GTP Cool Wall: 1989-1998 Mazda Miata/MX-5/Eunos Roadster

1989-1998 Mazda Miata/MX-5/Eunos Roadster

  • Total voters
    130
  • Poll closed .
This, to me, is a car I'd love to own at some point in my life but don't find cool. It's not an uncool car either so I went with meh.
 
Clark
And rightly you picked me up on the hairdresser issue as no car can be 'gay' and I don't stigmatise being gay, never have done.
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Clark
When growing up my mom was good friends with a hairdresser, she had owned an original MX5, an MR-S and was driving a Rav4 at the time (this was 15 or so years ago).

At that time I loved cars but none of my friends or extended family did so I'd never had the opportunity to sit/have a ride in anything sporty (my dad had a Micra at the time). When I was taking to her about it she mentioned she'd got it because a colleague of hers who had one recommended it as a reliable, cheap 'soft-top'.

So long story short, I knew a hairdresser who'd bought one because another hairdresser she knew liked hers. Not saying that being a hairdressers car was the reason the Mx5 was made.

Just like the fact I drive a 1 series and in my experience they're predominately driven by women or people my age with tinted windows and gloss black wheels, doesn't change what they car was made for. I know my car is hideously uncool but I didn't buy it be cool. The Boxster, 911 and plenty of other sports have increasingly been bought as fashion statements, but again it doesn't change what they were made for.

So yes I believe the MX5 is uncool because of the affiliation with hairdressers I've experienced. I didn't say it was a bad car and I'm not saying only hairdressers drive them or like them. I'd still have an E46 M3 despite the scores of arses that drive them.
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Okay, but that doesn't mean "it's a car for hairdressers" and I seriously doubt you would say that as an unqualified statement based on your explanation.

The only people who do are young males who term themselves "car enthusiasts" despite having a tiny, tiny view of cars about which they are enthusiastic. Naming no Fords. I mean names.
 
On a related but not strictly on-topic note, I've often wondered what would compel hairdressers to buy a soft-top of any sort. I can't think of a worse vehicle for people who care about what hair looks like than one guaranteed to bugger up whatever hairstyle you have as soon as the roof comes down.
 
homeforsummer
as the roof comes down.
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There's your problem.

In fact on an average non-raining day you can count the number of convertibles with their roof down on the fingers of no knees. Except MX-5s, which usually number 50%.
 
I own one but I don't drive it with the roof down when it's sunny, only at night because otherwise i'm blinded by the sun and I hate sun glasses.

But, I didn't buy it for the roof, I bought it because of how good it is to drive, for cost I don't think anything beats it for fun.

Obviously I'm biased so i'm going to say it's cool.
 
Cool.

Quintessential lightweight roadster that isn't frowned upon by the general public. (Although this could be the 'cutesy' styling and those round pop-up headlights.) I've ridden in three different ones (all first-gen) and would gladly want one myself, as they all felt different from each other (each one had an individualistic quality to it.)
 
Judging by the smiles it puts on people's faces, the MX-5 is a pretty damn gay car.

Roadster's just seem to lack that cool je ne sai quoi to me, however.
 
Roger the Horse
Roadster's just seem to lack that cool je ne sai quoi to me, however.
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Even when it's Steve McQueen in an XKSS?

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Though I own a 3rd gen, the 1st is definitely cool.

I can see how it would be not cool to some because it isn't fast, it doesn't "scream" at you and/or it doesn't do any one thing brilliantly well. It does however do about 1000 different things really good. Sure you have your Supras, RX7s & other quintessential 90's rockstar cars but while all of these are still highly desirable vehicles, the Miata never went away. If you really examine the car, it never tried to be something it wasn't. Mazda could have turbo'd it, had it make more power, and driven the cost up to $40k...but they kept it simple enough to still be relevant today. If you get in one, it doesn't have anything (aside from a cassette deck) that really makes you say, "wow, remember when these were cool?" The Miata is the iconic Japanese roadster. Go to any auto-x, track day or any other HPDE all over the world and it is dominated by these little cars.

It has no competition and is in a class of its own, which is really cool in itself. It's as if other automakers acknowledge this and stay away because they know they can't improve on it.

Just from personal experience in owning a Miata, for every 1 person that "doesn't get it," there are about 500 that smile, ask you about it, want to go for a ride, or give a simple thumbs up.

There is nothing uncool about roadster life.
 
Famine
There's your problem.

In fact on an average non-raining day you can count the number of convertibles with their roof down on the fingers of no knees. Except MX-5s, which usually number 50%.
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I am an Mx-5 owner. I know exactly how fast I have to be moving to keep dry in the rain with the top down. I use this knowledge every year.

I voted cool, because its not a really cool car, realistically.
 
40mph with the side windows up, a great deal more with them down.

Us too :D
 
Uncool

- ugliest pop up headlights
- not a big fan of convertible cars besides s2000
- The person remodeling my old job had one and thought he was god.
- Most importantly, when you are looking for a parking spot and you think you have a free one. You move forward and u see a miata...

I only like these modified, when stock looks just EWWWWWW.
 
Came in here with the mindset of cool but not subzero. Chuckled when I saw everyone else was going the same way.

Of the people I know who own Miatas, one is an aunt (a cool aunt, because her husband has the biggest sci-fi collection east of Seattle and she owned a 240Z before that) another was my first editor, and the rest are all Track-Hos. I kid you not, that's what they call themselves, and anyone who says "Bros before..." gets a punch in the kisser. :lol:

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But seriously, I don't know any Miata owners who aren't cool in some way, and I've always enjoyed any time behind the wheel of one, but they do lack that certain je ne sais quois... that would bump them from seriously cool to seriously Sub-Zero.

