Oh look, another Miata thread! NB purchase and 1,200 mile road trip home - what's next?

I am trying to reduce my number of cars. Honestly, I really am. I sold off a couple of stale projects and wasn't planning on any 'fun car' purchases until I replaced a couple of tired daily drivers in the household. Then I saw a nice looking 2005 NB Miata in the "cars that might be for sale" thread and I jumped right into rationalization mode and sent an email off to the would-be seller. A couple/few weeks later, he was ready to sell and kindly offered me first right of refusal since I had reached out previously. Messages were sent and a deal was made. The car was located near Melbourne, FL and I am in northern, MD right about 1,000 miles away. Logistics proved to be a little bit challenging with busy schedules for the seller and I but ultimately we found a date that worked for both of us. In the span of four days, my daughter got married and I purchased two cars - 1,000+ miles apart. Needless to say, it was a busy week! 

I had planned to do a quick fly and drive, but a well-timed work trip to Jacksonville, FL popped up and things worked out so that my wife could join me. In order to simplify logistics and timing, we opted to rent a car and drive down vs. fly (driving is always my preference anyway when possible). We hit the road Sunday morning (after my daughter's wedding Saturday evening!) to start the drive south. I had reserved mid-sized car, but when I arrived at Enterprise they had no car at all. A nearby store had one car available - a Mitsubishi Mirage G4 sedan. When compared to walking, it seemed like a fine choice. The two missing hubcaps were the icing on the cake. Ultimately, it wasn't terrible. It feels like a 90s econobox and when viewed with that filter, it was OK. It delivered 45 mpg, had decent AC, and wasn't awfully uncomfortable. It had plenty of room, but since we were packing for a return trip in a Miata, we packed really light. 

The amazing(?) Mitsubishi Mirage.

A Corvette in the hotel parking lot in Savannah, GA.

After an overnight in Savannah, GA, we arrived at the seller's place a little earlier than expected. They were just returning from a trip and fortunately didn't experience any flight delays, etc. Unfortunately, Steve's wife was pretty sick which had to have made the return flight awful. My wife and I checked the car over while waiting for Steve and Jennifer. There were a couple of little things that I didn't see in the pics, but nothing that made me feel unhappy about the deal. When they arrived, we did a quick intro, exchanged title and cash, and they took off for relief from an urgent care. Steve later let me know that it was food poisoning and Jennifer was feeling better. It would have been nice to get to visit longer, but I am terrible about yapping and we would have tied them up for too long anyway! 

I was pleased to see that I fit in the car just fine. I'd never been in an NB Miata and had visions of being terribly uncomfortable for the long ride home. I'm 6' with a relatively short torso/long legs and found the car to be pretty comfy. There's no extra room for sure, but it's good. My wife found it comfortable too, fortunately. 

We left Steve and Jennifer and headed over to the FL Tax Collector's Office to obtain a T-tag for the ride home. I was surprised to find that I'd have to pay sales tax on the purchase in FL to obtain the tag, but otherwise the transaction went smoothly and we were set for the ride home. My wife drove the car the 170 miles from Indian Harbor Beach, FL to our hotel in Jacksonville and called me along the way to let me know that the airbag light was flashing intermittently. It made the trip without issue which gave me confidence that it would make the whole trip home. If it'll go 100 miles, it'll go 1,000... 

While I worked in Jacksonville on Tuesday, my wife tooled around in the car a little bit. By the time I finished work in the evening, she was pretty smitten and may be attempting to claim it for herself. We'll see. We took a ride to Jacksonville Beach with the top down Tuesday evening which was my first opportunity to spend any time in the car. So far, so good! 

I thought I saw someone smiling in a Miata here in Florida the other day.

Seriously, congrats. Sounds like a good one. 

I had a bit more work to do in Jacksonville on Wednesday morning before we were able to hit the road. The plan was to make our way north and west to get into the mountains before hanging a north. I wanted to make some time, but also not spend the whole day on the interstate. Once I was done work, the first order of business was to get everything to fit in the car. It wasn't too bad - I was glad that we'd packed light and in soft bags. 

Once packed, we hopped on I-95 north for a few hours. This was my first seat time in the car on the highway and I found it to be just fine. It's a little buzzy at 4,000 RPM, but not unpleasant. We'd just been talking about Waffle House a couple of days prior with one of my kidlets and during a quick stop for coffee I couldn't ignore this photo op. 

