As far as clarity of content and breadth of information, that forum is the best I've yet come across.

Obviously I'm not sure on what the specs are for the US cars but my friend has had a 1.8 MK1 and a MK2 1.8 Eunos jap versions and has had Bilstein shocks on both, I'm certainly not too hot on the knowledge of them but they came on the higher spec imports so you maybe able to source them? They also came with slightly lower springs than the non performance ones and are a lot more grippy. They're great fun little things too

Another guy I used to know had a MK1 BBR Turbo and that was lovely looking too

Given the choice again and if I was around 6 inches shorter I'd take the Miata over the MR2 9 times out of 10

I'll try and find some pics of my friends one :-)

The Miata R had Bilsteins on them. I'd just go with coil-overs if I were to bother with lowering it though. I'll just leave it as is for awhile before messing with things.

The slow problem is easily fixed:
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

They are a nice car and are great and fun to drive

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Ah ok so the Miata R = the Eunos RS

JUst be careful as there's a fair few coilovers that'll actually wreck the handling of them, There's a company over here called Rokkor who create for the MX5 and the quality / ride comfort is shocking but it's 'scene' so people do it

A few piccies anyways of a local meet we went to

The black one with a cage is a MK2 as is my friends but it's packing 250bhp, It's a tarmac terrorist

I was going to go through the suspension section of Miata.net before just running off and buying whatever coilover set. Research is my middle name. Partially why I never just go off and go with something, have to research the Hell out of it. As far as solving the slowness I'll either turbo it or do a LS1 swap, whichever seems more feasible at the time.

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Not sure if you get them over in the US, I expect you can but I hear the Supercharger from the new Cooper S bolts up nicely

There is a supercharger system made for them, my uncle has one on his 2000 NB Miata. Turbo setup would be cheaper though, since you can shop around and put something together. Was driving the Celica earlier today, I don't think I could stand to buy another car that slow. The Celica ST has a ratio of 21.82 pounds per hp where as the 94-95 Miata has a ratio of 17.7 pounds per hp. I'd think the straight line performance would be somewhat better, but still... At least with the Miata you can fix the slow.

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Did I just see the words "reliable" and "mustang" in the same paragraph? No need for an american car in san jose, I see way more modded japanese cars there (I live about half an hour away). For $5k you could get an s14 240sx, an NB miata, a 7th gen celica, a clean integra, etc. Whatever you get, just make sure the A/C works! The convertible top won't help you when you're stuck in traffic everyday (and you will be...) from 3pm until 7pm.

And how come a miata discussion comes up and I no get invite? If you're worried about "killing" the handling of your miata then you obviously have been browsing miata.net for too long... That crowd is mostly the older guys and the serious racers who believe if you lower the car more than 1/2" you "kill" the handling of the car. They may be right if you were a serious competitive racer, but my car is lowered on coilovers and trust me, the car is still very, very nimble. I prefer the forums at clubroadster.net, a much younger crowd and more modification friendly. Don't get me started on the miataturbo.net forums though. It is impossible to get a question answered there, they just tell you to search... So you search and all you can find are threads that end in the person telling the OP to search (after a lot of flaming and name-calling)...

The miata is definitely not faster than a celica though, not by a long shot. The power bands are pretty opposite, where a celica falls on it's face after 4.5k rpms, the miata doesn't start moving until 4.5k rpms... The miata pretty much needs a turbo to be even remotely considered fast.

The 5.0 Mustang is reliable enough, and parts are dirt cheap.

I just want to make sure that the car is improved, and not waste money in the process. I'm tossing around the idea of lowering springs or coil-overs. Though coil-overs aren't much more than springs and struts for the Miata. The Miata would be a tad faster, just by going off 0-60 times. It's just tiring having a car that doesn't have enough ass to make it around hilly areas without downshifting or speeding. The act of doing it isn't a problem, it's just like "Gah you anemic piece of ****, can't even make it up a hill past third." I know what I want, but I don't know at the same time. I don't have the money to fulfill all of my needs/wants, so I'm having to pick and choose. Therein lies the problem. I keep bouncing back and forth, I do know I'm not happy with the Celica though. Knowing minivans blow the doors off your sports car isn't exactly the greatest feeling in the world.

