Roadster Driving Feel

[project.r.racing]

Swift Sports are rubbish. Bodykit, stiffer springs and oversized wheels.

In then end, it still has the power of a 90s FWD, weighs 1100kg and a torsen poo poo bar rear suspension.

But back to the Miata driver feel. It's got something other cars dont.

But other cars do also for many reasons. MY '10 ford Escape is awesome to drive. Cos it is one of those mini SUV thingos, it carries a small 2.3 MZR engine, weighs in at least 3-400kg less than big SUVs, so it handles very well. But since the engine isn't too powerful, the handling and corner spped make up for it. And it goes anywhere. Beach, forestry, camping etc.

Sound familia?

Mitsubishi Starion. Raw 80s turbo power. Great balanced chassis. Minimal electrics and electrical aids involved. Raw car with heaps of poke.

[speed freak]

The Swift's and Swift Sport are a good little car. The sport has got more then lowered and stiffened springs. Yes they have a torsen rear bar which for obvious reasons is crap but most affordable new cars these days has a torsen rear end, its cheaper to make, the end.

Plus going from driving an mx5 to the swift sport isnt a great way to see how good they really are. I used to own the basic swift and fettled with it a bit and it was a really fun car to drive, really stiff chassis and I tell ya with coilovers its fun getting oversteer with that torsen rear end haha. The sports are even better, driving one for 5 minutes isnt going to give you a feel for the car. When pushed hard they are brilliant.

Not saying Id prefer the swift over the mx, now I have dríven and owned a mx5 obviously the mx5 is a much better sports car/drivers car and a much better grin maker. Anyway, what car seems as fun as an mx5 other then an mx5? Once you drive an mx5 everything else seems a little boring.

[dmad_dood]

The sports are even better, driving one for 5 minutes isnt going to give you a feel for the car.

I guess that goes with any car you test drive, The torsion rear bar isn't necessarily a bad thing for most people, plenty of cars have it nowadays like the clio sport 197, civic type r ( which isn't a real type r ), swift sport... but i guess for those of us who want a proper drivers car and not much else (everyone of this forum) we buy 5's.

And speaking of which happy 25th birthday mx5!!!

[Dan]

The Swift's and Swift Sport are a good little car. The sport has got more then lowered and stiffened springs. Yes they have a torsen rear bar which for obvious reasons is crap but most affordable new cars these days has a torsen rear end, its cheaper to make, the end.

Plus going from driving an mx5 to the swift sport isnt a great way to see how good they really are. I used to own the basic swift and fettled with it a bit and it was a really fun car to drive, really stiff chassis and I tell ya with coilovers its fun getting oversteer with that torsen rear end haha. The sports are even better, driving one for 5 minutes isnt going to give you a feel for the car. When pushed hard they are brilliant.

Not saying Id prefer the swift over the mx, now I have dríven and owned a mx5 obviously the mx5 is a much better sports car/drivers car and a much better grin maker. Anyway, what car seems as fun as an mx5 other then an mx5? Once you drive an mx5 everything else seems a little boring.

I agree, I wouldn't be trading my MX5 for a Swift but my ex owned one and it was pretty fun to thrash around town, 15k new (a third of the price of an MX5) is a pretty hard price point to hit and have something sporty.

[ED_MX5]

Another point to add is apples for apples.
Obviously all of us here are after something to make us smile when driving it around twisties etc.
I wanna see you still smile when trying to get that nice new cabinet you bought home...
For some things, you just need bigger.
For the rest of the time, GO FOR A DRIVE IN A 5 and SMILE FOR A WHILE.

[Nevyn72]

I wanna see you still smile when trying to get that nice new cabinet you bought home...

Well this made me smile, there's always a way.....

[bootz]

Everything is great with my nb, except I find the engine a bit souless.
It's really nice and tight and fast as well but it don't give me the smile like my GTI Mk1 engine. Strange but the single cam 8 valve is a creamy revver, not as fast as the mx5 but it is pulling 200 kg less and really feels fun.

[Okibi]

Time for some ITBs to make that engine really sing then?

[maxgus]

I have had my NB for about 3 and a half years and it's the tits! I will never sell it. The only time I have thought of buying another car was to get an NA as a second car. Yes it can be a bit tricky when you need to haul large items but that's when I borrow my housemates Astra or my mates ute! Just about every other car I have dríven has a hideous seating position. Definately not drivers cars.

[ryuhou]

no offense but none of the cars mentioned are really relevant? the swift sport is low 20s new and its a warm hatch at best. Ive owned an ek4, dc2r and r53 mini s and recently borrowed a 130i for a week. I think the mx5 is a great intro to rwd cars - fun and cheap to run. But it really us only a 7/10ths car at best in stock form... and so the tuning bug has bitten.

[kalt]

I wanna see you still smile when trying to get that nice new cabinet you bought home...

Well this made me smile, there's always a way.....

Are you suggesting bringing back a tree, replant it and grow it for 10 years, then chop it down for the wood.. to build the cabinet yourself? True DIY

I bought a folding chair from Costco a couple months back and yeah, had to stand it up behind the passenger seat with the top down for the journey back as it wouldn't fit any other way (with passenger!). What a laugh

[taminga16]

The day that I picked up my NC my wife had me collect a new micro wave, in the trolley down the road to my safe park only to find that the bloody thing would not fit into the boot. I pushed it back up the hill and went shopping for enough towels to be able to transport it home in the passenger seat.
There is an image of a set of golf clubs in the boot of an NC somewhere and my conclusion is that they used kids clubs for the photo shoot.
Greg.

[speed freak]

Iv seen a lot of pictures of mx5's now carrying all sorts of crazy items. But if its a sunny day and it fits in the passenger seat why not?

Plus for all the bigger items there is always delivery or borrow/hire a car for a few hours. No point owning a big car if you dont need too in the hope that one day maybe once a year you might need to cart something big.

Big boring car vs mx5? I know what Id rather day to day.

[dmad_dood]

no offense but none of the cars mentioned are really relevant? the swift sport is low 20s new and its a warm hatch at best. Ive owned an ek4, dc2r and r53 mini s and recently borrowed a 130i for a week. I think the mx5 is a great intro to rwd cars - fun and cheap to run. But it really us only a 7/10ths car at best in stock form... and so the tuning bug has bitten.

Ive dríven my brothers dc2r hard on some of our local twisty runs a few times and wholly &#%& RWD is irrelevant when a fwd far can be that dam good, absolutely perfectly balanced car.

Everything is great with my nb, except I find the engine a bit souless.

I find the same with my na handles great except the need for an lsd but i find the engine just lets the car down a bit and this isn't a turbo cures all situation the power is enough (barley) its just the delivery of it, slow revs and low redline. Drop a 4age silver/blacktop in there and the car would be perfect. Just my 2cents thou..

Oh and the car is very thirsty for a 1.8l sub 1 tonne car especially for a car with not much performance

[22Silver]

I learned to drive in a Honda minivan, and a Hyundai Getz, so you can imagine the difference when I first drove an MX5.
I took turns driving with my old man as we took his (NC) from SA to VIC when he bought it. This was really not too long before I needed to buy my own car, and the first 30 minutes of driving convinced me to buy an MX5 for my first car.