In 1989 Mazda set the automotive world on its ear when it unveiled the Miata, a tiny two-seat throwback that brought back the look of the little British roadster.
Miata did what the British cars had difficulty doing well or often: it ran.
Miata brought fun back to motoring. Hop in, slip the top down and rumble away from the light, with an emphasis on rumble because the exhaust was tuned to sound just like those Brit roadsters.
It was small, inside and out, but it was a toy that made folks sit up and take notice of a car company known for rotary engines that went hum-m-m and consumers who looked at its cars and went ho-hum.
Miata became the rage. Others tried to copy it, and they failed miserably. The rule in the auto industry is that if you aren’t first with a product, you better be the best when you build your clone. The competition is finding that out in trying to imitate the Chrysler mini-van, for example.
No one came close to Miata, but, alas, Mazda has fallen on some tough times. Miata got people into the showrooms but lately there hasn’t been a lot for them to see there. Some good cars, to be sure-such as the Millenia and 929 sedans-but high-price luxury Japanese sedans, at a time when Toyota’s Lexus division and Nissan’s Infiniti, have even better offerings.
Still, though Mazda has been neglected over the years and Miata doesn’t command the attention it once did, we had the opportunity to test drive the newest offering, the 1995 1/2 M special edition, and found that the machine quickly gets the juices flowing and revives the spirit of top-down adventure.
It’s small, it’s a tad cramped, but it’s fun. Snap the two fasteners holding the vinyl top in place and let the arm swing up and over your head so the top lands in its resting place, and off you go.
We found in the recent heat wave, however, that top-down motoring has a few drawbacks, such as the need to keep the top down, but the air conditioning on full blast in order to keep the lower extremities cool while the dome is baking. (But if you want ideal driving conditions, you never opt for a convertible. Best time to drive one is just after the sun has set or early to mid-fall when instead of top down/air on, you switch to top down/heat on.)
Perhaps the biggest drawback to the Miata is the fact it is so small-only an 89-inch wheelbase and 155-inch length. Today’s consumer is very safety conscious and though the Miata is a kick on the back roads and out-of-the-mainstream trails, you can easily become intimidated on the expressway or interstate when the 18-wheelers start stalking.
Dual air bags are standard, which helps relieve some freeway anxiety. ABS is standard in the M edition (a $900 option in other Miatas), which helps, too. Still, when push comes to shove, the Miata would be the one pushed or shoved on the roadway.
The Miata is powered by a 1.8-liter, 128-horsepower, 16-valve, 4-cylinder engine. As has been true since the days of the original Miata, today’s car featues exhaust rumble sound effects that make you feel as if you are accelerating much quicker than you are.
There’s enough oomph to keep you interested, but the 1.8 is built to bluff you into thinking the horses are stallions instead of ponies. The fuel economy rating is the clue as to how muscular the 1.8-liter is-23 miles per gallon city/29 m.p.g. highway.
Ride and handling are pleasant. Despite the short wheelbase, road harshness is minimal. You can still play in the corners-downshift/upshift-but you might want to back off the pedal a bit in a sharply winding turn to ensure optimum road grip. Though the M-edition comes with the larger, more sure-footed 15-inch tires, Miata is meant to cruise rather than carouse.
The 5-speed manual is a fairly smooth, short-throw unit. If you opt to drive aggressively, you’ll downshift/upshift a lot to get as much power as you can out of the 1.8-liter 4. A 4-speed automatic is optional at $850.
The manually operated top is easy to slip down/put up, but the rear window is plastic and tends to show fold marks after just a few trips to its compartment. Glass would solve that problem. One annoyance, the top provides a bit of a blind spot-oddly enough more so on the driver’s side when backing out of a parking spot with the top up than in moving back into the right lane after swinging out to pass.
As we noted, the vehicle’s small dimensions may have kept some folks out of the showroom. But price also has to be considered a factor. The M edition starts at $23,530, a hefty chunk of change despite all the goodies, such as air conditioning, ABS and power steering/mirrors/windows/antenna plus compact disc player, thrown in this limited-edition model at no charge.
Lots of money, but then Miata is unique.
Caddy no utility player
Looks like a sport-utility vehicle from Cadillac (Cartalk, June 18) has been put on the back burner.
Cadillac had been rumored to be pursuing a sport-utility built off the Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon platform, dolled up with a Northstar V-8 engine and leather seats and all the amenities plus power accessories for the 1998 model year. Cadillac was to be one of the many luxury automakers preparing a luxury utility to compete with Mercedes-Benz’s 1997 entry.
“A Tahoe or Yukon with a Cadillac badge on it along with the Cadillac wreath and crest just wouldn’t be consistent with what we are trying to do as a division,” Cadillac general manager John Grettenberger told us in an interview. Cadillac is trying to foster a world-class luxury image, which is hard to do by slapping a Cadillac crest over a Chevrolet bowtie logo. Last time Cadillac did that, the vehicle was Cimarron on top and Cavalier underneath though what consumers ended up calling it can’t be printed.
“We’ve opted out of doing that for the near term,” Grettenberger said. “Instead we are going to focus our efforts on expanding and enhancing the Catera,” the entry-level, less-than-$40,000 luxury sedan coming out next fall as a 1997 model. GM’s Opel subsidiary in Europe provided the platform Catera will be built on.
“We may or may not end up doing one (a luxury sport-utility),” he said. “Maybe for the turn of the century.”
As for Catera, it will be Cadillac’s smallest model, built on a 106-inch wheelbase and 192 inches long. Currently, the smallest Cadillac is the Eldorado coupe built on a 108-inch wheelbase and 202 inches long. Catera also will be Cadillac’s lowest-cost offering, planned for a $32,000 to $35,000 sticker, and the only one offering a V-6 engine, a 3-liter, 24-valve, 210-h.p. powerplant.
With standard dual air bags, ABS and traction control, Catera also will be the division’s only rear-wheel-drive model, replacing the Fleetwood, which will be discontinued after the 1996 model run, in that role.
Grettenberger also revealed that there probably will be a “son of Catera” a two-door coupe companion to the sedan, “but not until later,” he said.
Today’s catch
Buick dealers who want to get on the good side of the boss should make note that Buick division general manager Ed Mertz has taken up fly fishing with a passion, purchasing enough equipment for his new hobby that, “When I catch that first fish, it will have cost me $350 per pound.”
It may take Mertz a while to catch that first trophy because though he has purchased all the equipment, including a boat to reach the most remote hiding places, “Neither the rod nor reel has touched water yet; I practice casting in my back yard.”
Fishing in his lawn? Any doubt that Mertz is a Golden Domer?
Personal
For many years Detroit analyst Arvid Jouppi was a sounding board and decipherer of the goings-on in the auto industry. He made the complex simple, the simple enlightening. The only thing not in his vocabulary was a harsh word. Jouppi has passed away at 77. He not only provided counsel over the years, but he also became a friend and will be missed. Condolences to his wife, Edith.
