Ready To Buy Another

Well, as of the first week of April, my 1991 Miata will be 15 years old.
I can say that it has been the best vehicle I've ever owned with 123K on
it the major repairs consisted of a clutch, a set of brakes, a battery,
and a replacement rear window and zipper. Just routine maintenance
otherwise. Oh, and tires. Lots and lot of tires. Those soft-compound
Dunlops really worked well but I never managed to get even 20K out of a set.

But now the inevitable breakup is coming. Next months I'll be buying a
2006 "True Red" Sport with suspension package. I'm still undecided about
any other options but I just have to stay with the red -- any other
color and I'd be permanently unable to find the car in the lot.

I've only got one real complaint about the 3rd generation: the sound
system Mazda chose. Clarion? Why the hell did they have to do Clarion?.
It has to be about the lamest POS seen in a vehicle in a long time. No
auxiliary input. No MP3 support. Custom form factor which seems designed
to foil any attempts to install a real receiver. $500 for a freakin' CD
changer! I'm sure that eventually someone will start selling a
replacement surround that will enable installation of a proper DIN-spec
receiver but until then everyone will be stuck with what is there. I'm
still debating pulling my Sony double-DIN and changer from the '91 and
re-installing the original before selling/trading it just on the off
chance that they might be adaptable somehow to the 2006.

Oh, BTW, one of the major reasons for the replacement, beyond rampant
new-car lust, is that the '91 has no AC being originally from Alaska.
And, like it or not, in my climate an AC is a necessity. Not having one
in the Miata has meant either garaging it for most of the summer,
driving only well before sunrise, or defaulting to driving the old Dodge
pickup which, for all its faults, at least has an AC fit to freeze a
side of beef.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

In article >,
John McGaw > wrote:

> Custom form factor which seems designed
> to foil any attempts to install a real receiver.

Acutally, it's intended to make the radio less attractive to thieves,
since it doesn't fit anything else and would be nearly impossible to
sell or fence. That's useful on a ragtop with essentially zero security
against a crook with a knife.

--
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

and clairon is one of the few car audio manufactures that actually care
about fidelity. in fact the legendary audiophile company mcintosh uses
clarion pro stuff as head amps for their systems. i haven't heard it but i
suspect it would be impressive, particularly if you thought the stock
panasonic in your '91 was ok.

"Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> John McGaw > wrote:
>
>> Custom form factor which seems designed
>> to foil any attempts to install a real receiver.
>
> Acutally, it's intended to make the radio less attractive to thieves,
> since it doesn't fit anything else and would be nearly impossible to
> sell or fence. That's useful on a ragtop with essentially zero security
> against a crook with a knife.
>
> --
> Lanny Chambers
> '94C, St. Louis
> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Christopher Muto wrote:
> and clairon is one of the few car audio manufactures that actually care
> about fidelity. in fact the legendary audiophile company mcintosh uses
> clarion pro stuff as head amps for their systems. i haven't heard it but i
> suspect it would be impressive, particularly if you thought the stock
> panasonic in your '91 was ok.
>
> "Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
> ...
>> In article >,
>> John McGaw > wrote:
>>
>>> Custom form factor which seems designed
>>> to foil any attempts to install a real receiver.
>> Acutally, it's intended to make the radio less attractive to thieves,
>> since it doesn't fit anything else and would be nearly impossible to
>> sell or fence. That's useful on a ragtop with essentially zero security
>> against a crook with a knife.
>>
>> --
>> Lanny Chambers
>> '94C, St. Louis
>> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
>
>

No, I didn't think that the original '91 unit was very good -- merely
average for the day. That is why it was replaced with a somewhat better
unit and _much_ better three-way speakers - both changes being quite
simple because of the approximate double-DIN profile of the console
opening and relatively convenient door mounting holes. Fitting the
changer into the trunk wasn't quite so painless.

What I find unacceptable about the Clarion selected in '06, assuming
that the odd form was truly a defense against thieves, is that it left
out desirable features while locking the buyer into using their receiver
only. Even a Scion allows for an external input in their lowest-level
receiver. Yes, I can overcome the lack of an external input by use of an
FM modulator but such a kludge really shouldn't be necessary. I'm
relatively sure that Clarion does make receivers with external inputs
and I know that they know how to provide MP3 and ID3 tag support and
both are relatively cheap to implement. Which suggests that Mazda simply
overlooked these features when doing the specs. Or they were looking to
save a few dollars. Or some of both. But Mazda seems to be proud of
their "get all the little things right" planning and the lack of
receiver features looks to me as though they missed a few of them along
the way while succeeding in locking buyers into the factory receivers.
Maybe the effort involved in fitting two pairs of cup holders in such a
tiny cockpit diverted their attention. ;-)

Enough of that. I've come up with a question that I can't find an answer
for: what is the approximate engine RPM per unit of highway speed in a
MX-5 equipped with the 6-speed MT and 17" wheels? For example my '91
with stock 5-speed and stock 14" wheels screams along at ~4000RPM at
70MPH which makes for rather noisy long-distance cruising when it is
called for. Does the '06 do better? The final drive ratio numbers I've
seen make the 6-speed AT (gasp!) look like a great option for highway
driving.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

