Cal Club Autocross Forums

Here it is. I bought it on Tuesday for $2000. It's a 1992 with 112K miles. It got a new top, new brakes, and new tires in May. It isn't totally necessary, but it could use a new front bumper and hood as the bumper is a little crinkled and the hood has a very, very slight tweak in it, along with some clear coat peel.

Here are some pics:













And the Miata with my other, much larger baby:





:gpower:

Congrats!

What's the plan? ES, STS?

Schweeeeeeeeeeeeet. I'm gonna miss seeing the Crown Vic wallow around the course, though.

I'm planning on STS with it. The mods will be done slowly though. My first upgrade will be 15X7 SSK 031 wheels with 205-50-15 Kumho XS's. My dad is thinking about racing the Crown Vic now, which would be awesome. I'll be at the January 24 practice trying to shake down the Miata.

Congrats.
My guess is that it might be more fun to race than the CV.

Looks good, Ethan!

Thanks guys! I just took it for a nice drive down some canyons to the beach and it much more fun to drive than the Vic.

Ethan West wrote:Thanks guys! I just took it for a nice drive down some canyons to the beach and it much more fun to drive than the Vic.

and better mileage. Cool beans!

Yeah it should get about double the gas mileage of the Vic which gets about 15-17 mpg. I'm hoping I'll be able to use the Miata to commute to school a little bit, but I'm not sure if my art supplies (drawing board, pads, etc.) will fit.

I don't recall my Miata being a millage champion. It was so much fun to drive around town that my foot was always in it. Good news is that you're be the only one who knows.

I was lucky to get 20 MPG. Freeway driving wasn't much better as 4000 plus RPM was the norm. But of all the cars I've owned, it's still my favorite daily driver. Congrats Ethan.

Ethan West wrote:Yeah it should get about double the gas mileage of the Vic which gets about 15-17 mpg. I'm hoping I'll be able to use the Miata to commute to school a little bit, but I'm not sure if my art supplies (drawing board, pads, etc.) will fit.

I was a graduate architecture student while I had my Miata. Architectural models & all. You might find yourself choosing the size of your next drawing board & sketch pad based on the size of the shelf behind the seats. I remember getting a good sized pice of foamcore back there on more than one occasion!

You'll get better mileage than the Vicky, but not double. Price of fun!

I get about 25-26 mpg around town in my '04 and over 30 mpg on the highway, but that's driving pretty slow.

Drive 'normal' and it drops to 20-22 in the city and 26-28 on the highway.

Congrats to you, getting a new car always makes you feel great.

Glad to hear you dad is "Keeping the band together"

I would miss the blues brothers mobile.

Congrats Ethan - looks great. I get about 25-26mpg in my 96 on my commute which is a 3rd canyon, a 3rd city and a 3rd freeway. I have a very heavy right foot!

Also, your clearcoat isn't gone - red Miatas don't have clearcoat:)

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:You'll get better mileage than the Vicky, but not double. Price of fun!

The trick to good highway mileage is to follow a big car to catch some of the slipstream. You know, like a Crown Victoria!

Ethan West wrote:I'm planning on STS with it. The mods will be done slowly though. My first upgrade will be 15X7 SSK 031 wheels with 205-50-15 Kumho XS's.

Followed by a new black and white paint job, push bar, and some a-pillar lights, right? ;)

Max Hayter wrote:Congrats Ethan - looks great. I get about 25-26mpg in my 96 on my commute which is a 3rd canyon, a 3rd city and a 3rd freeway. I have a very heavy right foot!

Also, your clearcoat isn't gone - red Miatas don't have clearcoat:)

Well then I guess the red is giving way to...more red, lol.

Will Kalman wrote: The trick to good highway mileage is to follow a big car to catch some of the slipstream. You know, like a Crown Victoria!

Haha, I was actually planning on just driving under a semi trailer and letting it do the work for me :ibrightdea:

Will Kalman wrote: Followed by a new black and white paint job, push bar, and some a-pillar lights, right? ;)

Hmm, my push bar does come off in about 2 minutes... I think a black Miata with a white hard top would definitely look pretty interesting, lol.


That would be cool if my drawing board would fit. It's about 36X30" so maybe I can work something out.

I'm not too concerned about gas mileage. I definitely didnt buy the car just for that, so as long as it does better than the Vic, it's all good.

I'm planning on painting the wheels dark gray metallic tomorrow, since I'll be keeping them once I get my new wheels because they have almost brand new Sumitomo HTR200's.

I have one word for you, Ethan - "Plastics!" Er, no, I mean, "MazdaSpeed."

Mazda OEM parts cheaper that what the dealers pay, and go-fast parts that are equal, or slightly cheaper than what you can get elsewhere on the interweb.

Here's the link: http://www.mazdaspeeddevelopment.com/membershipinfo.htm

Thanks for that Bill. I actually just signed up for that yesterday, though based on what Bob B. advised me previously.

I've got a white hardtop - let me know if you're interested and maybe we can work out a deal. That would probably be enough to get me started down the path to doing a lot more fabricating. 'course, I probably need to get hella better at CAD first. Sketchup just ain't gonna do it.

Cool deal about the new car though! I know you'll have fun driving it. BTW, I usually get ~25 with my '91 pretty much no matter how I drive it.

Right now I've got about 160 miles on the tank its still a little above half on the gauge, so I'm happy. Thanks for the offer on the hardtop, but I don't really have the money at the moment.