How I got to a Miata

My new 2018 MX-5 Miata Club in Jet Black Mica. Picking it up from Flow Mazda in Greensboro.

This is really a follow up to the introduction post that launched this blog. I wanted to go a little more in depth into how I ended with an MX-5 Miata. Not only do I have one, but it is my only vehicle and daily driver. Which means I am expecting some challenges with real life activities as a result of having such a small car. Since I've never really outlined it anywhere online, figured I might go all the way back to the beginning of my driving history and recount what I can remember of cars I've driven through the years.

When I first got my driver's license, my family had quite a few vehicles. A four door Chevy Nova that was my mom's car. We had a station wagon. A truck. A VW bus. A VW fastback. I think that was all. It was a full driveway with cars parked on the street as well.

Initially I was limited to driving the Nova. Which meant sporadically when it was available. My dad tried to teach me to drive a stick in the VW fastback, but the clutch was so tricky, I could not get it at first - at least not on hills. Then we switched to trying to "learn" me in the VW bus. Despite the sloppy shifting in that, the magic of finally "getting it" occurred in the VW bus. So it briefly became my car to use. Soon though, my dad swapped me into the VW fastback and it effectively became mine to use.


I drove it for about a year until I saved up enough money to buy a beat up '74 Pontiac Firebird from a coworker at the restaurant where I worked. I drove that Firebird all the way through college and it really sparked a love of Firebirds for me. Sometime during that period I also bought an old, rusted out '67 Firebird with plans to restore it - that never happened. Upon graduating, my parents gifted me a 78 Trans Am - red with the chicken on the hood. Loved that car, but wrecked it down in Atlanta on a rainy day. From there I made do with some junkers for about a year until I ended up owning a Jeep CJ. That was a fun vehicle.

This was pretty much my first car. Parents let me use some before this, but I bought a '74 Firebird on my own.

For a while I had a blue 87 Firebird that shared daily driving duties with the Jeep. Then my roommate bought a new Mustang. Had to keep up, so I went out and got an 89 Trans Am. It was the special edition for the Indy 500 that year that had the boosted V6 from the Buick GN. Very fast, very fun car. I also had a small Honda motorcycle. However, decided to go back to school, so got rid of all those and it was back to utility vehicles.

In the mid-90's I ended up with a '96 Jeep Grand Cherokee via a job. Kept that until 2003 when I wrecked it. Then it was a mini-van and a small Ford Ranger for a while. In 2007 I started a new job which happened to be the first job where I had a real commute. That meant finding something more fuel efficient than the mini-van I was using at the time.

In early 2008 I bought a brand new MINI Cooper S. I had been hankering for one of these since The Italian Job came out and I concurrently figured out I would not be able to get into a BMW M5. That started 10 years of ownership. One of the things that I re-discovered was how much fun I had tinkering with cars, learning all about them, etc. I also discovered local car clubs - in this case the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club. That brought all sorts of events and drives, which just fed into my natural inclination to learn new things.

Like the MINI, a test for whether a car is right for you may be measured by whether you enjoy going and just looking at it. This pic was taken one afternoon when I stepped out the back door at work.

Alas, the MINI started suffering more and more problems and for the last 2-3 years, life with it was mainly an attempt to just keep it running well enough to get me to work and back. I had to give up the events and drives as it was just not reliable enough.

When the MINI had started its slow descent, I had spent some time thinking about what my next car would be. I knew it would not be a MINI despite the fun I had in the MINI WUF. I concluded I would get something that was a) black and b) convertible. I added a c) sports car to rule out Jeeps. Outside of those requirements, I was open to finding what I could find.

My 2008 MINI Cooper S - aka the MINI WUF. I had a great time with this car and really thought I would own it basically forever. But needed repairs and maintenance took over the ownership experience and eventually it became clear it was time to move on. Sad day for me when I gave it up.

This past spring there were some changes in my life and the need to have something reliable became even more pronounced. In addition, at the time I thought I had some requirements like a decent back seat for passengers and ample trunk space. When I went looking for cars in April, I abandoned that earlier thought process and focused more on something that would meet those perceived needs. Which brought me to an Acura TLX. Very nice car. Lots of power, reasonable luxury and loaded down with tech. I really like the adaptive cruise control and some of the automation. However, I really only used the trunk space once in the time I had it and not a single person had been in the back seat. In fact, I had only had passengers in the front a couple times. On top of all that, I was blowing my miles budget on the lease and quickly realized I was digging a hole that would not be fun to get out of three years from now.

The Acura TLX. A nice car - lots of power, luxury ride, loads of technology. Great as a commuter car and really enjoyed taking it up to Virginia for the Devil Dog Double. At the end of the day though, I was not having fun and with the limits on lease miles, I was to the point where I was dreading driving it anywhere.

That set me off looking for yet another new car. After some consideration, I decided that I really needed to focus on buying something I would enjoy on a regular basis instead of trying to buy something to meet a need that existed probably less than 5% of the time. Which brought me back to a) black b) convertible c) sports car.

If you've been following the news in the U.S. at least, SUVs are taking over the auto market. Even traditional four-door sedans, like the Acura TLX, are struggling. Now just imagine what it is like for niche markets like convertibles. There just aren't many choices out there. However, I realized one option for me was the Mazda Miata.

Started doing some researching and looking at inventory. Found a basic Club version of the 2018 MX-5 Miata at the Flow Mazda dealership, which is not too far for me. Went and test drove one. My initial reaction was that it was quite raw. At least part of that I felt was due to it being a Club. Alas, the dealership let me walk out that day without a purchase. So, I had started looking around some more and considered some Grand Touring versions. It was kind of hard finding something close by since the 2018 model year is closing out and dealerships are trying to clear their inventory for the 2019s. Before I tried one of those, Flow reached back out and improved the deal to the point where I felt like I could do it.

Just a random shot I took one morning once I got to work.

So now I'm driving a Miata as my daily driver and as my only car. The MINI made it to almost 240k miles in 10 years of ownership. Not sure I'll put quite that many miles on the Miata, but it should be close to 200k unless something drastic changes in my life.

Look for a future post about some of the things I've discovered in the first few days of ownership and how those compared to the little bit I was able to figure out while test driving the Miata.