TDI fades into regulatory oblivion; Enter Miata

[FoMoJo]

That's because you're so old you've lost your hearing!!!

The art of sound is definitely an under-appreciated in this era. Those old V8s sound sooooo sweet. Nowadays even if you can still get one, they sound neutered in a lot of applications.

Mainly the tinnitus, but those old sports cars may not have handled as well or even gone as fast, but it sure seemed like they did.  Some were barely safe to be on the road; over powered with skinny tires, questionable suspension and live axles.  Sunbeam Tiger comes to mind.

[Rich]

I know I'm being mushy and hyperbolic but I can't help it. If this thing blew a gasket and started leaking from the roof tomorrow I'd still sing it's praises. You're paying not-quite-bottom-market prices to feel like Stirling Moss. It tempts you to imagine yourself as a dogfighting pilot. Absolutely incredible. I hope Mazda is making these things 50 years into the future; the world needs a car like this.

Yes sir

Seems 90% of people that love driving in the twisties love miatas. I'll never understand why Chris Harris doesn't think they are special. I get that he drives a lot of high end stuff but he also sings the praises of some turbo hot hatches with bad throttle response, awkward clutch engagements, terrible weight balance and nowhere near the steering feel of the Miata

[Raza]

So I did two round trips of the Dragon yesterday, both starting in NC. First was all the way then I did a shorty to the bridge and back.

Run 1) Absolutely clear, not a single car in front of me and I pass maybe two heading the other direction. At this point, I hadn't driven my car balls-out for any extended period of time, so I take it mostly in third so I can really explore the steering inputs.

Run 2) I'm starting to familiarize myself with how the car likes to be pushed but....Yuck. Miss a couple downshifts; get stuck behind a terrified genesis 4door; finally see some open road; then, screw this noise, some goon in a jacked up Ford towing his buddies' motorcycles decided to take a lap with the empty trailer, and wouldn't yield--sidenote but that should be a capital offense, he knew exactly what he was doing. There is a silver lining on this run though, in between the genesis and pickup I found my tire's limits and started dipping into TC for the first time. Not bad Mazda, not bad at all. It won't let you do a real drift but you can nudge out the tail in second on corner exits and the TC will snap you back in line and shove you forward with the barest whisper of braking and/or throttle interference. Enough to keep you from doing something truly stupid but not enough to slow you down.

Run 3) This is why you come here. A couple hundred yard in I pull up behind an SUV and a Mk7 red GTI pulls behind me a few seconds later. The SUV yields at the first opportunity and then me and the V-dub give it all it's worth. I've got the edge on corner exits and swithbacks but he has it on corner entries and straightaways. For the rest of the run we just fly, he saw me move the back end a little and was smiling at the bridge when we both stopped. I give him a nod and would've stayed to chat but I'm already 2 hours behind schedule and had to return some calls so I decide to jet.

Run 4) About halfway through me and a modified green NB run into a Buick with a handicap placard that refuses to pull over. We take turns leapfrogging each other to the cutoffs so that we're not just glued to the moving roadblock. Ended up in one of the same cutoffs and we talked for a bit before finishing out the day.


In terms of cars it was a little late in the season for most of the exotics, but I saw 4-5 modified NAs and NBs, a bunch of modified mustangs, and a red-on-red dodge viper that looked like the surface of the sun, that thing was HOT.

All the Miatas and the Viper waved at me. 

[Raza]

I've put 2K on it in less than 2 weeks. Everyone needs one of these it makes you feel like a kid, all your attention focused on how sweet it is to be driving.

Screw room, just get one you won't stop smiling.

I get the same feeling with my car.  Sports cars for life! 

I'm really happy for you, man.  I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as you thought you would.

[Payman]

Goddamn, Fiat Canada has a $2500 rebate on all models right now, and a base model manual Spider Classica starts at $30,650. That's $23,534 US. 

[AutobahnSHO]

Goddamn, Fiat Canada has a $2500 rebate on all models right now, and a base model manual Spider Classica starts at $30,650. That's $23,534 US. 

Just wait until they're on clearance because no one is buying them!!   

[Tave]

Today was over 60 with clear skies and I had a 4hr roundtrip on back roads for work.

Evidently there were a few septic fields and cow pastures en route to my destination.