As soon as we crossed into South Carolina, we picked up 321 North. I couldn't resist the idea of driving through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in quick succession. The towns were apparently named as part of the railroad's Scandinavian naming scheme. We bounced over to 301 for a while and had lunch in Allendale, SC - the county seat of Allendale County, SC. There were a couple of appealing sounding restaurants according to Google Maps, but all were closed. We settled for Subway before we got too hangry. 

Interesting water tower in Allendale. 

After lunch, we put the top down and buzzed through the Scandinavian towns that had piqued my interest. There wasn't much of anything to see, but it was far better than the interstate. I took a pic of the back of the car while getting gas, and realized that since I couldn't see the mismatched trunk lid or sun faded passenger 1/4 panel from the driver seat, it was a non-issue. I like my cars to look decent, but not perfect. I don't want to sweat little imperfections. I missed the sun faded quarter panel, marks on the hood, and marks on the bumper in the pics the seller sent, and was having some reservations about the idea of hitting cones on the autocross course. Turns out that it's a real good 50 footer and I don't need to worry. Perfect, problem solved. I will paint the trunk lid, but that's probably it. 

Once we hit the outskirts of Columbia, SC, we just jumped back on the highway and made a beeline to Charlotte, NC where we stopped for the night. Mileage for the day was right around 415. Tomorrow would get us off of the interstate on into the good stuff. 

Way cool. Congrats on the new-to-you Miata.

This thread is exactly the reason why I never open the 'other' thread, haha.  

Congrats on your NB! 

Thursday morning we left Charlotte and headed to Fancy Gap, Virginia via what would hopefully be our last bit of interstate for the ride home. We gassed up in Fancy Gap and jumped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. We spent the day on and off of the BRP, wanting to see more of the local flavor than just the BRP. There were some closures north of Roanoke that we had to work around as well, but that led us to some fun local roads. 
 

Up to this point, we'd noticed a few rear suspension bottom outs, but they became much more prevalent once we got onto back roads and started stepping up the corner speed a bit. Ultimately, I had to back off a notch due to my discomfort with how hard it was bottoming. I understand that the Miata bump stops are pretty much an active part of the suspension anyway, but this was pretty bad. I suspect that the loaded trunk, 138k on the OEM shocks, and age-hardened bump stops all contributed to the situation. I had already planned to freshen the suspension, so another non-issue. Driving it for a couple of days since we've gotten home, I have only experienced a couple of fairly gentle bottom outs. I haven't had the opportunity to take it on my favorite back roads yet. I'd like to Autocross it once as-is before I do anything so that I can appreciate the improvement. I plan to keep it ES eligible, so it'll just get whatever shocks are allowed. 

There is some clutch chatter in the car, compounded by worn motor mounts. By this point, I'd gotten pretty in tune with driving around it. I suspect that new motor mounts will all but resolve the issue. While I've happily left worn motor mounts in my beater Subaru for quite some time, I do intend to replace these. What's the hot ticket for ES legal Miata motor mounts? I do want to be conscious of NVH since the car will primarily be street driven. 

At some point after lunch (A Bobbie at Capriotti's - check it out if you have one in your area), we hopped off of the BRP and ended up on about 20 miles of dirt/gravel roads. Other than having to drive at a pace that suited the suspension, it handled the dirt well. One cow seemed a bit confused to see a Miata on her road, but nobody else seemed to mind. 
 

Eventually, we made our way to Front Royal, VA and decided to stop there for the night. I've been through Front Royal dozens of times, but until now never took any time to explore. We had a nice dinner and then walked the town for a couple of hours. We enjoyed a band in the town park for a bit as well. 

Mileage for Thursday was again right about 400. Thursday's drive was the highlight of the trip. Other than the quick 90 minutes of interstate in the morning, we spent the rest of the day on very enjoyable mountain roads. Not all unexpectedly, the Miata excelled in this environment. I'm digging this car. 

Couple of random pics added. Clearly, photography is not a strength for me. 

Iirc the NB2 has a bumpstop that turns to dust with age. Not hardening, but actual disintegration. I can't remember if they're fronts or rears, but they're the red ones :)

If it's over 100k, a new set of shocks would be a good idea anyhow. 

