Chuck S

Anyone know the sales ratio of the automatic vs manual Miatas? I'm thinking the dealers can sell a lot more automatics there and here.

-- Chuck

vader1

I would take one the way it performs.........for $40,000. It is priced too high. Does it look cool? Yeah, I like it. Not in love with it. Does it go fast and handle well? Check those two boxes too. But it costs nearly as much as an M2 competition which is a better, faster car and can be had with three pedals. So it needs to cost less. IMHO a lot less. For me it slots below even M240i on my radar because of a manual and that is $45k before check any of the very few options on that car.

If I still want a manual and some power there is the slower but much cheaper 370z with a base price of $30k with deals to be had to get into the high twenties. It won't hang with a Supra, but is fun, again has three pedals, and is $25k cheaper to start.

Toyota will still sell a bunch because of fanbois, but the car is not for me unless discounted to $40,000. And those same Japanese car fanbois will still be tempted by a $35,000 Type R which is probably more fun even if not as fast.

vader1

Funny you should ask because this article appeared with the numbers yesterday.........(btw....read the first comment for giggles)

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/05/15/...ual-take-rate/


I really think that anyone wanting to hold onto cars like I do with my Cayman, will find that if they have a manual, they will get premium prices way down the road just for rarity-novelty sake because manuals will be long gone.

ChiHonda

Miata is well over 50% for manual.
M2 is a little over 50% manual.
These are the exceptions.

ChiHonda

All the reviews I saw mentioned it, smoking tire, demuro, engineering explained, jalopnik. It seems like they are potentially functional. Toyota said they planned for aftermarket companies to replace them with functional vents. One journalist asked if Toyota could as well. They said yes. The speculation is that Toyota could later make a higher performance version with a bigger engine, brakes etc that could make use of more cooling. That said, do I want fake vents on my car? No.

JamesD89

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2...on-zero-to-60/

3.8 to 60, 12.3 in the 1/4, 1.07g on regular tires (PSS), under 3,400lbs. Not bad for a $50k car.

JonBoy

Watching it on track, it looks quite agile and composed, while still allowing some hooning if you want. I think it's right where it needs to be in terms of price and performance. Allegedly the motor is downrated to meet Toyota's longevity/reliability requirements. Apparently BMW was quite surprised when Toyota gave them the requirements. The motor is still underrated, I'm sure, but apparently it isn't as powerful as the BMW due to reliability concerns.

I haven't driven it (obviously) but I think the M2 is the most obvious competition for a car that's fairly daily-drivable but also capable of very high performance. The Mustang and Camaro are there in terms of performance but they're bigger, heavier cars and the interiors aren't nearly as nice. They lack the "cachet" of the BMW and, by extension, the Toyota (a BMW with a different badge). Interior layout and materials are light years apart between a Camaro and the Supra/BMW, that's for sure...

ealand0001

I would assume all the tuning solutions for the bmw will
also be available for the Supra or something similar. Racechip and things like it should add a good power bump for little money and trouble.

vader1

Used SS's with a stick can be had for really bargain prices and start to intrigue me, and then I look at that dash and that steering wheel and could not stand to see it every day. I never thought a steering wheel could turn me off as much as it does but egad it is ugly. Put the Corvette wheel in that car and to me at least, you turn down the interior ugly by a factor of 10. The dash and console are still horrible, but might pass.

engifineer

With a BMW total cost of ownership. Just keep that part in mind when looking at the price tag.