This post has been edited by Box: Jun 24, 2013 - 12:34 AM

If you were to keep it, then I think a 7th gen short shifter would solve some of your woes. Or buy my car.

Your's is just the evil OBDII version of my car though. A short shifter would help a little in straight line perhaps, but it doesn't solve me having to downshift every time there is ever so slightly a hill. Or having to climb in second or third because the car has no power. That and it's kind of embarrassing when you're climbing a steep hill or getting onto the interstate and you have to be like, "Hey babe I know it's 100º out today, but I need all the power I can get. It'll only be off for a little while." *turns off A/C and is mildly thrown back into seat* An engine swap would solve the vast majority of my problems, it's just too much work on something that has a computer and a million different sensors. That and it's still FWD, I can't just fix that.

This post has been edited by Box: Jun 24, 2013 - 12:02 PM

Got to looking and it'd seem the 94-95 Miata hits 60 in 8 seconds. Not too bad I suppose. If I wanted to stick with FWD there is the Integra GS-R, but that'd mean owning a Honda.... If only the Mustang handled halfway decent stock, would just have to test drive it to make sure. Though from what I've found handling is definitely not its strong suit. Always the 4th gen F-body, but cheap interior and being impossible to work on is a big turn off. I think the GS-R would pretty much be the Celica done over except a good deal quicker to 60. As far as having ass to pull a hill, it's probably about the same though.

Miata's are good clean fun. Like most Mazdas, they'll burn a little oil, but any older car is prone to that. They are slightly quicker than a Celica to 60, especially an ST. That 8 second estimate was when the car was new with a professional driver in near-perfect conditions. I'd be surprised to see one do it in anything less than 8.5-9 seconds now, but that's still quicker than our cars, and sending power to the proper wheels. I think the Celica has much better curb appeal but you can't beat a Miata when it comes to aftermarket support.

8 seconds new is still better than 9.5 seconds new, so that translates over to used shape too. A lot of the people on Miata.net still report low 8's stock and into the mid 7's with mild mods. Still, faster than what I currently have. The Miata is a nice looking car, though the Celica looks good as well. Problem with either, especially the Celica, is they look faster than what they are. I'd like at least a 7 second to 60 car, I want to hold my own against soccer moms late to school you know.

Hmm, perhaps a 93-95 BMW 325i... Good balance of power and handling, though still heavily considering the Miata. Need to find them all for sale locally and check them out with no intentions of purchasing at that exact moment in time.

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I didn't realize you had an ST celica, yeah, the miata and an ST celica are probably pretty close speed-wise. And you most definitely will have to downshift in the miata everytime there is a slight hill. Like I said, it's power band is all high-end. The car may make like 115 peak hp, but at less than 4k rpm I doubt it makes 50... I find myself downshifting to 3rd on the freeway to pass people usually. I'll admit I haven't driven a 1.8 miata which has a little more torque, but I imagine it's still pretty slow.

I'm not trying to talk you out of one, but they definitely do not have the low-end torque that it sounds like you want. I'd go for a twin-cam 240sx honestly, those motors are super torquey, they handle well, they're alright on gas, correct wheel drive, and not a bad looking car especially the s14.

You say you don't want to deal with computers. An early 90's bimmer probably has about 8 computers in it...

I'm only looking at the 1.8 Miata, has a little more grunt to it but not much. It's faster than the ST Celica, so stepping in the right direction. Thought about a 240SX, but I don't know. The E36 just has the on board computer and ECU as far as I know. My big problems with computers is when it comes to swapping drive-trains. Honestly I'd prefer something with a V8, but I want it to be able to handle.

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sounds like you have a different issue going on there, I hang in third all around the country side here taking the hilly mountain roads. my driveway is STEEP and i can pull up in second and sometimes third with no issue (had a bad moment in winter and slid back down) . The celica is fun as hell to take around country roads. Although now that I just bought an rx7 I can say it outhandles the celica greatly. Turns in the mountains i'd take at 70 or so in the celica I can take at 100+ in the rx7. But the whole downshifting and speeding is half of experience of owning a stick and I feel like a miata your just going to dig yourself another hole and be unhappy later on. For all the work you'd have to put into the miata you could v6 swap your celi and be done. Are you driving a gt or st? i'll agree the st is rather anemic.

