Which kit do you use if you don’t mind me asking?
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If I get any of these two cars, it’ll my only car so I guess having the practicality of the GT86 is welcome. Ultimately it’s destiny as my car will be a club-sport/track day/weekend car, so I want it to be really good in the corners (I’m heavily inspired by the best motoring era, especially seeing Keiichi Tscuchiiyas AE86 haha).
I definitely need to test drive one and make sure to take the roof off. I plan on test driving around May time!
It’s really nice, and I was considering them too. I prefer N/A however, less moving parts, less stress for one and just the feeling of having to drive the ■■■■ out of it to enjoy it. Plus, i’m a little skeptical of the fiat engines since I don’t know much about it.
I had a look into the extended warranty. Doesn’t this only apply if the car is less than 10 years old or less than 100k miles?
Yes, I think that’s correct. Sorry, hadn’t realised you were looking for one outside those criteria…
With my budget, its more or less on the boundary. I’m finding a mix of high mileage and low mileage between the various model years.
I owned both a GT86 and a ND1 2.0L (before my current ND2 2L).
On track, the GT86 was more fun. Much much much better steering. So easy to control the car even sideways.
On the road, the torque dip of the 86 is mildly annoying. The ND1 is very linear and usable.
The carrying capacity of the 86 is excellent.
The infotainment on the MX5 is much better - again another plus for relaxed driving on the road.
All this said, for me, the factor that made me sell the 86 was the fixed roof.
I enjoy roof off motoring all year round too much.
If you don’t care about the roof and you will stick to only one car, then get a GT.
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One great feature of the 86 - you can switch off all electronic aids execpt ABS with the so-called ‘pedal dance’. Great on track
I really want to have good steering feel thats for sure. its hard when most things now are electric. I guess the 86s steering feel is similar to the MR2s.
can you turn off traction control etc off in the ND1? I mean thats a deciding factor for me.
And I guess the torque dip can be alleviated by a header and a good tune.
Yes.
The ND has a stability control switch - but its intervention is not as radical as the 86 pedal dance.
The 86 also had TC and ESP switches, but the pedal dance brought the car in essentially an electronics-off mode (except ABS which remained on).
You press and hold the DSC button in for 8 seconds, which should disable it.
This is a video from 2017, using a standard MK4. I forgot to turn traction off till half way through. It was a “Make a Wish Foundation” wish.
I don’t think you have any handling issues with a MK4.
There is a long-ish and interesting thread on ND and DSC on the US Miata forum.
looks like you must not hold it pressed. I haven’t tried myself.
Ever since DSC was implemented on the NB, holding the button in turns the stability off. I have done it many times. It was always the understanding that without turning it fully off, that an activation of the ABS, would turn the DSC back on if it wasn’t turned fully off.
I admit I haven’t driven a MK for a while, but it certainly was the case both on NB and NC cars.
It is burned into my memory, having to hold the button in on a MK3 Press Car going into the Fox Hole at some considerable speed at Nurburg to stop the thing working.
It cannot be turned back on however until you restart the engine.
It is the same with my Hyundai now, hold the button in to cancel everything, although you can simply press it again to turn it back on. The Clio also had a button to do exactly that.
As for the US site, the reason it would come up with a malfunction error is that it is not working. I do know, that some stuff does still go on in the background.
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Why would you want any sort of warranty on an NC? Nothing goes wrong!
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On mine it’s a single press to disable, 2017 RF
Lots of stuff here but I’ll just reply on rustproofing!
I recently bought a very low mileage 2018 ND and a tech mate of mine suggested I get the underside protected even though I plan only to use the car in the finer months. I found a guy locally who steam cleaned the underside (cost just £20). A few days later (once the underside was thoroughly dry) I put it up on a 2 post ramp, removed the wheels, covered the brake discs with plastic bags and treated the whole of the underside with Fluid Film. It took about 2 1/2 cans. It’s a natural (lanolin-based) product which had been recommended to me and will not harm rubber components (although it does smell of wet sheep when you first put it on!). It remains flexible and will I hope protect the car for a good few years.
It’s a bit messy to put on so I recommend covering the ground below. I also bought a throw-away paper suit and put plastic bags over my shoes! It took about 2 1/2 hours to do a thorough job including removing and refitting the wheels.
Total cost including steam clean, ramp rental and all materials was around £120. I’m really pleased with the result!