Looking good mate
Looking good mate
1998 Nissan 200sx s14a , 2000 std 5 speed with nismo supercoppermix clutch bn6 Sapphire Blue
Yeah that looks loads better
After a year and 2 months, I just got the lightness pun.
Looks well, chunky sidewall fills it out nicely.
I really want one of these. Looks loads better with lows and girth. Did you successfully complete the rear middle light mod?
So first time out to test it in real anger.. ie a hefty speed round some of my back roads.
Hell there is a big big difference, the car is significantly more stable at higher speeds but its the front end i noticed the most. Its nailed and i mean fooking rock solid to the road - you can chuck it at any apex at almost any sane speed and it will happily grip around it.
Yes there has been a layer of "safety" removed, the car is more direct and the back end more playful but its massively quicker now while being less dramatic about it.
Can you stick hack it though, old man? That's the question
Sounds good - more direct and playful is how it should be, after all. You're not buying an MX5 to be soft, are ya?
Hack it... nope i cannot - 44 years now and the universe has tried to kill me already. Tired and cannot be arsed any more with fannying around with car bits. Thats why i took it to a garage to fit this time :-(
But i think that with the mx5 folk buy them as cheep entry level sports cars more than convertibles now. The hairdresser brigade now want minis and audis not a lightweight roadster.
The stock "sports" suspension with the uprated dampers just was not right, ok its fine for most folk but if you want a proper drive then you have to chuck on some springs and.... alignment as it makes a huge difference.
You're still here and driving - that's the main thing.
Yeah, I think there's a bit of playing to what they thought was target audience whilst also just accepting that cars have gotten softer in general over the course of the MX5 production run.
This is looking good. Great to hear the subtle changes have made a nice difference.
I'm looking at MK3.5 NC hardtop, can't afford an ND. Seem to tick quite a few boxes, just need to convince the other half that we need one. Tricky!
Take it for a loooong test drive first. They aren't for everyone. Here's my very personal assessment...
Pros - quite similar to a modern day Spitfire/MGB
- convertible
- cheap to buy, run and insure
- RWD
- If you like mercilessly revving the tits off it, it will feel like fun
Cons - can disappoint, especially in the twisties
- not much feedback from the chassis
- engines are agricultural is S1/S2
- six-speed box is always in the wrong gear
- RUST (in S1/S2 particularly)
- If you don't like mercilessly revving the tits off the engine, you will be disappointed in the go department.
I've driven 1s,2s and 3s but not an ND. I owned a low mileage, top spec 2.5 for 18 months then sold it as I didn't give a fcuk about it. Was glad to make room on the drive for something else.
The ND is quite the change from the first 2 and even 3rd incarnation.
It seems to have quite the torque band for a NA 2ltr from around now. It pulls well from low revs all the way though to about 6500 on the first gen nd and 7600 on the 2019 >
With a remap i now see 7500rpm as the limiter and that extra push up top now means more fun when wringing it out - it also pulls down the 0-60time ect... seen 6sec and under on many of the tests i tried on mine (pre lowering) - ok not overly accurate but its not the 7.5sec car some think it is.
100plus is slow though, short gearing until then keeps the car pretty swift for its output but the higher speeds are not overly great for it - still how many times do you do 100+
So after having driven it hard for a week or so now....
You know how when you drive a back road you know well, you tend to settle into a specific speed - i dont mean like balls out hashing it but.. you know you just kind of like do a general speed that you and your car are relaxed with.
This thing now seems like its 20mph higher than before, i look at the speedo and like... wooohooo it doesnt feel like that speed. Not going to say what it is i am seeing but its got an 8 in it
Its changed the whole car - gonna have to do the brakes now though as while i now have massive confidence in accelerating and turning i dont have as much confidence about the stoppers.
Always the way. You upgrade something and then something else goes out of wack.
Aye thats the way it is.
So what performance bracket is the MX5 mk4 in then? Its way way way faster than a mk1 and mk2 (stock) - heck its about as fast or quicker than a basic mk2 turbo conversion (someone on miata.net said about there 180 odd bhp nd tune) and it feels it. Its also considerably quicker than any of the mk3s even at stock - stock it was.
0-60 in what conservatively i would say 6 seconds, those gps speed apps are not that accurate but i have had repeatable 0-60 runs with 5.7 through to 6.5 seconds... Its handling is now pretty sorted so braking just needs some attention and it will feel complete.