Friday: get home day. 

Front Royal, VA to home is right about 3 hours via interstate. I was tempted to just get on the road and get home, but my wife and I decided to keep the "no  highway" theme going. 

Before setting out in the AM I checked the oil. The car had consumed 1/2 quart in the ~1,000 miles since pickup. While I would prefer no consumption, that's not catastrophic. I'll keep an eye on it in my daily driving to see if there's any issue. A quick trip from our hotel back to an auto parts store to grab oil got us stuck in a little traffic jam due to a lane closure - one that we'd have avoided had a picked up a quart of oil in advance. I never learn. 

My other mistake for the day was leaving the top down all day and not using any sunblock. It was slightly overcast so we were fooled into forgetting about it. My nose and forehead (both vast expanses of surface) were fried when we got home. Dummy. 

We made our way northeast and stopped at a few various places that looked interesting. My wife enjoys checking out old cemeteries so we stopped at The Old Chapel Episcopal Church in Boyce, VA to have a look around. There are always interesting stories to be found among the epitaphs. 

Continuing on, we took a little detour to poke around Charlestown, WV. Another town that I've been through dozens of times but haven't explored. We agreed that next time I'm racing at Summit Point we'll make time to walk the town and look around. After Harper's Ferry, WV, we picked up Jefferson Pike which parallels 340 and is a two lane all the way to Frederick, MD. We cheated and jumped on the highway to get past Frederick, MD and then hopped onto Old National Pike. Just east of Frederick we took a little detour to check out what was left of an old kart track in Monrovia, MD. I put a ton of laps around that track on Yamaha YSRs in the late 90s/early 2000s. Sadly, it is closed and overgrown as is the adjacent former 75/80 dragstrip. 

Hay stacked in what used to be the pit area of the Monrovia kart track. :(

We cheated again (last time!) and hopped on I-695 to scoot around Baltimore to Rt. 146 north near Towson, MD. We took a familiar route home from here as my youngest goes to school in Towson and I prefer to avoid I-95 when visiting. I couldn't help but to take a few favorite back roads as we got close to home to savor the last bits of the trip. 

Epilogue: 

I had only ever been in a NC Miata prior to this trip. I had some reservations about fit, but that turned out to be a non-issue. There's exactly enough room for me to be comfortable, and no more. I hoped that it would be light, nimble & fun, but capable of knocking out highway miles in relative comfort. I have done a lot of traveling via motorcycle, and found myself thinking of the Miata as a really comfortable motorcycle with ample storage space. Viewed with that filter, it's great. I like simple, basic, and analog. Check. I want a little bit of comfort so I can do miles without beating myself up. Check. My wife likes it. Check Check. It'll be interesting to see how all this stacks up after the novelty wears off some. 

I didn't ask the seller a lot of questions when deciding to buy the car. I looked at the ad and decided to just run with it. I figured that the price left room for some unexpected finds. I also don't expect a cheap Miata to be perfect. I mentioned a few things that would fit that description in my rambling above... they all fall within that area of acceptance. I'm pleased with the car and the deal. 

Weren't you looking for a Corvette?

I had been/am planning to find a C3 or C4 Corvette to do this same type of purchase/trip home. The Miata fell into place and checked enough boxes that I decided quickly to pull the trigger. I'm still gonna buy that Corvette - though I have backed off on my search for the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to purchase it from somewhere out west. This trip was a great way to dip a toe and test the idea, and it was a complete success. I have purchased motorcycles from all over the country but this was my first non-local car purchase. Fun was had! 
 

Total mileage was right about 1,200. We averaged 33.5 mpg. 

In reply to Motojunky :

 That's a nice looking NB.

"I like simple, basic, and analog. Check. I want a little bit of comfort so I can do miles without beating myself up. Check."

Isn't it great? Maintenance is easy and kind of fun too. 

Let's talk shocks.

I see that Koni is having a sale that ends in a couple of days. I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger, but 20% is 20%. 

The car will primarily be a daily/weekend driver with Autocross thrown in as I have availability. For the foreseeable future, I'll stick with E street. Ultimately I expect to do a good front sway bar, good-ish tires (probably on spare wheels), and new shocks/bump stops. (New motor mounts are already on the way.) 

