Ryan2949

Also found this at a dealership. I'm not 100% on wanting the red because to be honest it's pretty feminine, but a drop + wheels will help with that. This one has 196,000kms and comes with a 3 year warranty from the dealer for 3,995. This one doesn't come with a hardtop but I have 4 months to buy one before we start getting heavy snow, so it's not a big deal.

For the people who voted the Miata, which would you prefer out of the two? Yellow or red.

Vtakanonymous

I would go for the miata for numerous reasons:
1. You're a college kid, so I expect you to be on a budget. Rotaries are expensive to maintain, plus difficult to work on if something (engine) goes wrong.
2. You need something really reliable, and although the na rx7 can be reliable, as stated before there are dozens more examples of unreliable ones than the former.
3. The miata is not only cheap to maintain but easy to mod, it can easily be converted into a 1.8 and parts are EVERYWHERE for the little bugger.

I owned an NA and an NB miata in college, definitely a fun car. Cheap on insurance, easy to work on and maintain, and fun cars to toss around. The biggest factor I would say is space.

Between the two, I would go with the yellow one, simply for the hardtop.

Ryan2949

Space isn't an issue because my girlfriend owns an 04 Grand Prix. That things a boat. I'll never have to carry large objects and will only be buying things like groceries. I think my biggest concern is the fact the rx7 is more "manly" and more aggressive looking than the Miata. My girlfriend likes the rx7 but then she says the Miata is "super cute". That's always a bad sign, and yes I know s2000's are also classified as "cute" in the female world. I have all my college tuition paid for and most of my rent. The only thing I have to pay is insurance (60-80 a month) and gas (next to nothing).

rockville

I had a 1.6L Miata years ago. Good car. It would not be my first choice for a college car simply because I did want to be able to take friends places in my car and I needed space to haul stuff to and from school. Miatas are very limiting in that regard. I would lean towards the yellow car because the hardtop is a very nice thing to have. The quality of the respray is a concern but given the mileage on the red car I wouldn't be surprised if it was resprayed as well. It also has an aftermarket radio which might be no big deal or might mean hacked wires. But without looking at both I can't be certain. When I was looking about 10 years ago cars that looked good in ads often weren't that great in person.

Do you know what to look for when inspecting the car? Perhaps I should ask, what will you look for when inspecting the cars? I don't know the exact years but early Miatas had a short crank shaft that could, if treated improperly lead to a failure of the crank pulley after a timing belt change. I would strongly suggest you ask this same question over on the Miata forum. Some probably knows the exact car you are asking about!

Vtakanonymous

In that case I would still go with the miata. "Manly" cars attract men, if that is your thing then great, but in college, a girl calling my car cute was just an invitation to talk to them. The miata is really fun to drive, easy to mod, and easy to toss around. It's about as impractical as a car can get, but if you have no need for practicality then I would go for the miata.

Ryan2949

Yellow Miata was repainted due to typical Miata rust (some wheel well, rocker panels etc) according to the seller. Said it was painted by the previous owner.

Ryan2949

In that case I would still go with the miata. "Manly" cars attract men, if that is your thing then great, but in college, a girl calling my car cute was just an invitation to talk to them. The miata is really fun to drive, easy to mod, and easy to toss around. It's about as impractical as a car can get, but if you have no need for practicality then I would go for the miata.
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I bet my girlfriend would love the idea of me picking up chicks in college, especially when she's living with me and will most likely be getting rides from me to school and back, LOL.

I don't know a single person in the town I'm moving. I'm moving 3.5 hours from home to a town I've only been to twice and both times were to check out apartments. I absolutely f@#king hate having people in my back seats. This way I never have to be DD to clubs, bars or parties either. As stated, we also have a Grand Prix which can fit a Miata. I've also never heard of the crankshaft issue and I frequent clubroadster.net. I'll bring up both red and yellow Miata on Miata forums and see what their decision is. Obviously they'd choose the Miata over the Rx7, so I won't bother asking that question over there, aha.

rockville

The Miata.net crowd is typically more knowledgeable and conservative. The clubroadster guys are better if you want to know how to roll your fenders and don't want to hear how the drop will kill he handling. The Miata.net guys probably would pick the Miata but many of them are Mazda people and can tell you how to pull the motor from memory. Go ahead and ask the question. They will likely give you surprisingly unbiased answers or even better, present you with a bunch of information and let you decide what to do.

I mean I might have told you to get the Miata because I think it really sucks and I just want to be mean

Ryan2949

Aha. The Miata is one of my choices because I can't afford an s2000. I would love to be top down all the time, even in colder temperatures, but it's not my favorite car in the looks category. I prefer the Rx7 for it's looks, but prefer the Miata for it's lightweight nimble chassis and better fuel economy. It's like buying a Ducati, you want it because of it's looks and charm, even though it'll cost you an arm and a leg to fix and maintain over a Japanese bike. In short, my heart is saying Rx7 but my brain is saying Miata.

RC 94

I think you'll grow really attached to the Miata. I certainly have become attached to mine. I'm in the same age group as you and your friends will give you a bunch of crap for the car, but you get used to it. The car is seriously fun, and every possible problem has been documented on Miata.net. Insurance is cheap, parts are cheap, it's good on gas. It's not necessarily the largest car but you've already said that's not a problem.

I'm slightly biased but for me it's Miata, no question.

Edit: There's also a lot you can do to tweak the looks a little bit. Certain things make the car really standout. I prefer the NB for looks, but the NA definitely is a looker with the right stuff.