Axel6

Frankly, I would keep the NA Miata. A classic in its own right.

Big_Al

Your Miata looks badass. Leave the hatchbacks to Wayne and Garth

CG

A Miata doesn't have to be crazy fast to be fun, a Civic does. I'd keep the Miata and start autocrossing it almost every weekend. You'll be a better and likely safer driver for it and you'll find out just how great Miata's really are.

Amit

See, everyone thinks there are a bunch of Honda fanboi's here, but we all reccomend you to keep the miata. It's great car! definitely more fun than a civic. If you want to move up, save up and in time get an S. I think you got the right attitude for a kid!

Slamnasty

Well, the Civic is likely going to be cheaper to insure, considering you're 17. But I would pretty much stay with the Miata. Even if you do a B-swap, you're not really gaining a lot of horsepower (what B were you thinking?), and you're giving up RWD and a much more responsive chassis.

Plus, I don't know about Encinitas, but Civic hatches are damn hard to find where I am, let alone one that hasn't already been tampered with. For example, I just checked the entire Phoenix area for Civic 5-speed HBs between 93 and 2000, and 10 cars appeared. Only 2 of those are unswapped, stock cars. You could possibly be looking for months for the right platform to start with, and then you might even be at the mercy of the price they're asking because they're rare.

I say keep the Miata and have a nice RWD car that gets decent mileage, and can go top down whenever you want.

Project22a

Before I got my s2k, I had a Prelude (h22a). Don't get me wrong, I loved the car and the power it had to offer (ran a 14.7 with bolt ons). But after I got the s2k, I realized I would've been much happier if I had a Miata instead of a Prelude.

Keep the Miata and mod it. Then when you can afford it, get an s2k.

Chris Stack

Not necessarily. My insurance went up $200/yr when I bought a new TSX and traded in my 6 y/o Civic. Civics are expensive to insure because A) lots of young kids buy and crash them, and B) the theft rate is so high.

And speaking of theft, even if the Civic is cheaper than the Miata, that would only be true if he didn't insure all his mods (if he did insure the mods the sky is the limit for insurance), and WHEN his car is stolen (not if), he'd be out the $x,xxx he spent on mods.

Really, I see zero good reasons to trade in a perfectly good, nicely customized (i love those low-pro headlights) Miata for some ricetastic Civic.

Saki GT

Keep the Miata! SC it! Trade up for a newer model year if you want, but don't get a Civic! If you can't afford an S2000, the Miata is the car to have, not a Civic or any other fwd car.

IrishS2k

Get a hardtop and some kind of forced induction for your miata(iv'e heard most forced induction for the miata is relatively cheap)...it would feel like a totally new car and would be about 100 times better then a civic. I owned a hatch before my s2k and loved it, but iv'e also driven a miata and enjoyed that alot better. RWD > FWD anyday.

Somehondaguy

Given that you're probably not talking about an 06 Si or anything the miata is the way to go.
Just for pure fun value anyway. It maintains good build quality and decent fuel economy, it's ragtop which is great, the trunk isn't THAT bad
Another vote for the miata.... VERY big props to those

-Jason