Still had a blast but woooo-eeeee!! That was pungent. Amazing how isolated you are from smells using a car's hvac. I drove it with my top up in the morning and couldn't smell a thing.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Today was over 60 with clear skies and I had a 4hr roundtrip on back roads for work.

Evidently there were a few septic fields and cow pastures en route to my destination.

Still had a blast but woooo-eeeee!! That was pungent. Amazing how isolated you are from smells using a car's hvac. I drove it with my top up in the morning and couldn't smell a thing.

North Carolina? Pig farms. Good BBQ, though.

[Raza]

Today was over 60 with clear skies and I had a 4hr roundtrip on back roads for work.

Evidently there were a few septic fields and cow pastures en route to my destination.

Still had a blast but woooo-eeeee!! That was pungent. Amazing how isolated you are from smells using a car's hvac. I drove it with my top up in the morning and couldn't smell a thing.

Oh yeah.  Top down life has nowhere to hide from smells.  Really the only minor drawback.

[MrH]

Today was over 60 with clear skies and I had a 4hr roundtrip on back roads for work.

Evidently there were a few septic fields and cow pastures en route to my destination.

Still had a blast but woooo-eeeee!! That was pungent. Amazing how isolated you are from smells using a car's hvac. I drove it with my top up in the morning and couldn't smell a thing.

There's a trip I used to make to an Ultimate tournament in the middle of no where every year in the Miata. There was a cow or pig farm on the way. For whatever reason, you couldn't smell it approaching. But then it'd hit you with a stench for a solid 15 seconds. It was like hitting a brick wall. I dry heaved while driving two years in a row.

[Raza]

There's a trip I used to make to an Ultimate tournament in the middle of no where every year in the Miata. There was a cow or pig farm on the way. For whatever reason, you couldn't smell it approaching. But then it'd hit you with a stench for a solid 15 seconds. It was like hitting a brick wall. I dry heaved while driving two years in a row.

Driving to work on Tuesdays used to be like waiting for a bomb to go off; that was the day solid municipal waste trucks would up and down I95.  Once you got a whiff of them (which could be up to a mile out or more, especially in the summer), you had to do whatever you could to get ahead them.  Once in front, the prevailing winds on the highway would keep you from smelling them. 

[12,000 RPM]

Is it weird that I kind of like the smell of farming? Makes me feel like I'm in nature. I don't think it's the same though, only happens a few times a year on the route I commute on.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Is it weird that I kind of like the smell of farming? Makes me feel like I'm in nature. I don't think it's the same though, only happens a few times a year on the route I commute on.

It's not nature. It's contaminated ground water.

[SJ_GTI]

It's not nature. It's contaminated ground water.

This...farming is about as far removed from nature as you can get (other than a city of course). A standard suburban subdivision probably has more "nature" happening than a farm.

[MX793]

Fermented, liquified manure is the worst.  You can smell that from miles.  There was a farm right on the town line where I grew up that used that stuff and in the summer, everyone who came into town on that particular road would have their sinuses assaulted by the putrid stench of concentrated feces right as they passed the town's "Welcome" sign.  Talk about a great first impression.

[MX793]

Driving to work on Tuesdays used to be like waiting for a bomb to go off; that was the day solid municipal waste trucks would up and down I95.  Once you got a whiff of them (which could be up to a mile out or more, especially in the summer), you had to do whatever you could to get ahead them.  Once in front, the prevailing winds on the highway would keep you from smelling them. 

I got stuck behind a trash hauler with my last Mustang a couple of years ago that must have been carrying rancid limberger.  I switched the HVAC over to recirculation and got by as soon as I could, but the stink was somehow trapped in the HVAC system.  Over the next week or more, every time I'd get in the car and turn the key, I'd catch a whiff of whatever vile substance was in that trash wagon coming out of the HVAC vents.

[AutobahnSHO]

Fermented, liquified manure is the worst.  You can smell that from miles.  There was a farm right on the town line where I grew up that used that stuff and in the summer, everyone who came into town on that particular road would have their sinuses assaulted by the putrid stench of concentrated feces right as they passed the town's "Welcome" sign.  Talk about a great first impression.

Sounds like landing at Kandahar (Afghanistan) airbase.

