Considering selling my NB to get an NA..

[Mr Morlock]

HKS is right but in Aust the 8A and 8B is not official Mazda speak- if people care to be accurate the VIN is what your car is and Mazda spares will ask you for the cars VIN so that you get the right parts. The VIN is the standard way of learning about what most cars are from birth - coupled with build date.

[TTT]

Mr Morlock
Online
Speed Racer

Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:40 am
Posts: 4823
Location: Melbourne
Vehicle: NB8B


??

[hks_kansei]

HKS is right but in Aust the 8A and 8B is not official Mazda speak

I don't believe the 8A/B/C designations are official Mazda speak in any market, however they are commonly used as they are a simple way of defining the models.

I don't beleive Mazda use the P1/P2 designation in practice either, whenever I have been to the dealership to buy parts they have simply asked for the year and model (in my case 1999 NB MX5)

[PaulF]

I knew this would be a fun thread.

The NA8 and P1 is not as good a car as a P2- it flies in the face of all logic.

I have only been a passenger in an NA but it felt much the same as my NB as a passenger.

You've never even dríven one? I had the money for an NB when I bought my car, but I bought a $3k NA instead. I'll call the asylum and get myself checked in.

As for daily driving, I regularly do 400-500km/week in my NA6 with coilovers, manual steering, no A/C, no radio and a fixed back seat and I absolutely love it. Dann's first NA6 was his daily and it didn't even have windows. Not everybody has the same idea of the "perfect daily driver".

[sunlightsilver]

As for daily driving, I regularly do 400-500km/week in my NA6 with coilovers, manual steering, no A/C, no radio and a fixed back seat and I absolutely love it. Dann's first NA6 was his daily and it didn't even have windows. Not everybody has the same idea of the "perfect daily driver".

This is the same amount of k's I do per week in my stock NB. Driving an NA I felt the legroom/comfort levels were the same and the ride was only a little more harsh than my NB. My NB has no AC, the NA I drove had AC. So if we're talking about comfort levels in the heat of summer in QLD, this NA would actually be more comfortable than my NB.

It would be fine to drive daily imo.

[TTT]

Not sure if I could daily my NA.
Getting old and soft these days.

The one time I had to drive to work in it I took a 75km detour over nebo

[speed freak]

Geebus this thread is making for some interesting reading lol People getting called hoons and street racers, you know you can go for a spirited drive legally people? Then you have others (Morlock) saying if you need/have to mod your car to enjoy it well its going to go downhill... you know Morlock not everyone likes to have a bone stock car or a car that looks like every other car on the road and, making a modification doesn't necessarily mean the car will be ruined now does it? For starters its not your car and its not your money, if people want to chuck money at their own car and modify it to how they want it well then that's their choice and you know you can actually improve on parts of the car (not just mx5's) by doing modifications/changing things... If you hate modified cars and don't like personalising your own car to make it different/better well then that's your choice but just because your like this doesn't mean everyone else has to be.


Obviously everyone on here is going to be biased to the mx5 they prefer/own/bought/drive/race etc I own a NB8B and love it. To be honest I wouldn't want the NB to be any more 'raw' as you feel the road now which isn't necessarily a bad thing but you feel the bumps, you know what the front wheels are doing, very quick and communicative steering, vvt 1.8 so decent power and usable for street, 6 speed is good but not quit as easy to use as the 5 speed, 6 speed tends to be quit notchy and not as smooth as the 5 speed.

Before I bought my nb8b I was lucky enough to get a decent drive of a NA and NB (nb8a) from a generous forum member. Really I didn't notice too much difference between the 2, both were utterly fantastic and fun to drive only different to me was the shape, yea the NA looks better has more of the classic shape but the NB isn't exactly ugly. NA I guess was a little more rough as in could feel the road and bumps more then the NB but not much.

I think for most the decision when buying comes down to the cost and shape they like best, that's my opinion. To me all generations of the MX5 are absolutely brilliant (no I haven't dríven an NC but I like them too) it just comes down to the shape you like most.

Also I might add especially for daily driving (like mine is) I also decided the NB was slightly better because it had ABS brakes (and the biggest brakes which is good for track work) air bags etc don't fuss me but how many knob heads brake at the last minute and don't leave a decent gap between the car in front? This is bad in dry weather but even worse when its raining, Iv had brake lock ups plenty of times and its not fun, just some piece of mind if a car pulls out in front or brakes suddenly and you need to brake hard you know you wont lock a wheel and slide into the rear of the car in front.

[hejira]

As for daily driving, I regularly do 400-500km/week in my NA6 with coilovers, manual steering, no A/C, no radio and a fixed back seat and I absolutely love it. Dann's first NA6 was his daily and it didn't even have windows. Not everybody has the same idea of the "perfect daily driver".

