Miata vs. Miata

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Miata vs. Miata

I've spent the last week or so weighing the options on a new Miata. Mine is seven years old and I want to sell it before things start breaking down. Up until today I had been doing all my research online, seeing what costs what, and which is worth the price. This morning I printed up a list of questions and went to a dealer just to get more info. He didn't know much more than I had already learned from looking online, and they didn't have any cars loaded with the options that I wanted to see in person.

Still, I took one for a ride. Rides nice, smoother than mine, and it has more pickup. I thought the radio sounded terrible, but that's probably because it had 6 speakers. That's supposed to be an upgrade from the standard four-speaker system, but the extra two speakers are tweeters mounted near the tops of the doors, and since they're closer to your ears you hear mostly high-end frequencies. The 8" speakers were at the bottoms of the doors. There are also two mid-range between the seats which were probably about 4" each, so they didn't help any. Even after tweaking the tone controls there still wasn't enough bass without it getting muddy.

The other big - BIG negative was the interior. Pretty ugly compared to mine. The dash has a big black plexiglass strip running along the front of it, and the doors and top of the dash were vinyl, but not even a faux leather looking vinyl like mine, just a flat, grainy plastic. VERY cheap looking.

Now that I've seen and driven a 2008, I can accurately compare it to mine. I listed all the pros and cons that are included with the trim model I'll be getting:

What's better on mine:
Interior Appearance
Retractable Antenna (the one on the 2008 is not retractable, but I can probably replace that)

What's better on the 2008 model:
Stronger Engine
Rear Speakers (mine doesn't have them)
Dual 1-touch Window (mine only does the driver side)
More Interior Room
Better windblocking with the top down
Smoother Ride
Cruise Control (mine doesn't have)
Ignition Keyhole Light (mine doesn't have)
Tilt Wheel (mine doesn't have)
MP3 Player (mine doesn't have)
Side-Impact Airbags (mine only has them in front)
Tire Pressure meter (mine doesn't have)
Engine Theft Immobilizer (mine doesn't have)
Side-Window de-mister (mine doesn't have)
Wheel-mounted audio & speed controls (mine doesn't have)

I plan to buy one near the end of the month. Pics will be posted if that happens.