NB8A vs NB8B

[wun911]

I'm kinda short I understand if your tall and you want a roll bar then ok.

As for 6spd im just lazy

[blehbear]

The passenger seat of the 8A tends to rattle when there is no passenger too.

[Boags]

Back on topic
If no one offers Boags, I would love to help out!
Not too sure I would be the one with the best expertise in this area so just keep me in mind as a last resort

No one else has offered.

Any NB owners feel like taking a car for a drive? Just look for unusual paint damage (like scratches rather than stone chips); and wear on the interior.

Other things to keep an eye out for will be strange noises or vibrations. AND RATTLES!! I HATE RATTLES!

I will obviously inspect and drive any car before I buy it, so don't be scared of recommending the wrong car or anything.

PUR157; if you think you can handle this (I think you could) then I'm happy to send the contact details to you.

Thanks,

Boags

[manga_blue]

I'll put my hand up for any mountain testing required on a Melbourne one.

[Hellmun]

Me and Andrew have dríven each others cars a few times so we've got a little experience directly comparing the 8a to 8B. Plus building two stock standard cars into track-dogs. Though you never said what you were getting it for specifically.

As a daily driver I'd take the NB8B, the seats were much nicer, they hug you more. The White face red illuminated Dash looks nice, the centre console is more usable, standard 4 speaker system. You get better brakes with ABS, Strut tower brace, mid-section brace plus all the cosmetic stuff.

The Sports brake package also does fit under 15\" wheels, just not certain ones like the Enkei RPF's. Additionally you get a compression bump and main bearing support plate in the 8B.

It's when you get to the track it gets more complicated. The only setbacks for not going the NB8B are that when you swap a 4.1 diff onto the back of the 6 speed the speedo will go out. That however is cheaper than putting a 6 speed box in to replace a 5 speed(speedo is sent from the gearbox). The Non-ABS aspect is better at the limit on the track, if you get a wheel airborn you won't get brakes as the ABS keeps letting go. You do however get easier cam options (the NB8B has one cam on offer from maruha). Easier to make power out of the NB8A and you can put everything from the NB8B onto it.

Given the choice to do over... I'd still have to think about it a lot, I know upgrading to NB8B brakes can involve a bunch of fiddling to get the bias right but cams seem even more fiddly with my NB8B. You could direct upgrade to an SE 6 speed box too and get stronger internals which is a boon from the NB8A.

[AB7]

NB8B for me...its simply a better car.

Be patient and keep looking for that elusive NB8B with good paint and low km for the right price.

Thats right, I waited for 3 months to find my car. You'll be surprised there are quite a few very low K's example around. They do pop up now and then, you just got to be quick when you see one. When I bought mine it had only 12KM and at the same time, there was another car with 13KM advertised on MX5 Club Sydney.

[AJ]

I'm kinda short I understand if your tall and you want a roll bar then ok.

As for 6spd im just lazy

learn how to skip gears then ........the 6 speeder in the NC is pure joy as far as i'm concerned, & i can't see why it'd be any different in the NB..........on the twisty mountain roads, you're never caught in 2 minds about which gear to use in a 6 spd with the closer ratios.................& if i'm feeling lazy on the open freeway..........coming out of the tolls for instance, i'll use 3rd & 4th to accelerate up to the speed limit & then just bypass 5th & go straight for 6th....................or, you can dodge 3rd & go from 2nd into 4th comfortably if you rev it out in 2nd, there is no rule that says you have to use every gear

[zombie]

learn how to skip gears then ........the 6 speeder in the NC is pure joy as far as i'm concerned, & i can't see why it'd be any different in the NB..........on the twisty mountain roads, you're never caught in 2 minds about which gear to use in a 6 spd with the closer ratios.................& if i'm feeling lazy on the open freeway..........coming out of the tolls for instance, i'll use 3rd & 4th to accelerate up to the speed limit & then just bypass 5th & go straight for 6th....................or, you can dodge 3rd & go from 2nd into 4th comfortably if you rev it out in 2nd, there is no rule that says you have to use every gear

I agree, close ratio 6speed is pure joy, although I can't remember the last time I used 5th

I tend to either go 1st->2nd->6th or 1st->2nd->3rd->6th
40km/h in first, 80km/h in 2nd, 120km/h in 3rd.

I'm sure once I start tracking the car I'll be using 4th and 5th more

As AJ says, just because you have 6 gears doesn't mean you have to use them all every time, but it's nice to know no matter what speed I'm doing, there's a gear I can drop to that'll give me revs in the power band.

[stevesports]

zombie, sounds like you hit 5000-5500 in each gear by the way you drive.

[Fatty]

zombie, sounds like you hit 5000-5500 in each gear by the way you drive.

is there any other way to drive an mx5?

i usually shift at about 6800rpm when i'm in "spirited driving" mode

[bigdog]

zombie, sounds like you hit 5000-5500 in each gear by the way you drive.

is there any other way to drive an mx5?

i usually shift at about 8600rpm when i'm in "casual driving" mode

Fixed

And Boagsy, I would have been first to raise my hand to do some test driving for you, but I'm off overseas again this weekend. If you're still looking in a week's time I'm happy to help. BTW, note STM's subtle comment - this comes from the driver of a very well sorted NA with no axe to grind. Nuff said.

[Alex]

I skip gears even in the 5 speed so i don't know why you 6 speed people are complaining
mostly at roundabouts, change to 2nd before entering, WOT through then change straight to 4th once the speed limit has been reached on the other side

[PUR157]

PUR157; if you think you can handle this (I think you could) then I'm happy to send the contact details to you.

Haha... Alright then, I'll try my best!

[AJ]

zombie, sounds like you hit 5000-5500 in each gear by the way you drive.

is there any other way to drive an mx5?

i usually shift at about 6800rpm when i'm in "spirited driving" mode

6800 is the optimum rpm to change up in the NC, i've found anyway

[Okibi]

Everythings gotta be about NCs doesn't it Clive