It's not the lack of power, or grip, or braking, or even body rigidity (wet noodle comes to mind, especially with the top down), because that's all part of what makes them charming... it might be the nagging feeling that they're merely an homage to a much greater, much cooler original.

Even if the Miata is better in every single way than the British roadsters it took as inspiration, you get the nagging feeling that there is an ur-Miata out there: A philosophical absolute that the Miata approaches but can logically never reach.

TL;DR: Mathematically speaking, the Miata can be no greater or lesser than cool.
 
I know plenty of people admire the old MX-5 and you can't go more than a couple of streets without seeing one around here, though I've never seen what was so special about them. Great reputation in terms of driving pleasure aside, it had the most average design a car of its type could have (iconic, yes, but average nonetheless), and some of the name choices for the SE models were amusingly dull (US universities?).

I would vote meh, but I decided to go one way on this one. A sports car that doesn't evoke any emotion isn't cool in my book. And after what Joey said, I'll admit that seeing fans fawning over a car I don't much care for isn't all that cool to me either.

Also keep in mind that the worn-out stereotypes people associate with cars like this doesn't sway my vote one bit.
 
niky
Even if the Miata is better in every single way than the British roadsters it took as inspiration, you get the nagging feeling that there is an ur-Miata out there: A philosophical absolute that the Miata approaches but can logically never reach.
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Yeah, it's called the Lotus Elan S1!

That said, I've spent a lot of time considering both cars and I genuinely prefer the look of the Miata. But from what I've read, the Elan is just that little bit "extra" in pretty much everything - if the Miata is 95% good at something, the Elan reaches 100%.

Of course, you can also buy a Miata here for a grand and an Elan is fifteen or more times that, so for the sake of being able to buy one for peanuts and thrash the hell out of it, rather than babying it in a garage and constantly fixing it, I don't mind those little gaps to the "original".
 
In my experience of hairdressers, and i deal with dozens of them within advertising, they mostly seem to drive Binis these days. As HFS pointed out, a soft top doesn't mix well with constantly coiffured hair.

Cool car.
 
homeforsummer
for the sake of being able to buy one for peanuts and thrash the hell out of it, rather than babying it in a garage and constantly fixing it, I don't mind those little gaps to the "original".
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MGB, maybe? I know it's not nearly as great a car as an Elan, but they can be bought for relative cheaps (in classic car money) and they are thoroughly usable and trashable. Or am I missing something?
 
Cano
MGB, maybe? I know it's not nearly as great a car as an Elan, but they can be bought for relative cheaps (in classic car money) and they are thoroughly usable and trashable. Or am I missing something?
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Nah, that's a fair suggestion, though to get one in the same sort of condition as a half-decent MX-5 you're still looking at three times the price, at least.

The MGB is genuinely fun. I never saw the appeal before I drove one, but it pretty much has all the qualities the MX-5 has. As British cars go they're fairly reliable, all the controls are good right out of the box (gearchange is excellent) and even though they aren't quick (12+ to 60) they've got skinny tyres so you can get lovely 1960s Grand Prix-style four-wheel drifts from them.

Personally I'm not overly keen on the styling (better with steel rather than wire wheels, better still with a roof, but then you miss the open-top experience) and while I'm not a speed freak I do like the MX-5's more peaky power delivery too. The MGB's engine is all done by about 4.5k revs. It'll go higher but there's not much point as it doesn't really like it!

In subjective terms, it's probably a good 10 percent (at least) below the MX-5 in terms of most stuff too, whereas the Elan is supposed to be a little faster, sharper, better balanced etc. The MGB is like an MX-5 turned down to 7, the Elan is an MX-5 turned up to 11.
 
The Elan completely slipped my mind, as I was thinking more of the MGB... and I think @homeforsummer 's assessment of where the three cars stand is spot on.

I was going to retort, though, that the Elan was a category higher in terms of price (brand new) and prestige than the relatively proletariat MX-5, but from digging around, the Elan started at just $3,992 in 1963, which comes out to around $30k in today's dollars, while the original MX-5 started at $14k in 1989, which comes out to around $26k. Shockingly, not a huge difference. Though it's hard to see any of the millions of Miatas produced ever commanding the same price secondhand as an Elan, no matter how far in the future you go.

So, there's your ur-Miata. And one of the few cars I would gladly vote sub-zero.
 
Light and simple, fun to drive, easy to modify for various engines, ranging from a tiny Wankel to Ford 5.0 V8, looks cool with both hard top and rag top.. Yeah, honest sub zero from me.
 
Cool because Miata, Sub-Zero because pop-up headlights. Actually, I think each generation takes a step down. NA = SZ, NB = Cool, NC = Meh. Not that the ND will necessarily be uncool.

Also, judging cars based on driver stereotypes is still lame.
 
The car itself is about as close to perfection as a car can get. It's probably the best-selling, most successful car that can appeal to motorheads.

Unfortunately, it is a bit of a chick car, which brings it down to 'cool'.
The Miata has the same problem as many Mercedes do: they are good cars driven by the wrong drivers.
 
@DaehlateM -- Nothing real serious, but each generation adds mass -- although they remain featherweights relative to everything else -- and the original has the benefit of pop-up headlights. :)

To me, coolness tends to increase with age (and vice versa), and I'm not as much of a fan of the NC's styling, either. With the NB and NC, Mazda have kind of stuck to the same song in a different key, which means they're great cars, but not exactly super cool or significant. Unlike the Toyobaru, which I voted Sub-Zero for bucking modern trends and representing hope for the future of enthusiast cars, the NC is just a newer Miata, in spite of it championing similar ideals.
 

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