Fun vs real life

[Onslaught]

Goddam!    How old are you?

I'm 63 next month and been driving drop tops since 1984.  My personal pecking order is still the Miata, the 6 and then the truck (but only when I need it's capability).

You are only as old as you want to be.   

How tall are you? I'm 6' 4". With the top down the miata is ok. With it up I look like I'm in a clown car. I'm only 40 but I've been doing auto body work for 20 years now. That will do a number on your back and knees. All things that must bend for me to fit in my miata.

[Rupert]

I'm 6'2", and the Miata is too small for me to drive comfortably for more than an hour.

[Raza]

I see what you did there.

I can't find another car that gets as bad gas mileage. And I can't  think of many Japanese cars like it. Seeing that I don't buy domestic or overrated high
priced German junk cars. 

No, I've made up my mind. I'll keep the RX-8 and get a new truck next year. Then I'll have to make a large garage for all this stuff. More joys if having a home.

Dump the RX-8, get a Nissan Frontier, and then next year get an E36 M3 sedan. 

[Onslaught]

Dump the RX-8, get a Nissan Frontier, and then next year get an E36 M3 sedan.

Interesting idea for most. I don't hate BMW's but I'll probably never own one.
The only German car manufacture I'd own a car from would be porsche.

[Byteme]

How tall are you? I'm 6' 4". With the top down the miata is ok. With it up I look like I'm in a clown car. I'm only 40 but I've been doing auto body work for 20 years now. That will do a number on your back and knees. All things that must bend for me to fit in my miata.

6'-0", but longr than average trunk.so I sit tall in the saddle, if you know what I mean.

Dimensionally, the Miata will be the same after you do whatever you are going to do to it. 

I get in and out of the Miata easily despite creeping arthritis in my right  shoulder.  It's harder getting in and out of the F150 (stock ride height).  Park sideways on a slope or nose down with the driver's door downslope and you damn near need an assistant to help you pull the thing closed.  It must weigh about 300#.

Bottom line (courtesy of J. G. Wentworth):  It's your money, use it when you need it.

[Byteme]

I'm 6'2", and the Miata is too small for me to drive comfortably for more than an hour.

Pussy.   

We've done 8-10 hour stretches with no complaints..  I take that back,my one beef is that if I am first in line at a traffic light practically every traffic light is hidden by the windscreen header.  I either have th scruntch down or try to scruntch up to see when it turns green.

The problem must be you young wippersnappers are too coddled and balk at any situation that causes any discomfort,however slight or imagined.   

[Byteme]

Interesting idea for most. I don't hate BMW's but I'll probably never own one.
The only German car manufacture I'd own a car from would be porsche.

The mechanic's shop around the corner has a 944 for sale.  Gold-tanish color (boring).   Want me to check it out for you and report back?  Looks to be a good beater.   

[Onslaught]

Shit, why would I drive a cramped miata with suck ass A/C when I have a much nicer RX-8 sitting next to it? I work in heat all day with no a/c and 110% humidity. Last thing I want to do is get into a tic tac and put the top down so I can sit in more heat for my drive home.

No, the miata has well over 200K on the clock. She was my only car for around 16 years. But she's been retired as my DD. she's just for fun weekend blasts now.

And as I said before, she will be 100% taken apart and blasted one day soon. So it won't even run for a long time.

[Rupert]

Pussy.   

We've done 8-10 hour stretches with no complaints..  I take that back,my one beef is that if I am first in line at a traffic light practically every traffic light is hidden by the windscreen header.  I either have th scruntch down or try to scruntch up to see when it turns green.

The problem must be you young wippersnappers are too coddled and balk at any situation that causes any discomfort,however slight or imagined.   

Mr. Long Trunk, meet me, Mr. Long Legs. Notice that I did indeed own a Miata for as long as I could at the time (sold because I needed a bigger car to take to college). My right leg would be wedged between the console and the steering wheel with no more than in inch of side to side movement. My foot would hit the pedals at an unnatural angle. There was no way no how to get my knees under the steering wheel.

I fit much better in the 944, but my hair does graze the roof.

[GoCougs]

Yuck - what a miserable-sounding car...

[Raza]

I fit fine in my friend's NA MX-5, but I'm 5'8"....so I fit fine in pretty much every car. 

[SVT666]

I'm 6'1" but I have short legs and the torso length of someone 6'4" and my forehead is higher than the windshield header on an NA Miata.  I would rather a Z4 any day.

[Onslaught]

If I sit up correct and not smashed down my eyes are over the windshield post of my miata.

