Miatatude

I think the poor fellow had a predisposition for the affliction though. Back in January I let him take a spin behind the wheel of the new Miata and within a few months he had to have one. He didn’t tell me what year he wants me to guess when I see it next trip down. I did get the fact that it was red, that is no big help in narrowing it down as there has been a red offered every year. I refrained from asking a few key questions that would help me narrow it down. The only other hint, if you could call it that, was that it has 36,000 miles on it. He said it proudly, so I’m guessing clean first generation. Knowing Jerry wouldn’t spend a lot, I’m betting on a 92 or 93, which with those miles would be a sweet car. He mentioned it came with a hard top that he has no need nor desire for. That puppy is probably worth a grand and if he can sell it, that will lower his purchase cost considerably.

Received a survey in the mail from Mazda today asking about my satisfaction with my recent warranty service. I guess this was my 7500 mile service, but it was reported to them as warranty work because they replaced a top latch I complained about being loose and there is a TSB out on them.

1) This is where I will tell them about the service tech not abiding by the torque specifications for the lug nuts when he rotated my tires. Negative

2) This is where I will tell them about how it took 2 1/2 hours to complete a job they told me would take an hour. Negative

3) I will also tell them about one individual who made sure I got a loaner car for the extra time so Donna and I could do the shopping we had planned to do after the car was serviced. Positive

4) I will also tell them about the overpowering smell that was present in the interior of the car, which I assumed was the lubrication applied to the trunk hinges to eliminate the creaking I complained about. Negative

5) I will probably leave out the part that while the trunk is easier to open and close, only 80% of the creaking is gone, because I haven’t given them the shot at fixing it again. Neutral

Let me go sharpen my No.2 pencil…

I think it is just me, but the new Miata with 16″ wheels and OEM height looks like it is wearing high topped sneakers. I’d really like to lower the car an inch or so, but the easy and perfectly acceptable way it was accomplished on the earlier version car, Koni adjustable shocks, is not available for this car. Lowering springs or adjustable coilovers are the only way to lower this generation Miata and shocks will change the ride characteristics and the coilovers are expensive…

I’ve been eyeballing different 15″ wheels thinking that might change the appearance to something better. This method has its shortcomings as well because only certain wheels will fit over the larger brakes. The only way this fly is when I’ve worn out the stock tires and can sell the new wheels by pointing out that the new 15″tire wheels will only be a little more expensive than just the 16″ tires.

Go over to the Miata.net in the NB Forums and search for the term “clutch shudder” and you will get a million hits. Here is a good example. When I first started going in there after buying the new Miata I read quite a few of the posts and at first it got me worried and I was always in the back of my mind looking for this thing to show up. Occasionally when first driven about 1/2 from home when I got into 3rd gear the car would do a bit of shaking, but it would disappear in less than a hundred yards. Was this the shudder or something else? Although this clutch has never been as smooth engaging as in the previous 2 Miatas I’ve owned it is not really a problem, but more of a quirk.Yesterday morning the clutch seemed especially hard to engage smoothly for the first half of the trip to work. This morning though, any doubts I had that this was my clutch developing the dreaded shudder, were put to rest by confirmation. When backing the car out of the garage there was noticeable bucking and accompanying noise to go with it. Even Donna said, “What’s that?” “Clutch shudder,” I replied. I paused at the end of the driveway to let a car pass and when I backed out the shudder was there again just as bad. The trip to work was fairly normal after that.I guess I will wait it out a bit more before saying anything, see if it get any worse.