ND2 RF!

[ZDan]

New used car...

[p1l0t]

Hehe I just got another two-door myself (still have my BRZ though). Enjoy! I test drove a Miata when I was shopping for my BRZ they handle pretty awesome.

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[Spuds]

Mazda really knows how to do red don't they.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by ZDan

New used car...

Are you hanging onto the twin in case they nerf the ND2 after you lay some heaters down?

[ZDan]

Car is gawgeous! Super lightweight compared to FT86. Seats are kinda CRAP tho! Gonna hafta get 3-point compatible racing seat (Cobra Nogaro?). Planning on coilovers anyway, but stock suspension (I think '22 GT comes with Konis?) also is CRAP! Undersprung, overdamped (high-speed damping anyway), and it feels like the bushings (dunno if shock bushings or control arm bushings or both) are too sproingy, hit a bump and there's this ~4 Hz uncontrolled jiggly shudder/judder, and taking an onramp at 6/10ths with some broken surfaces the car was just skittering all over the place! Suspension can't keep tire contact with road in less than glass-smooth surfaces...

Honestly the BRZ (1st or 2nd gen) is a way way WAY better package out of the box! But I can fix, I think/hope...

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Are you hanging onto the twin in case they nerf the ND2 after you lay some heaters down?

I gotta sell either the BRZ or ND2, idea is to try both on street and track and keep the one I like best! Fully expect the ND2 to be slower at the track, but I really miss driving a smaller lighter-weight and more driver-aft FR 2-seat car like my old 240Z, and test-driving the ND2 gave some of that same feeling...

[Stephen W.]

A used car with VERY used tires. That would not pass a safety check up here being down to the wear bars like that. Good thing you’re looking at performance upgrades. First thing should be tires.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Stephen W.

A used car with VERY used tires. That would not pass a safety check up here being down to the wear bars like that. Good thing you’re looking at performance upgrades. First thing should be tires.

Meh, wasn't too worried about them, prolly saved me a couple hundred bucks...
I've driven at extremely ludicrous speeds in standing water at the track on way slicker tires, it did rain a little bit on the trip up to RI but nothing heavy, no standing water. I wouldn't drive through standing water with them at unabated speed but they're probably gonna get replaced with Yok A052s anyway, which only start out with 7/32" tread depth. These are at 3/32", not *quite* to the TWIs...

[Sapphireho]

Funny, I've only driven a couple miatas in my life, and both times I thought the same about the suspensions.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Funny, I've only driven a couple miatas in my life, and both times I thought the same about the suspensions.

I described the handling weirdness over on the Miata forum, and first reply was: "Spot on evaluation! That's just how the stock suspension is setup and feels like."

Looking forward to coilovers, and maybe poly C.A. bushings...

[ZDan]

Worth noting:
The steering is very good, on par with the gen1 BRZ and much better than the gen2 BRZ which feels artificially heavy and has weird stictiony feel. Also, fuel mileage is amazeballs, 38mpg average for my trip plus yesterdee's commute from Prov to Boston! Averaged ~30mpg in the 2nd-gen for similar trip. Engine tractability at low rpm is remarkable compared to either gen BRZ, which combined with much lighter weight makes the car feel very, erm, sprightly! But of course max power is unremarkable at 181hp, so kind of a tractor engine vs. higher hp/liter FT86... Still, it does pull up to the 7500rpm redline, it's just not tuned for max power up there.

Anyway, enjoying it so far despite suspension weirdness which will be fixed soon enough. Looking forward to taking it to the track...

[bcj]

Years ago, a friend of mine put a supercharger on his gen1 Miata and went M3 hunting.
I understand there are still those sort of options. Think the mpg may suffer a bit though.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by bcj

Years ago, a friend of mine put a supercharger on his gen1 Miata and went M3 hunting.
I understand there are still those sort of options. Think the mpg may suffer a bit though.

Yeah, already thinking about something like that...

[Dirty Harry]

Congrats on the new car and looking forward to the write up in the “vs” section. You did a great write up on the Cayman vs BRZ, it’ll be interesting to see how this compares.