We have been virtual wishful car shopping recently, maybe it is because we are under a year in the countdown to a New Miata or maybe it is talk of taking this year’s trip out west in a car instead of a plane or maybe it is because automakers are offering great deals at this time of year (Mazda is offering $4500 off left over 2009 Miatas), but I have been hitting the web and having fun.
If you had told me 4–1/2 years ago that I might be driving anything other than a Miata I would have told you you were crazy. But now I’m not so sure. It all harkens back to our first ride in the current generation Miata back in October of 2005, we were underwhelmed, so the seed of doubt has been planted. The Miata is still at the head of the list, but there are a couple of other contenders on our radar, cars that are in our cost comfort level, around $25k and are convertibles and are available in blue. From worst to first they are:
- Sebring. This only makes the list in that it fits all three criteria, but its faults are many, chief among them is that it is as ugly as sin.
- Mini. High fun to drive factor, but we were underwhelmed when we drove one back in 2003 and the convertible version takes a big hit in the looks department, both up and down, over the closed car.
- VW Beetle. Donna has always liked the looks of these, I have to admit that I do too. Downsides include no manual transmission and cockpit wind with that big an opening.
- Mustang. The base V-6 falls in our price range, but the blue is kinda odd and it is 7″ wider and over 2 feet longer than a Miata, contributing to the title of this post.
- Miata. Needs another test drive and to take advantage of the the current deal we would have to accept a color that sucks.
Now let’s go a little further out there, what if we don’t get a convertible at all. Wild huh? Suppose we consider a little larger “sporty” car instead of a convertible. The car would have to be in the same price range and it would have be a coupe (I may be getting older, but I’m not ready for a 4-door Buick just yet.) From worst to first they are:
- Accord. We were Honda folks (2 Accords, 2 Civics and a Prelude) before the Miata revolution, but my how this car has grown. It weighs as much as a Mustang and is a foot longer than one too!
- Gensis. The front look leaves me cold and there is that still lingering Hyundai crap car association.
- Altima. Really like the looks of this and the blue is a terrificly bright shade, but I know nothing else about it.
- Mustang. With the convertible we were stuck with the V-6, but a coupe means we can squeak a GT with a V-8 in under our spending cap.
- Mini. It has lots of techno gizmos to go wrong and doesn’t have the best reliability record, but it is fun to drive, good looking and will fit in the garage.
A wild card in the coupe class would be a Miata with the detachable hardtop, leave it on nearly all the time and just pop it off for nice weekends.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 519
Hey! I resent that Sebring comment, its a good looking car! And I thought you had taste!
Your vintage Sebring is actually not a bad looking automobile, but the new version leaves a lot to be desired in the looks department IMHO. And apparently I’m not the only one who thinks this way — Report: Chrysler may abandon damaged Sebring nameplate
And your clock is off an hour.
I think in my last WordPress upgrade it somehow switched me to the Canadian Maritime Province time zone, but I have corrected it.
Another downside to the Beetle is that it is nowhere near where the Miata stands as far as dependability.
Check out some of the marks that it has gotten as far as reliability scores and you’ll see that the Miata is essentially bulletproof in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, any VW is fun to drive and has some cool gadgets (even on the base models) but if it’s in the shop every other month, what’s the point? I swore after owning a VW, that I’d never buy another one — Oh yeah, +1 on the Sebring being ugly as sin!
The Bug was on the list for looks alone, it was never really a serious contender, but curiosity will probably get us to test drive one, just hope that the VW’s handling is such that I can dodge Cupid’s arrow.
Check the link in my other comment about the Sebring.
As the dust settles, do yourselves a favor and give the MINI another look. When we were shopping, we looked at/drove just about everything out there, and nothing came close to the Miata in terms of fun except the MINI! Nearly two years later (and currently owning one of each), we’ll still tell you that the MINI is the next best thing! We feel we have the best of both worlds, but since you probably don’t need the extra Club door plus that little bit of extra room we get with the Clubman, the coupe would be a great choice with the dual pane panoramic sun-roof. And did I mention if you get the “S”, it looks fantastic in Laser Blue (think metallic “Mariner”) with a white top?
FWIW, the NC Miata still hasn’t grown on me quite enough to buy one, so I hope things improve with the ND version. Good Luck with your shopping!
The NC has grown on me, it has only taken 5 years. The only problem is that is with the NC1, the (Jack Nicholson) Jokeresque grin of the current model is another story. As in the list in the post, the Mini is at the top for Coupes and would warrant another drive. We could possibly go that way and then keep the Miata, so we could be like you guys.