The Mazda Miata has a reputation as a hairdresser’s car, mainly among those who have either never driven one or have some sort of image projection issues. This unfair characterization has lead to some interesting compensation techniques. Here’s one that probably has some tie-back to an early 80’s Mel Gibson film about a dystopian future. […]
Most people fall into either the “convertibles are OK” or “I would never own a convertible” camps. For campers in the later position, when one brings up the quintessential convertible, the Mazda Miata, it’s the old “I’d give Mazda my money if they built it as a coupe” song and dance. Outside of Japan, those […]
The Mazda MX-5 is lauded for its excellent handling chassis and essential sports car credentials, but nobody is going to accuse it of being too fast in stock form. But today’s example is far from stock — don’t worry it isn’t one of those V8 swaps that ruins the weight distribution and is instead powered […]
The original Mazda MX-5 is known around the globe as a great car for the discerning sportsman who wants a car that handles well and needs a good driver to ring the maximum out of the small engine. It is the opposite of the ham-fisted V8 muscle car crowd and is the spiritual revival of […]
All kinds of fancy schmancy car events happen at the beach at places like Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, or Boca Raton…but sometimes the best cars are for driving around on the beach instead of showing at the beach. Like this 1991 Mazda MX-5 offered for $7000 near Grover Beach, CA via craigslist. Tip from Sean […]
The SPL311 generation Fairlady was the final version of the little ragtop as the sports car in the Nissan/Datsun lineup and in 1970 it was replaced by the 240Z. The Datsun Roadster might not have been as rugged as the tractor powered MGB or as sexy as Alfa’s Spider, but it offered a compromise between […]
The original Mazda MX-5 Miata is still a good way to drive something that is small, light, and nimble — it is arguably the best driving British roadster that you can drive when new, and such is true even to this day. The Miata got a reputation for being a hairdresser’s car, but a ride […]
The Mazda MX-5 Miata was a perfectly good car before the guys at Mazdaspeed slapped a small turbocharger on the engine, but the Mazdaspeed MX-5 is the renaissance man’s car, a well balanced combination of usefulness, style, and fun. It isn’t a cave man (Mustang) or a Machiavelli (Ferrari), but it is the Leonardo Da […]
The MG Midget was a badge engineered version of the Austin Healey Sprite and shared mechanical components, sheet metal — basically everything but the badges on the fenders. With the low compression US spec 1275 cc inline-4 under hood, the little car seems like it has negative horsepower, but imagine getting that zoom-zoom feeling of […]
In 2004 Mazda released a version of their popular MX-5 roadster that took the car from a hairdresser’s ride to a hair-raising monster with the addition of a small turbocharger. It finally added some much needed zoom-zoom to the corner carving lightweight. Find this 2005 Mazda Miata MX-5 Mazdaspeed offered for $6,500 in Los Angeles, […]