Place was designed for 4,000 people and ended up with over 20,000. The black circle here is the "poo pond" and you can find lots of fun internet stuff on it. It was originally at the far west edge of the base....   

https://www.google.com/maps/place/31%C2%B029'28.4%22N+65%C2%B050'20.6%22E/@31.4909763,65.8344837,1240m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d31.491224!4d65.839054

[Raza]

I got stuck behind a trash hauler with my last Mustang a couple of years ago that must have been carrying rancid limberger.  I switched the HVAC over to recirculation and got by as soon as I could, but the stink was somehow trapped in the HVAC system.  Over the next week or more, every time I'd get in the car and turn the key, I'd catch a whiff of whatever vile substance was in that trash wagon coming out of the HVAC vents.

Yuck, that sounds like a nightmare.  Reminds me of the first time I did a burnout in a FWD car; my HVAC smelled of tire smoke for a couple of days after that.  Much more pleasant than what you're describing, though.

[Payman]

Sounds like landing at Kandahar (Afghanistan) airbase.

Place was designed for 4,000 people and ended up with over 20,000. The black circle here is the "poo pond" and you can find lots of fun internet stuff on it. It was originally at the far west edge of the base....   

https://www.google.com/maps/place/31%C2%B029'28.4%22N+65%C2%B050'20.6%22E/@31.4909763,65.8344837,1240m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d31.491224!4d65.839054

Ahhh, the poo pond. Right behind the laundromat. 

[AutobahnSHO]

Ahhh, the poo pond. Right behind the laundromat. 

I rode past it from my room to work every day.

Plus you could smell as soon as you landed that you were back in Kandahar. I took trips to a couple other bases nearby just to get away from there..

[Eye of the Tiger]

If they switched to composting toilets

[AutobahnSHO]

If they switched to composting toilets

umm, they have 20k people crammed into that little space. I don't think any composting toilet around would handle that much waste. There were tons of portapotties and they had plumbing for the other toilets.

[MX793]

Was the Poo Pond fed by Shit Creek?

[Eye of the Tiger]

umm, they have 20k people crammed into that little space. I don't think any composting toilet around would handle that much waste. There were tons of portapotties and they had plumbing for the other toilets.

Not one composting toilet. A thousand composting toilets.

[Rich]

I am curious, what inspired you to get the TDI vs. a car like a Miata in the first place?  And what changed since then to get you to look at a sports car?

[Tave]

I am curious, what inspired you to get the TDI vs. a car like a Miata in the first place?  And what changed since then to get you to look at a sports car?

I didn't fit into the old Miata and couldn't find any manual Frisbees near me. Test drove the TDI and loved that engine and the interior.

I drive enough for work that gas mileage is an important factor in car choice. At the time I was also tired of living for ~10 years with a tin can car and wanted something with a little space. I woulda kept the TDI forever if I coulda, but when the opportunity came to be stupid with my next choice (I basically got 2-1/2 to 3 years of capital free ownership), I figured it was too good to pass up.

[Tave]

Super windy today and the top is holding up nicely. I'm glad I went with the Touring; the supple ride and unexpectedly good NVH are crucial factors in making it work as my daily. I've seen too many complaints about the Club and Sport tops and it kinda scared me off from targeting that Sport in my area.

On a similar note, there is zero cowl shake in this thing. Like I'm sure I can get it there but I'd have to do something that would produce the same effect in regular sedans.

Passenger-window-down buffeting is good noisewise but too chilly for some of these winter days. 

[Tave]

I've always been a sloppy heel'n'toer so I was looking forward to practicing on something with "perfect pedal placement."

Well, the first couple weeks I'm in it, and I'm just not getting it. The gas/throttle seem just as far apart and unwieldy as in every other manual car I've driven. I always just assumed my feet were too narrow and long to pull it off.

But I stuck with it and am having sort of a revelation. I don't think my right foot was the problem at, rather the muscle memory in my left leg needs slight reworking. Getting a loooooot smoother.

[Laconian]

Is your engine broken in yet? I can't wait to redline......

[Tave]

Is your engine broken in yet? I can't wait to redline......

Oh yeah, I hit 600 miles within the first 24 hrs of ownership. Took a trip up to DC the day I bought it.