I am looking to sell my car this summer and have been thinking mostly of replacing it w/ a Miata. I was curious on some of the stats and potential of them. Also i was wanting to know some pointers to keep an eye out for when im buying the car what years, problems and such.

 

Hell of a first post on a Honda specific forum, but here goes.

The earliest Miata's came with a 1.6 liter engine that's rather beefy despite their age. At some point in the early to mid nineties, Mazda switched over to a 1.8 liter motor. In the late nineties the body style changed though keeping the same 1.8 liter motor. And just a year or so ago, the Mazdaspeed MX-5 was released which is simply a factory turbocharged Miata.

It's quite possible to turbo a non-Mazdaspeed Miata. In fact the older 1.6's are a bit stronger and seem to deal with the abuse a bit better despite the fact that they're down on power. Another upgrade path involves swapping in a 302 out of an old Ford, but this completely destroys the delicate handling balance of the car.

There's a lot of research you can do to find out more of the specifics. I hope this gets you started, but you can't post Maza questions on a Honda message board and expect to get a lot of good answers. Good luck.

-Kendall