John McGaw wrote:
> Christopher Muto wrote:
>
>> and clairon is one of the few car audio manufactures that actually
>> care about fidelity. in fact the legendary audiophile company
>> mcintosh uses clarion pro stuff as head amps for their systems. i
>> haven't heard it but i suspect it would be impressive, particularly if
>> you thought the stock panasonic in your '91 was ok.
>>
>> "Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>> In article >,
>>> John McGaw > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Custom form factor which seems designed
>>>> to foil any attempts to install a real receiver.
>>>
>>> Acutally, it's intended to make the radio less attractive to thieves,
>>> since it doesn't fit anything else and would be nearly impossible to
>>> sell or fence. That's useful on a ragtop with essentially zero security
>>> against a crook with a knife.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Lanny Chambers
>>> '94C, St. Louis
>>> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
>>
>>
>>
>
> No, I didn't think that the original '91 unit was very good -- merely
> average for the day. That is why it was replaced with a somewhat better
> unit and _much_ better three-way speakers - both changes being quite
> simple because of the approximate double-DIN profile of the console
> opening and relatively convenient door mounting holes. Fitting the
> changer into the trunk wasn't quite so painless.
>
> What I find unacceptable about the Clarion selected in '06, assuming
> that the odd form was truly a defense against thieves, is that it left
> out desirable features while locking the buyer into using their receiver
> only. Even a Scion allows for an external input in their lowest-level
> receiver. Yes, I can overcome the lack of an external input by use of an
> FM modulator but such a kludge really shouldn't be necessary. I'm
> relatively sure that Clarion does make receivers with external inputs
> and I know that they know how to provide MP3 and ID3 tag support and
> both are relatively cheap to implement. Which suggests that Mazda simply
> overlooked these features when doing the specs. Or they were looking to
> save a few dollars. Or some of both. But Mazda seems to be proud of
> their "get all the little things right" planning and the lack of
> receiver features looks to me as though they missed a few of them along
> the way while succeeding in locking buyers into the factory receivers.
> Maybe the effort involved in fitting two pairs of cup holders in such a
> tiny cockpit diverted their attention. ;-)
>
> Enough of that. I've come up with a question that I can't find an answer
> for: what is the approximate engine RPM per unit of highway speed in a
> MX-5 equipped with the 6-speed MT and 17" wheels? For example my '91
> with stock 5-speed and stock 14" wheels screams along at ~4000RPM at
> 70MPH which makes for rather noisy long-distance cruising when it is
> called for. Does the '06 do better? The final drive ratio numbers I've
> seen make the 6-speed AT (gasp!) look like a great option for highway
> driving.
>
The engine runs at about 3000 RPM at 65 mph. I have the 17-inchers and
the 6 speed.

I wouldn't worry too much about the radio - it sounds good enough and
the stock AM/FM/CD (which I have) has several several different sound
profiles for top up or top down. It also plays mp3 disks (according to
the manual, but I don't have any such disks). I don't use the radio much
- I'd rather listen to the exhaust note as I shift through the gears.
The car makes better music than most of today's music acts, anyway.
You'll have so much fun driving the car that you won't care about the radio.

John McGaw > wrote:

>Enough of that. I've come up with a question that I can't find an answer
>for: what is the approximate engine RPM per unit of highway speed in a
>MX-5 equipped with the 6-speed MT and 17" wheels?

As noted in another post, rpm = 49.2 mph

> For example my '91
>with stock 5-speed and stock 14" wheels screams along at ~4000RPM at
>70MPH which makes for rather noisy long-distance cruising when it is
>called for. Does the '06 do better?

It does 3440 rpm. However, in all cases, most of the noise comes from
the open top, not the engine. I would suspect you would find the 2006
more quiet, though. Why not tell the local dealer you want to take a test
drive on the highway? Use an active-control headset to drown out the drone
of the sales person.

Leon
--
Leon van Dommelen Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)

Fabiano wrote:
snip../
> The engine runs at about 3000 RPM at 65 mph. I have the 17-inchers and
> the 6 speed.
>
> I wouldn't worry too much about the radio - it sounds good enough and
> the stock AM/FM/CD (which I have) has several several different sound
> profiles for top up or top down. It also plays mp3 disks (according to
> the manual, but I don't have any such disks). I don't use the radio much
> - I'd rather listen to the exhaust note as I shift through the gears.
> The car makes better music than most of today's music acts, anyway.
> You'll have so much fun driving the car that you won't care about the
> radio.

Thanks for the feedback on the RPMs. That would suggest about 3250RPM at
70 and that seems as though it will be a lot better than the 4000 of the
little 1600cc engine in the '91.

