Gearhead's Godfather

The Mazda Miata. One of the greatest yet simplest joys that has ever been accessible to the common car lover. Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to spend numerous hours on the roads of America in this car. I had never had the chance to drive one before, but due to the reports I have heard about it over the years, such as this post by Flappy Paddle Heads, I was anxious to get the opportunity to take one out for a spin. The chance arrived when a friend of mine invited me to fly to Miami to pick up his aunt's 1990 Miata and drive it back up to Michigan with him.



The car in question, outside of one of our hotel rooms

We arrived in Miami on a Friday morning and made our way to the car's residence in a parking garage a few miles from the airport. It had been sitting there for a full year, so the tires had gone low and the 1.6L 4 cylinder engine wouldn't even turn over, let alone give any thought of starting. We ended up having to get a new battery for it before we could even get it out of the garage to fill the tires and change the oil, a task that included walking a three mile round trip to an auto parts store through the muggy and rainy streets of Miami. I carried the nearly 40 lb battery the entire way back. Scratch off one workout.

Several hours later we finally got her on the road, though slightly ashamed of the "I love champagne" bumper sticker that the current owner had left on the car. The Miata isn't known for being the most manly looking car on the road, so that didn't realy help our cause. We knew what other people would see would be two guys, riding in blue miata...loving that champagne...yes indeed!
Knowing full well what image we would be facing for the next thousand miles, we set off, driven by the knowledge that the Miata is a car that brings joy for the driver, though not always the viewer.

The car did not let us down. The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the seats were. Those small seats offered a level of both comfort and support that I did not expect at all. They matched the "just right" driving position the car had, though I did note the last time I was in a car this low it was on my summer camp's go-kart track. I would realize later how accurate a comparison that would turn out to be. 

Once in transit, the light clutch and short shifts allowed us to zip our way in and then out of Miami traffic and out onto the highway with ease. It was at that point that we realized something that we probably should have registered right away: the Miata is a very small car. Obviously we did know this, but this is one bit of information you don't truly realize until you are on the freeway going 65 mph and a speeding semi barrels past you. Suddenly these meandering behemoths of transit that you have known all your life become the most terrifying thing that you have ever encountered.
The fact that it was raining didn't help, which made us realize that the air conditioner wasn't working when we put the top up, further realizing that the soft top created a greenhouse effect inside the cabin.

When the rain finally gave way later in the night, we enjoyed yet another benefit of the car: being a convertible, it kept us awake and alert despite our fatigue as we made our way to Savannah, Georgia to crash in our hotel. That was the last leg of the first part of our trip, and we slept like babies, waking to a gorgeous summer day. However, the four hours up to our next stop in Charlotte, North Carolina provided my friend with a terrible case of sunburn. We did learn about the ability to unzip the rear window of the soft top though, allowing us to garner at least some level of shelter from the sun without fully cooking ourselves in that greenhouse.

The next leg of the trip was a ten hour sprint home to Michigan, which ended up being much more pleasant than one would think a trip that long could be. Driving through West Virginia on I-77 ended up being our favorite part of the trip. The roads wound through the mountains in tight curves. The Miata, however, showed us fully why my go-kart thought from earlier in the trip was such a good one. As other cars on the road slowed for the tight, steep curves on the mountain roads, we kept the throttle on, feeling balanced and sure-footed. Even on a fully stock suspension and tires, it would not let go.

I-77 through West Virginia

That trip took place almost a month ago, and I just got back from another road trip with the car and my friend this past weekend. Our thoughts on the car stay the same. It is a glorious little thing. Far from being a fast car, it makes up for it in truckloads by how it makes you feel. The Miata truly is the "essence of driving." Not to mention how that feeling of being so low to the road in such a light car that handles so well almost brings tears to your eyes.

We might want to take the "I love champagne" bumper sticker off before we let that happen though. Yeah, probably a good idea.