This is the same amount of k's I do per week in my stock NB. Driving an NA I felt the legroom/comfort levels were the same and the ride was only a little more harsh than my NB. My NB has no AC, the NA I drove had AC. So if we're talking about comfort levels in the heat of summer in QLD, this NA would actually be more comfortable than my NB.

It would be fine to drive daily imo.

An NB without an aircon? deleted/broken/stock?

[hks_kansei]

An NB without an aircon? deleted/broken/stock?

It was an option on NBs, not standard.
As such, not all of them have it.

[NMX516]

Clearly the only realistic solution is to keep the NB and buy an NA. An NA6 will be just fine if NA8 dollars aren't handy. Reasonable NA6's available for a few grand if you look hard and can perhaps wait a little while for the right one to come along.

[Jeo]

Clearly the only realistic solution is to keep the NB and buy an NA. An NA6 will be just fine if NA8 dollars aren't handy. Reasonable NA6's available for a few grand if you look hard and can perhaps wait a little while for the right one to come along.

Well that would be the obvious solution, yes.

[sunlightsilver]

Made the choice to keep the NB after talking about it with the missus as she doesn't want me driving the NA as a daily because of the reduced safety features

Clearly the only realistic solution is to keep the NB and buy an NA. An NA6 will be just fine if NA8 dollars aren't handy. Reasonable NA6's available for a few grand if you look hard and can perhaps wait a little while for the right one to come along.

Might have to do this

[MattR]

I would think that anyone who has dríven a car with an open diff or an na6 with it's VLSD knows what I am talking about.

Agreed....

I'm sick of drawing 1's here..


11's would make it much betterer

Depends which way you're heading, but don't need a LSD for that corner. Heading down the hill you can carry plenty of speed into it and roll through using the hill to accelerate down to the next one. Heading up the hill, brake very late, lift off to transfer weight off the front turn in and accelerate early in 2nd. You need to be going quick enough that you can hold second without droppng below about 3500 to pull out of the corner and up the hill. Helps I've only got 1.6l of fury under the bonnet.

Not that I would condone driving quick up or down that road as there is a surprising amount of mixed traffic that uses it at most times of the day.

Well set up suspension and carry plenty of speed into and through the corner you don't need to stand on it to come out of the corner quickly.

Probably comes from years of racing in a category that didn't allow LSD's if not standard so you worked out better ways to go quicker, like use the capabilities of the car through the corners to keep momentum up and spend way too much money on springs and dampers to go fast rather than horsepowers......

[zero00]

Speed Freak

I well remember your first 'test drives' in my MX5's!! The NB you only did around 70km or so but the smile said it all, then you stepped into my NA and that grin got even BIGGER!! Of course all of that was only surpassed when you stepped into my 86 and heard the induction once we got over 4500rpm!

Gimme the NA any day for the road/cruise but I will stick with the NB for track!

Yes, the NA can hit 7000 in 2nd going up Bellthorpe Range and then pull 7000 across the top in 3rd thru the cow dung!!

[Mr nanotech]

Getting this thread back on track....

It depends on what you want, mate. I've dríven a couple of Nb's, with and without lsd's and so on. And I've drive quite a lot of Na's over the years now. All with different setups.
The way I see it, is it depends on what you want to achieve. Objectively speaking, the nb8b is arguably a better car in some regards. Stock for stock, it's got better suspension, better motor, better brakes, and as they are newer, less fatigue and wear on parts. There are more plus sides like glass rear window, electric mirrors, cruise control and ABS. Even airbag.
However, it depends on what you want out of the car and what you want to do with it. For a daily commuter to drive on your daily errands with the bf or gf etc... It's hard to knock the bonus safety, comfort and ride quality.
That's not for everybody though. I've got an Na myself and wouldn't trade it for any other model. For me, I love that it's lighter than the NB. The B6 may be gutless but it's a fun little motor to rev out and squeeze that last little bit of power out of every rev before change. I love that the car is simple and basic on the inside and is very driver oriented with the dash layout and interior.
Then there is the outside of the car; those cute pop-ups and round body <3 It's hard not to love. However there are some down sides to the Na's, especially the early ones.
No stock lsd unless you have a garbage viscous (that works 20% of the time at best), the stock suspension is pretty horrid and if original will be clapped out as all hell. This may be a pro for a lot of people and a con for just as many, but there is no abs or airbag option available for these early cars. In my book that's fine as it's a dedicated fun car.
If I did it all over again I'd be hunting for an NA8 as it's a little easier to get off shelf parts for, more aftermarket support and in some ways a better engine. As they are generally newer cars, the paint is often a lot better condition in them too, especially the whites.

The TL;DR- If you want a fun light car to zip around with, or you just love the exterior and interior you should get the NA. If you are concerned about safety and comfort stick with your Nb.