Downshifting and all if fine, it's just having a car that has to all the time is the annoying part. In a past life my main concern was all out power, but I like a car that handles though. I have the ST, I originally got it for the fuel efficiency. Which that it does great, I average 35+ on regular. Here lately I've decided that's not quite as important and I want something that can hold it's own against most cars in a straight line but still handles well. I like the "on rails" feeling the Celica has, direct steering with no play is very important to me. I would do a V6 swap, but I couldn't do half of it. If it's carbureted without computers I can swap it though. The trouble is finding a donor car, not very many V6 Camry/Solara 5-speeds around. That and I was wanting to get back into RWD, but I suppose that could be overlooked maybe.. Ideally I'd have the $15,000 to drop down on a C5 Vette 6-speed, but sadly I don't at the moment.

The 1.8 feels similar to a cross between the 7A and 5S. A bit rougher than the 1.6, which I find to be more pleasant in its revvy nature. The 1.8 pulls more evenly throughout the rev range, whereas the 1.6 is more of a top-end only deal. The weight difference was apparent to me, though. The 1.6 feels more tossable.

If I had a choice I'd do a 93LE, with the proper BBS wheels. Or a Silverstone would be nice as well.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Jun 25, 2013 - 2:45 PM

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Fair enough, I was leaning towards rwd again myself, hence buying the rx7. I was very pleased with the celica but rwd is still the way to go in my eyes.

Thanks for the insight Ferdi. I'm going to sit down and make a pros/cons list of a few cars, since those always help. As far as RWD cars go there's the 94-95 Miata, 93-95 325i/is Coupe, 91-93 240SX, and the 94-95 Mustang GT. It'd seem C4 Corvettes are too expensive for the exact model I want, and the 93-02 F-body has ungodly cheap interior and is a bitch to work on. So those are kind of out of the equation. The 87-92 F-body and 92-95 SC300 are damn near impossible to find in the exact model I want, so it'd seem those are out too. Keep bouncing the MKIII Supra around, but I don't know. I thought about the RX7, but rotary brings its own host of problems. Odds are I'll just end up throwing names in a hat and go from there.

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I respect the fact that theres so much variety in your car choices, tired of fanboys who stick to one thing. And rotary isn't so bad especially if you get one already modified. When those apex seals do go if you over do it it's just best to know how to fix it so a rebuild wont cost you 5k.

Thanks, I like a little bit of everything. Seems like it's more of a curse than a blessing at times though, makes it incredibly hard to choose a car. The thing with the RX7 is that the N/A is very similar in power and performance to the 240SX. That and the 240SX engine is familiar and doesn't get abysmal mpg like the RX7. That being said I probably wouldn't mind the turbo version, the FC RX7 is a sharp looking car. Then again just remove the rev limiter on it and take it to the sky. Damn it sucks being a car guy with limited funding. If only the F-body was easier to work on, and didn't have plastic everywhere. I guess the interior could be overlooked if it wasn't for the engine being tucked into the firewall. Which looking at the door tag they have pretty much perfect 50/50 weight distribution, which explains the engine location. My dad had a 96 Z28 and it handled nicely, and had plenty of straight line speed. Only problems being embarrassingly cheap interior and the fact it took an act of God to change the spark plugs.

Sooo here we go...

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This post has been edited by Box: Jun 26, 2013 - 9:23 PM

Got to looking and apparently there quite a few things that can be done to BMW 325i. Maybe not as much as the Miata or Mustang, but not bad. Apparently a company by the name of Dinan makes a ROM chip that replaces the ECU ROM and bumps power up from 189 hp and 193 ft lb to 207 hp and 210 ft lb. $200 direct from them, not bad. They also offer a larger throttle body for $279, not too bad either I suppose. They have a cold air intake kit and exhaust system, but those can be gotten elsewhere for much cheaper. The more I think about it the BMW is really the best of all worlds:handling, speed, and comfort. If only it had a V8, it'd be perfect.

took the misery to find you a car..

It's made of boxes, it's perfect! I still can't decide sadly. Decision making isn't my strong suit.

It's a straight six, can't go wrong with that, really. The E30 is a proven chassis. Electricals are just scary.