[BOUNCE triumphs@Autox.Team.Net: global taboo body match
"/triumph.cs.utah.edu/i" at line 25]
Date: Tue, 03 Jun 1997 12:30:08 -0500
From: Michael Marr <mmarr@execpc.com>
Reply-To: mmarr@execpc.com
Subject: [Fwd: TR-3A - Hostility toward Miatas: I don't get it.]
I agree with John. I love my TR3A as a great example of good 50s
sportscar, and I will never part with it. My love for the car is,
however, more dependent on the strong feeling of nostalgia for the great
times I had in my youth, rather than the car's roadholding, handling and
performance, which, although good for its time, can hardly match that of
a modern, high-tech, mass produced car such as the Miata. I have driven
a Miata and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is precise, handles well and I
always think of it as a refined Lotus (no flames, please). But it and
the TR are separate species. If I could only choose one, it would be
the TR, but if I could own both, I would, and I would drive them
according to my mood. So there...
jfcowan@sj.znet.com says:
Regarding any opinions about Miata offered below, two qualifications:
1. I haven't yet driven a Miata, only looked one over thoroughly.
2. I haven't read the "phoney sportscar" thread.
That said, I do not understand the hostility toward Miatas on british
cars lists. Admittedly, many of their owners are clueless; e.g., Before I
had a chance to look under an M-car hood, I asked two owners at work
whether their engines were inline or transverse - and they didn't know. {My
wife questioned whether they had ever checked the oil).
But the car, that's a different story. It seems to me the perfection of
everything that is wrong or old fashioned about my TR-3. And why not? It
represents late eighties technology and a self-concious effort to do the
LBC "right". The TR reflects late forties, at best. Recognizing what is
obvious takes nothing away from the TR.
As for looks, the Miata is beautiful and elegant - as pretty as anything
on the road. I'm grateful for that in an era when there are so many really
wierd looking cars around; e.g., all this fake spoiler nonsense - that has
to be the stupidest fad since Fifties fins.
If people want cars to scorn, why not pick the BMW Z-3, the Porsche
Boxter and whatever the Mercedes folks call their new yup-mobile. These
cars are ug-lee, as well as over-powered and over-priced. Around here
they are bought by Silicon Valley techno-nerds, cashing in stock options,
who don't want a Miata because it is too "common".
Anyway, sooner or later, Miatas wind up in the used market where they
are often bought by someone who knows what they are getting.
So, chill out, I say, and give the little M-car some slack. Who knows,
your son or daughter may buy one some day.
John
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