I think what is most likely is that for their 50th they got back to what they wanted to build 20 years earlier. The S600 was out well before the Miata but never made a splash here due to trade restrictions at the time.

Either way, the miata was first to market here and still the best selling roadster of all time. If the Miata had put a 9K motor under the hood the comparisons would be closer.

 

In the late 1970s the US government imposed certain safety and emission standards on automobiles. Those standards made it much harder for the popularly priced two seat roadster/sports car to continue to be a viable item. That coupled to the raising labor costs and poor management of the British auto industry lead to the demise of the Triumph brand and for the most part reduced MG to a shadow of what it formally was. By 1980 there were no more popularly priced two seat British sports cars coming to America. Fiat had already left the American market as had Alfa Romeo. The only sportscar left was the Porsche, but the price of the 911 had risen into the stratosphere and it was no longer affordable. From 1980 until about 1990 only the Corvette was available to those who wanted a roadster/sportscar, and even then it was high in price and not exactly what everyone was looking for.

By 1980 most manufacturers had lost confidence in the two seat popularly priced roadster/sports car, and the market didn't seem to care whether or not it was produced.

The greatness of the Miata, aside from the fact that it was and is an excellent car, is that it reintroduced the popular priced, two seat roadster/sports car to the public. More importantly, it showed the manufacturers that there really was a market for this type of car and that it could sell in numbers significant enough to produce a profit.

If not for the Miata there probably would not have been a Z3, Z4, TT, Boxter or S2000. It paved the way for all of the sports cars that followed.

 

[QUOTE=ralper,Aug 17 2010, 03:46 PM]The greatness of the Miata, aside from the fact that it was and is an excellent car, is that it reintroduced the popular priced, two seat roadster/sports car to the public.

 

Anyone who owns an S2000 and bashes the Miata cannot have ever driven a Miata.

Want to watch someone's self esteem go down the drain? Take a look at a 400 whp EVO driver who just got spanked on the autoX course by a 160 hp stock Miata.

 

The S2000 kinda does look like a Miata.
Does it bother me? Nope. My testicular fortitude is just as strong as it was before.

 

I spanked an Evo (8 or 9) MR running 23 lbs. of boost last time I hit my local road course.

 

the reason I intially started the thread isn't because I don't like a miata. In their own right I'm sure they are a fine car. I owned a 1992 rx-7 and loved it until the seals went on the engine. It's just the s2000 IMO is a better car and the main complaint I think both cars recieved from owners are that the cars are a little under powered. Probably why mazda offers a 1.8T option now and who knows maybe if honda re-debuts the s2000 in 2012 it'll be a 2.2T fashioning around 350hp then I think everyone will be happy!

 

When a question like that comes opon.
reply should always be (what's a miata?)
answers a question with a question . And make them look closer to the (H)
Honda !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
people with no style are very noob ..

 

Lol. . . .
you even made people put "the gloves on."

 

Huh?

Mazda has only offered the 1.8t in the Mazdaspeed Miata which was onyl made in 2004/2005. Even then it was only 170(ish) hp while the new 2.0s are 168hp.(2006 and up)