Comments by "yankee2 yankee" (@yankee2yankee216) on "TheTopher" channel.

  1. I too MUCH prefer clean lines, which is why I have an NA Miata, rather than an ND.
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  2. I’ve never driven any other version but an NA (am on my second, after driving another one 11 years and 120K miles), but I will probably get another before I’m done, and it will probably be an NC.
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  3. 36K? I got my NA with 40K miles. I like getting old cars with very low mileage! It’s almost like getting a new, old car!
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  4. I become attached to my cars (a BMW 128i, a Miata and a 4Runner), in part because I always pick the best brands and models, and in part because most of them are no longer available with MTs… I have almost committed to driving MTs and nothing else, though I MIGHT possibly get a BMW 3X X-drive 35i (the most reliable BMW engine), which is only available with an automatic. It does at least have the benefit of quite a bit of power and speed (0-60 in ~ 5.3 seconds). Alternatively, I might get an old, mint ‘99-‘00 4Runner with MT, and try to protect it from rust, which gets bad here in MA in about 10 years (the 4Runner is of course my winter car). Unfortunately, they are getting a little too precious to expose to salt and rust much… I have digressed!
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  5. If you've kept it up, you won't need any tools! I drove my '94 160K miles over 11 years, and she never needed more than routine maintenance and wearing parts. When I sold her, the buyer drove her from SoCal to Texas. He was so impressed he called me to let me know! I knew he had nothing to worry about...
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  6. For me, a big part of the joy is bang-for-buck related. I have a nice NA, which I like just fine. She is an M-edition, with Konis and a Cobalt exhaust, and a total cost of less than $15K. Is an ND worth 3X as much? Not for me. I like the looks of the Lotus Elan-derived NA at least as much as the more modern-looking ND, so there is little incentive for me to spend more.
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  7. I’ll never understand it. Older cars with MTs are the ones in demand, yet the car makers stopped selling them (here in the US)! If a good carmaker brought a good one back, in ordinary coupes, sedans and wagons/SUVs, as well as sportier cars, THEY WOULD SELL A BUNCH! I think a lot of us need to tote kids to ball practice, yet would enjoy driving more if we were more ENGAGED. That is what using a MT gives us… it makes us aware of the motor and the gears (otherwise, that all happens almost invisibly). There must be a lot of pent-up demand for some new cars with MTs! I would certainly buy one (I drive my 5-speed 4Runner like a sports car, albeit slower, and I love it) - shifting is driving for me)! My dream car, one of them, is a hot (or even just warm) SUV with a MT. If I had an automatic, how do I gracefully hold a gear into high revs? What if I want engine braking? What if I want to make smooth, perfectly timed transitions between gears, manually? There are many reasons to prefer a MT. I can’t help but think that people who prefer automatics are, no offense intended, lazy… or at least, people who don’t enjoy driving. A shifter with manual clutch is elegant; one with a switch (which is all automatic shifters are) is crude, and furthermore, no fun to operate.
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