Holy Crap, I Fit!

I took my Mazda to the dealership on Friday. This can be pretty fun because I know just enough about cars that they don't usually try to screw me. I also get to try out various cars on the lot.

I uttered the titular exclamation when I sat in a new Miata. In the old Miata my knees were in the steering column (or dash), my eyes were looking right at top bar on the windshield, and my head was in the ragtop. In the new Miata I had room all around, even with the top up. The new model was darn comfortable, much like the S2000. In pictures the car doesn't look as good as, say, a Solstice. But in person the car is well styled even if the front end isn't quite what I want it to be. I sat in a manual in the showroom and an automatic on the lot. The six speed automatic has paddle shifters and seems to be fairly popular with Miata enthusiasts because it has better highway gearing. The new retractable hardtop version is also quite enticing.

I also received some good advice about the miata from two repeat owners who were looking at the same models. Their advice goes like this:

• The miata is a back roads carver, not a highway cruiser. On the highway the car is loud and the size differential with trucks can be pretty scary.
• Mazda adopted a keep it simple design with the car which makes them both fun and very reliable.
• They recommend it as a second car, not as a daily driver. They leave their Miata in the garage with the top down and drive it on nice days. This is not uncommon for Miata owners.
• Because this is not uncommon, you should never buy a Miata new. There are tons of older garage-kept Miatas out there with low mileage. Buy one of them used.

Unfortunately the two guys were also quite gay. This doesn't invalidate their advice in any way, but also doesn't invalidate the Miata's reputation as a "chick" car either.

UPDATE: Oh, I also drove around a Chevy Cobalt rental for most of the day. It's a cheap car in every sense of the word. GM should fire all of the interior designers who worked on it and hire new ones. Buy something else.

UPDATE2: Michael is right, the Cobalt does have a nasty blindspot. Whoever designed the side mirrors should also be fired. Something about their shape and curvature makes it really difficult to see vehicles along the side of the car. But hey, the mirror's lines flow nice with the bodywork.

The engine performance was ok and cornering wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad. On par with a similar grade Mazda 3, I rented from the same people earlier this year. But the car itself felt small, which is odd because it's bigger than my Protege by several hundred pounds. Maybe it's something about the roofline? And it was not small in a comfy cozy way like the Miata.

Frankly I was just offended by parts of the car. The interior contained blocks (literally square blocks) of textureless injection molded plastic. It was cheap and boring and soulless and probably the direct result of cost cutting measures at GM. I initially thought this was because of the trim grade of my rental, but I checked with a few of the other higher grade Cobalts on the lot. Nope, the more expensive ones have better paint on the outside, but they're all that cheap on the inside.

UPDATE3: This german site has good pictures of the hardtop MX-5, including the car with the top completely up. I must say it looks pretty good and would be pretty desireable for a daily driver.