Koni Sport (yellow) seems to be the go-to choice. Other options include the Koni Active and STRT. Rock Auto shows some adjustable KYBs and a "performance" Billstein and lower price points. Low budget is good, but a couple hundred extra for Koni Sports isn't out of budget. It'll just delay a tire purchase a little longer. I don't want to compromise street ride quality - I would prefer to compromise AX performance if I have to give one way or another. 

I'd appreciate your thoughts and/or experience. 

I don't like Bilsteins on Miatas, too harsh. I had one Miata with the Koni STRT and enjoyed them, haven't tested out the Sport.

If your plan is stock springs and a street car with a bit of autox I would get the Koni Active.

If your plan is E-Street autox and who cares about street manners get some revalved Bilsteins.

If your plan is to change the spring rates in the future get koni sports.

I'm on my third car with koni sports. 

The first one was an NB1 Miata sport. With the konis, a Racing Beat front bar, and lightweight wheels with 200 TW tires, it's trophied in E Street at National events. 

STR.T if you want a stock replacement, Koni Sports if you want better performance and more potential. I would pony up for the Sport over the Specal Active myself, it's what I have on Miata 338 and I prefer the valving.

Not a Bilstein fan.

Keith Tanner said:

STR.T if you want a stock replacement, Koni Sports if you want better performance and more potential. I would pony up for the Sport over the Specal Active myself, it's what I have on Miata 338 and I prefer the valving.

Not a Bilstein fan.

I am inclined to pony up, but this line from Koni causes me pause:

• Combine exceptional road holding and handling properties with acceptable levels of comfort

I really don't want to compromise street ride quality. The car will be 99% street driven with the occasional Autocross. I'm very much a "goofing off in the parking lot with cones" vs. a "win at all costs" kind of guy. Is the Sport a compromise in street ride quality? 

I'd possibly be interested in the Koni Sports myself but I can't seem to find the 20% off deal mentioned. Am I doing something wrong? 

brandonsmash said:

I'd possibly be interested in the Koni Sports myself but I can't seem to find the 20% off deal mentioned. Am I doing something wrong? 

 

Sale prices are reflected in online pricing at most places. 

https://flyinmiata.com/products/nb-koni-sport

https://www.tirerack.com/specialoffers/details.jsp?promoID=I522&srsltid=AfmBOoqJwhPvYc_A9jXEFzp8TKak2Mvchqi61fIAJ-p09F05Ezj-g47c

https://shop.koni-na.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqBjQrhcnrQ_3a-KaU4vYtL9780hvBDku739nlpZ7n7sRoyutTJ

Motojunky said:

Keith Tanner said:

STR.T if you want a stock replacement, Koni Sports if you want better performance and more potential. I would pony up for the Sport over the Specal Active myself, it's what I have on Miata 338 and I prefer the valving.

Not a Bilstein fan.

I am inclined to pony up, but this line from Koni causes me pause:

• Combine exceptional road holding and handling properties with acceptable levels of comfort

I really don't want to compromise street ride quality. The car will be 99% street driven with the occasional Autocross. I'm very much a "goofing off in the parking lot with cones" vs. a "win at all costs" kind of guy. Is the Sport a compromise in street ride quality? 

That's a generic writeup for all platforms, and gives them some room to pitch the Special Active.

In the NA/NB application, the SA suffers a bit due to the rear suspension travel limitation - the weak point of the frequency selective damping mechanism. We did some back to back drive testing between an NA on stock springs with Sports and another with SAs, and opinions were split as to which had the better ride quality. I felt the compromises Koni made to the SA to make it work acceptably well on the NA/NB led to the car feeling underdamped, and I am very happy with the ride quality of the Sports on my car.

One pitch here - we know the bumpstops on this car are suspect if not absent. Only FM includes a set of good new bumpstops with a set of Konis if you're price shopping :)

Keith Tanner said:

Motojunky said:

Keith Tanner said:

STR.T if you want a stock replacement, Koni Sports if you want better performance and more potential. I would pony up for the Sport over the Specal Active myself, it's what I have on Miata 338 and I prefer the valving.

Not a Bilstein fan.