And thanks for the heads-up on the MP3. Information about the new model
is amazingly scarce. I know that the changer, that _$500_ changer, is
supposed to play back MP3 disks but I certainly am resisting any
temptations in that direction figuring that the handling package will be
a lot more fun in the long run at the same price. On long boring
interstate drives I make a habit of listing to books and being able to
fit at least one book per disk is far more handy than carrying a stack
of regular CDs. I'm going to go down to the dealership later this week
and see if I can talk my salesman into letting me sit down with a cup of
coffee and all of the manuals to see what I can nail down for certain.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Christopher Muto wrote:
> and clairon is one of the few car audio manufactures that actually
> care about fidelity. in fact the legendary audiophile company
> mcintosh uses clarion pro stuff as head amps for their systems. i
> haven't heard it but i suspect it would be impressive, particularly
> if you thought the stock panasonic in your '91 was ok.

But McIntosh doesn't use Clarion equipment because of it's high quality;
it's because they're the same company.

<snip>

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply

Fabiano wrote:

<snip>

> I wouldn't worry too much about the radio - it sounds good enough and
> the stock AM/FM/CD (which I have) has several several different sound
> profiles for top up or top down. It also plays mp3 disks (according to
> the manual, but I don't have any such disks). I don't use the radio
> much - I'd rather listen to the exhaust note as I shift through the
> gears. The car makes better music than most of today's music acts, anyway.
> You'll have so much fun driving the car that you won't care about the
> radio.

I think this has been hashed and re-hashed over the years. Yes, a Miata's
exhaust sounds pretty neat and they're really fun little cars to drive.
However, we're not all in autocross mode 24/7 and I often like to just get
to where I'm going while enjoying features that are considered "normal fare"
on other cars, like a halfway decent stereo system. I'll bet most people
enjoy listening to the radio on that two-hour Interstate trip to Grandma's
house, and that's probably why I don't see a "radio delete" option on the
Miata. If one exists, I'd be interested to hear that.

That said, I've mentioned before how many people around here seem to imply
that a "true" Miata owner wouldn't allow things like a decent stereo, power
windows/mirrors/locks, or (gasp!) HID headlamps in their car. Judging by the
many loaded Miatas I see running around, I know there are a lot of owners
out there just like me that don't believe that "less is more".

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply

John, Ya, I'd heard that about the auto tranny being considerably higher
geared and also about it being somewhat entertaining. I believe 5th and 6th
are overdriven, right? I just wish they'd jump 6th up there on the manual
for a relaxed cruising gear and better mileage on the freeway.

Enjoy, hopefully the stereo's not too bad,
Chris

"John McGaw" > wrote in message
...
> Christopher Muto wrote:
>> and clairon is one of the few car audio manufactures that actually care
>> about fidelity. in fact the legendary audiophile company mcintosh uses
>> clarion pro stuff as head amps for their systems. i haven't heard it but
>> i suspect it would be impressive, particularly if you thought the stock
>> panasonic in your '91 was ok.
>>
>> "Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> In article >,
>>> John McGaw > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Custom form factor which seems designed
>>>> to foil any attempts to install a real receiver.
>>> Acutally, it's intended to make the radio less attractive to thieves,
>>> since it doesn't fit anything else and would be nearly impossible to
>>> sell or fence. That's useful on a ragtop with essentially zero security
>>> against a crook with a knife.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Lanny Chambers
>>> '94C, St. Louis
>>> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
>>
>>
>
> No, I didn't think that the original '91 unit was very good -- merely
> average for the day. That is why it was replaced with a somewhat better
> unit and _much_ better three-way speakers - both changes being quite
> simple because of the approximate double-DIN profile of the console
> opening and relatively convenient door mounting holes. Fitting the changer
> into the trunk wasn't quite so painless.
>
> What I find unacceptable about the Clarion selected in '06, assuming that
> the odd form was truly a defense against thieves, is that it left out
> desirable features while locking the buyer into using their receiver only.
> Even a Scion allows for an external input in their lowest-level receiver.
> Yes, I can overcome the lack of an external input by use of an FM
> modulator but such a kludge really shouldn't be necessary. I'm relatively
> sure that Clarion does make receivers with external inputs and I know that
> they know how to provide MP3 and ID3 tag support and both are relatively
> cheap to implement. Which suggests that Mazda simply overlooked these
> features when doing the specs. Or they were looking to save a few dollars.
> Or some of both. But Mazda seems to be proud of their "get all the little
> things right" planning and the lack of receiver features looks to me as
> though they missed a few of them along the way while succeeding in locking
> buyers into the factory receivers. Maybe the effort involved in fitting
> two pairs of cup holders in such a tiny cockpit diverted their attention.
> ;-)
>
> Enough of that. I've come up with a question that I can't find an answer
> for: what is the approximate engine RPM per unit of highway speed in a
> MX-5 equipped with the 6-speed MT and 17" wheels? For example my '91 with
> stock 5-speed and stock 14" wheels screams along at ~4000RPM at 70MPH
> which makes for rather noisy long-distance cruising when it is called for.
> Does the '06 do better? The final drive ratio numbers I've seen make the
> 6-speed AT (gasp!) look like a great option for highway driving.
>
> --
> John McGaw
> [Knoxville, TN, USA]
> http://johnmcgaw.com