I'd still take it over a BMW Z 3 or 4.

[Rupert]

I could modify a Miata to work, I think. Remove some padding and re-engineer the way the seat back interacts with the cargo shelf and move the seat rails as far back as possible. Possibly get a smaller steering wheel.

[Cookie Monster]

Bolt the seat to the floor for max headroom. Get a steering wheel hub and spacer to get the wheel closer to you and to allow your knees to clear.

[Rupert]

Those, too.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I came across this after I got my miata, "the big guy seat mod".

Skip to 5:30 to see this awesome "mod"

http://youtu.be/rTs8ZFee_6o?t=5m30s

All kinds of stupid, I couldn't believe what I was watching.

[Rupert]

Someone should just make a seatback that's thin and comfortable. That's pretty dumb.

[Onslaught]

I could modify a Miata to work, I think. Remove some padding and re-engineer the way the seat back interacts with the cargo shelf and move the seat rails as far back as possible. Possibly get a smaller steering wheel.

Without too much work you can fit FD RX-7 seats in a NA or NB. You lose the headrest speakers on the NA seats however. RX-7 seats are thinner and sit a little lower. And if you go for the RECARO seats they put in later RX-7's you've got even more room.
I took some of the foam out of my original seats at first. Then I got RX-7 seats and that works even better.

On the NA you can remove the plastic door puller/arm rest thing. You can buy new upholstery that will match the old stuff for cheap. You then take the old stuff off and wrap the new stuff around the door panel. Doing this covers up the three holes where the screws for the arm rest bolted in.
If you want you can make a leather strap to use to pull the door shut. I did this to my car but never put the strap in. It's funny watching someone new to the car trying to close the door from the inside.

[Rupert]

Makes me want to buy a Miata just to see if I can modify it to fit...

[Cookie Monster]

Makes me want to buy a Miata just to see if I can modify it to fit...

You definitely can.

[Byteme]

Without too much work you can fit FD RX-7 seats in a NA or NB. You lose the headrest speakers on the NA seats however. RX-7 seats are thinner and sit a little lower. And if you go for the RECARO seats they put in later RX-7's you've got even more room.
I took some of the foam out of my original seats at first. Then I got RX-7 seats and that works even better.

On the NA you can remove the plastic door puller/arm rest thing. You can buy new upholstery that will match the old stuff for cheap. You then take the old stuff off and wrap the new stuff around the door panel. Doing this covers up the three holes where the screws for the arm rest bolted in.
If you want you can make a leather strap to use to pull the door shut. I did this to my car but never put the strap in. It's funny watching someone new to the car trying to close the door from the inside.

Headrest speakers, plastic door puller/arm rest thing?  What are those?   

'95 M-Editions don't have either of those things.

[Onslaught]

Headrest speakers, plastic door puller/arm rest thing?  What are those?   

'95 M-Editions don't have either of those things.

Yes, I do miss the headrest speakers. They made a bigger difference then I thought they would. Now I just don't turn the radio on.

[Cookie Monster]

My friend got a concussion from getting rear ended when the headrest speakers smacked into his head. I don't think I'd like to have those.

[Soup DeVille]

My friend got a concussion from getting rear ended when the headrest speakers smacked into his head. I don't think I'd like to have those.

You're assuming the speakers added to the impact somehow over a non speakered headrest?

[Rupert]

The magnets, man.

[Cookie Monster]

You're assuming the speakers added to the impact somehow over a non speakered headrest?

They are two hard things aimed at the back of your skull.

Though you may be right, maybe they didn't have anything to do with the concussion. Mazda probably thought of that when designing the seats, but it's just what he said.

[Rupert]

Heh, I totally maimed the headrests in my old Miata to fit better speakers, not knowing that there were already kits for that. Pretty ridiculous.

[Onslaught]

My friend got a concussion from getting rear ended when the headrest speakers smacked into his head. I don't think I'd like to have those.

I'm not sure how that could happen. I mean the speakers are inside the seat and I don't see how they could really do anything like that. Unless he didn't have the stock ones in it. I worked on hundreds if not thousands of Miata's back in the day and I never saw anything happen with the headrest with or without speakers.

Not saying he's wrong. I just don't know how that could happen. Now the original miata's do have very low seats and when you head snaps back you can hit your head on the top of the seats. And the ones with speakers are a little harder then the ones without. Miata seats got higher and higher over then years and I think it had to do with this.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I've had the seats out of my NB, can't imagine there being any thinner options. Even FD seats are probably the same size.