I am inclined to pony up, but this line from Koni causes me pause:

• Combine exceptional road holding and handling properties with acceptable levels of comfort

I really don't want to compromise street ride quality. The car will be 99% street driven with the occasional Autocross. I'm very much a "goofing off in the parking lot with cones" vs. a "win at all costs" kind of guy. Is the Sport a compromise in street ride quality? 

That's a generic writeup for all platforms, and gives them some room to pitch the Special Active.

In the NA/NB application, the SA suffers a bit due to the rear suspension travel limitation - the weak point of the frequency selective damping mechanism. We did some back to back drive testing between an NA on stock springs with Sports and another with SAs, and opinions were split as to which had the better ride quality. I felt the compromises Koni made to the SA to make it work acceptably well on the NA/NB led to the car feeling underdamped, and I am very happy with the ride quality of the Sports on my car.

One pitch here - we know the bumpstops on this car are suspect if not absent. Only FM includes a set of good new bumpstops with a set of Konis if you're price shopping :)

Thanks. There's a reason that link is first... 

Koni Sports will be fine for daily use.  They are sporty but the Miata is a Miata and not a Coupe deVille in floatiness.  I liked Koni Sports on my NB for mostly daily/some autox.  Springs are what makes the daily driving annoying.

Crap tires and worn out everything... great fun! This was my last run of the day. I tried too hard to find time and, of course, just went slower. That last hard left was slow enough that I decided to try a downshift to first. Not faster. :)

The car worked and ran great. I think tires, a sway bar up front, and shocks will make it just about perfect for my needs. 
 

In reply to Motojunky :

Regarding the oil consumption, check the pcv valve. When I bought my old 99, it used over a quart on a 125 mile drive home. Kept using what I thought was too much oil over the next few weeks, but no oil leak to be found. Did some online reasearch and the cheapest parts cannon attempt was to replace the pcv valve which solved my oil consumption problem. I think it had a little over 100k miles at the time.

secretariata (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Motojunky :

Regarding the oil consumption, check the pcv valve. When I bought my old 99, it used over a quart on a 125 mile drive home. Kept using what I thought was too much oil over the next few weeks, but no oil leak to be found. Did some online reasearch and the cheapest parts cannon attempt was to replace the pcv valve which solved my oil consumption problem. I think it had a little over 100k miles at the time.

I'm 2nd guessing myself. I have put over 500 miles on the car since the last oil change, including a bunch of "spirited" driving and a day of Autocross. The level hasn't moved at all on the dipstick. 

Couple of extra thoughts re: Autocrossing the Miata: 

I struggle with remembering the course layout. This time I walked the course three times, and due to the run group schedule, was able to get a couple of rides before my drive group came up. As a result, I was able to jump right in to my first run instead of having to try to remember the course. I found that to be super helpful, and then promptly wasted that gain by driving terribly on the first run. 

I did not expect the tires to be as bad as they were, and went in to my first run far more aggressively than I should have. That coupled with the adding way too much input (initial and over correcting) because the car is so much more responsive than I'm used to made for what must have been a ridiculous run to watch. By the end of that first run I had gotten myself settled down and was good to go. 

I lopped off 2.5 seconds for the second run by slowing down and not driving like I was in my CJ5 with 1/4 turn of play in the steering. My best run would be my fourth, another 1.3 seconds faster. My last run (the video posted previously) was my 2nd fastest, and looked to have potential if not for the two huge mistakes in the latter 1/2 of the run. I knew that over-driving the grip was slowing me down but boy was it fun. There was easily another second or two in my times just in the big mistakes. 

The video below is my fastest run. There are glaring mistakes (that last slow left was tough) where I'm giving up a lot of time, and I'm sure lots of smaller mistakes that I can't even see yet. I'm new to Autocross and I think the Miata is going to be a great teacher. I wanted a common platform so that I can work on the driver mod vs. wondering if the car is good.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned clutch chatter. In the video above, you can hear a ton of clutch slippage after the shift to 2nd on the start. After that, I backed off on how aggressive I did that 1 -> 2 shift and didn't have any more slippage. Interestingly, the clutch chatter situation is now noticeably improved. This suggests to me that there was some contamination in the mix and smoking the clutch cleaned some of it off. I assume a weeping rear main though the car doesn't leave any oil spots when parked. I'm not going to worry about it for now, but expect to put a clutch in it sooner or later.