Renting from private persons (via a service like turo.com) can be wonderful if you want something more interesting than your generic economy car. However, you of course cannot do that with a one-way rental and have to return the car where you got it from. I have used Turo a few times and just really like being able to…

Alaska is way far away from pretty much everything. And again in Canada like the US, a lot of the middle of it has a whole lot of nothing. There are of course a few interesting things to see. But in the interest of time, spending time out West (like Vancouver, Calgary) and then flying East (Toronto, Quebec, Nova…

There really is no point in doing an East-West travel. It is more useful to do North-South/South-North on either coast and just skip the middle bit. Either way, just renting a car is the best way to get around and easiest to deal with logistically. Sure there are things to see in the middle but you will get very bored…

I regularly travel round trip NY to LA for under $300. Would consider anything over $200 one way to be absurdly expensive. I have gotten flights as cheap as $129 one way (nonstop) on normal airlines. I have seen flights go as low as $99 on Spirit Airlines but I would never fly with them.

But its not “running a red” for the Yaris (other than from a technical point of view that it being red at any point during the intersection crossing). Sure, I would still say stopping is the best course of action for all parties, no need to rush through lights. But for the safety of the Yaris driver, it is stupid to…

While the truck is clearly in the wrong here, the Yaris should have just went through the yellow. If someone is barreling down behind me, I always go through the yellow. It is not like there was a risk of hitting oncoming traffic, just a risk of being ticketed. In any case, I would rather have a ticket than get rear…

David Tracy needs to do a collab with Roadkill!!! This would be such a perfect combination of awesome. As soon as you said that you need to figure out headlights, I assumed strapping flashlights to the front is the obvious answer since that is what roadkill would do.

I think what is missing here is the 10 minutes of footage where the Cobalt is camping the left lane and refusing to move over to the right. Does not matter what speed you are going, you move over to the right to let others pass. Sure the reaction of the Malibu is still not justified but I definitely know what it’s…

In my Miata I have also noticed huge gains at autocross from alignment and of course tires make an even bigger difference. But saying tires is cheating since that applies to ANY car. Definitely the biggest surprise came from a bigger front sway bar. My car went from an oversteering dorifto car to actually…

AC doesn’t work well with a soft top? Just not true. Even in my ‘01 Miata with a 16 year old AC system, I can certainly get and stay cold while driving with the top up and AC on. Now it certainly takes a bit of time but it definitely works. Has come in handy on rides home from autocross events where I’ve baked in the…

I think rentals definitely count since that’s my only story. The Chevy spark I rented once is definitely one pile of trash I was glad to get rid of. Maybe it would be alright as a city car but I was given this one for a 700 mile highway trip. While I loved how terribly slow it was and driving it at 10/10ths 100% of…

Generally, people do not pick their spouses based on where they work. If only it were that convenient. If you and your significant other live together and work in different fields, it’s fairly unlikely that you can both have a short commute. So it becomes an unavoidable compromise to live somewhere in between where…

The BRP really is a great way to show the Miata magic. Sure there are better roads to drive that are less crowded, more exciting, and offer better views. But those could be fun in any sports car. The BRP just has the perfect balance to take a top down ride at around 50mph and really just make the Miata feel wonderful.…

I feel exactly the same way. I found that the FRS I drove last year was almost identical to my Miata. Aside from the harsher ride and crappy tires, the FRS had the exact same incredibly fun characteristics. No idea why they arent either universally praised or panned. For some reason people let it go for the Miata that…

If Amazon can match the pricing of Rockauto I would be extremely surprised. They even ship just as fast as Amazon in my area so they wouldnt even have that advantage. I actually love the “clunky” interface of RockAuto, it is perfect for finding every imagineable obscure part I need. The best part though is having…

No Miatas on the list? Super easy to score high mileage, rusty NA Miatas that run well for well under $2k. And have room for suspension and tire upgrades in the budget! Sure that is the generic answer but it is a very fitting category.

Yup, the Camaro rental I had would let you ride the rev limiter all day long! It was the only time I have thoroughly enjoyed using an automatic with paddle shifters. That car would downshift on its own but that only got in the way when I would accidently downshift twice because of it and redline the thing…

Fun to hoon = fun to own. That is the way of life, Miata or no Miata.

I second the BRZ option. While it is not a whole lot more practical than a Miata, it definitely drives 100% the same as one with ZERO compromises. A little more trunk space, a nice cubby in the back area (dont call them seats), and of course a fixed roof. The BRZ really is a Miata coupe.

Any time I have driven through snowy mountain passes in my Miata with the top down. Sure the snow tires keep things safe and the heat keeps me warm, but I am still in just about the most inappropriate vehicle for the location. Same goes for airport, home depot, and camping trips. But I am smiling the whole time so…