THSCC Forums

I have a friend who is looking to buy a Miata to be used almost exclusively for autocrossing and would like to know more about what to look for. If the car is stock, he'll keep it that way for the first year but he'll definitely end up modifying it eventually.

For example, what years should he stay away from, what years should he look for? Oh yeah, he's probably looking at around 3k, which certainly has it's limitations.

I did a search, but there is too much miata-information here!

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Phil... Now I miss the ITR and the M3!!!
1990 Honda Civic SI

At "around" $3k he should have jumped on that '99 that was on Craigslist that Matt reposted here yesterday (it's now gone and was $4k, but that was a killer deal). Past that, I think he needs to try to find a '94 R package. That could be tough to do in that budget as a nice car, but if you can pull it off is probably the best bet. I just don't think you're gonna find a '99 or newer that's worth having for that kind of dough...those deals are still very rare.


--Donnie

IMHO If he's going to mod it, a 90-92 base. 90 was the lightest one made, 92 was the lightest one with the factory stiffened chassis.
The Miata Andy Hollis terrorized STS2 with is a 92. His CSP was a 90. Also make good DP car, and are in the right price range.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

Andy's Miata has always been a 92, E Stock, CSP and STS2
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/news/c ... ct/page/4/

There is no big difference from 90-93 and then 94-97. The 94-97 have the bigger 1.8 the earlier cars might be a hair lighter.

I wouldn't worry too much about options with a 3k budget. Find the nicest running, best looking car for the money. I would try to stay away from the short nose crank 90's and some 91's.

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Just watch out for the short nose crank issue as Ryan mentioned.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

How do you identify this issue? Thanks folks!

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Phil... Now I miss the ITR and the M3!!!
1990 Honda Civic SI

VIN number.

Looks towards the bottom of that page for the cutoff point.

Jim