada for export to the USA are priced up to 20% less when sold there than when sold here. Exact same car.

Canada needs its own car regulations and testing facilities? I think not. If our government actually cared about consumer pricing we would open our markets to cars complying with either the US or EU regulations and simply abandonment our own redundant system of regulation. Many other consumer products suffer from the same idiotic bureaucracy.

I don't recall the details but Canada has recently done some of what you ask for. The safety requirements have been brought in line with US standards (for example Canada no longer has more stringent bumper damage standards).

I don't think Canada does run its own crash tests anyway IIRC - they use the US results - can anyone confirm?

There is a wide disparity in the price differentials different auto makers set for Canadian customers. In some instances after allowing for exchange rates and content differences Canadians get a better deal by a not insignificant percentage - for example the Focus RS and the Golf R, both of which are several thousand more (CAD) in the US when comparably equipped.

Mazda though, as someone mentioned above, gives Canadians the third finger salute. Upper end Miatas and Fiat 124s cost comparably more here, to the point were a fully loaded RF is notably north of $40k CAD.

[Gforce]

Google is your friend:

http://www.pmgtest.com/index.php/en/who-is-pmg.html

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehicle...-vehicles.html

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehicl...0803-1419.html

https://www.mazda.ca/en/vehicles/mx-5/overview/

[Wendynfxbj]

I do not believe your Toyota dealer has got a clue what is wrong and have already charged you for a wheel bearing which is completely unrelated to your fault. The

[LotsaMiles]

Originally Posted by TommyW

Randy Pobst will be the test driver and he generally prefers the MX5 when we have these shootouts between Miata and 86. I just wish they'd put some decent F'ing tires on the twin and it would be a whole other deal

My FR-S with Michelin PSS's is a completely different car.

[Bfranklyn86]

Originally Posted by LotsaMiles

My FR-S with Michelin PSS's is a completely different car.

I agree with this - putting PS4s on my 86 was transformative on road and track.

[LotsaMiles]

Originally Posted by Bfranklyn86

I agree with this - putting PS4s on my 86 was transformative on road and track.

I do kinda miss the drifting, though. But at the end of the day, I much prefer the slot car feel.

[nos145]

Originally Posted by LotsaMiles

My FR-S with Michelin PSS's is a completely different car.

I agree. The message that I got was that if you get new tires for the Frs, i mean the Brz, i mean the 86, it will be faster than the stock targa mx5 on track. And 10k cheaper. And have back seats. And more trunk space. But no targa.

I actually have a large stuffed dinosaur behind me when I drive. His name is Dexter. He is buckled in. He is also pink. He is about the size of a really REALLY fat 6 year old child. With stubby, short arms and legs. Gets me laid and gets me out of speeding tickets (the two have not crossed paths yet, thou i'm keeping my hopes high).

TLDR: id get the 86, I mean the Brz, I mean the Frs for the added t-rex plushy.
]

[fatoni]

It's always crazy how cherry picked people's rationale is in defending their favored car in a comparison

[LotsaMiles]

Originally Posted by fatoni

It's always crazy how cherry picked people's rationale is in defending their favored car in a comparison

Yep. I've noticed a trend in forums. People always want to recommend what they have even if it doesn't meet the requirements of what an OP may be asking for.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by LotsaMiles

My FR-S with Michelin PSS's is a completely different car.

Originally Posted by Bfranklyn86

I agree with this - putting PS4s on my 86 was transformative on road and track.

Totally agree with the both of you here.

Talking about street tires, I slowly upgraded my tires to get a feel for the value I was receiving from the upgrades. So over the past 4 years, I upgraded slowly from:

• Michelin Primacy HP (240AA) to...
• Dunlop Direzza DZ102 (460 AAA) to...
• BFG Gforce Sport Comp 2 (340 AAA) to...
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (300 AAA-the MPSS replacements.)

Each of these tires was a noticeable upgrade in all performance measures that the Primacy HPs.

The Direzza 102's were a significant jump in low speed traction and braking at all speeds above the Primacy's.

The BFGs improved all the above plus low speed traction, high speed stability, and braking above the Direzza's

Finally the MP4S are a marked improvement in all the above categories as well as wet grip and comfort over the BFGs. Which kind of blew my mind because I was very happy with the performance of the BFGs on the street. I simply had to try the follow up to the MPSS with the MP4S came out a reasonable 18" size.

The stock Primacy HP is a decent tire for a car that was stock intended to be flickable and fun, but it is nowhere close in performance to either the BFG Comp Sport 2 or the MP4S. And when referring to the MP4S, I mean the Primacy's are not even on the same continent, forget about the ballpark. The Primacy is purposely a slow ass tire. I could easily see seconds of lap time improvement when upgrading to BFGGSC2 or Michelin MP4S. Especially when the total performance envelope is considered in any of the common test tracks journalists are using. Higher performance street tires such as the top two noted above are not just an incremental performance improvement over Primacy HP, but instead a leap.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by fatoni

It's always crazy how cherry picked people's rationale is in defending their favored car in a comparison

Yes, it's called confirmation bias and belief perseverance...it applies to a lot more than just cars as well (especially religion and politics)