Miata as first car? Suggestions?

[D_Eclipse9916]

I might say "screw it" and go for the worst of both worlds and get a 944 and hate my life and love it at the same time.

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^^^^ Seriously. The 944 would make th E36 look buletproof.

Simply put, a miata is easier and cheaper on consumables. No if/and/or/buts about it.

Go to the track a couple times. Talk to people. See what is popular among the "general" population in HPDE 4/TT/Racing (HPDE 1/2 is just people taking their cars and havent jumped in yet). There is a reason Miatas and E36s are ridiculously common.

The miata is very bulletproof out of the box, and is the easy button to be sure.
The E36 is ONLY bulletproof when gone through. All fixes are permanent fixes, and then it just devours track miles. It is heavier/more powerful/better balanced and simply faster. You absoultely pay more up front and in maintenance costs. However, it is not as significant as people make it out to be. Probably on the order of 1.25-1.5x the cost.

With costs on E36s being ridiculously cheap, and modern hardware getting better and better. The Miata is just simply outclassed at this point on track. Unless you are in a field of 30x miatas, you won't be having much fun in one. Jake realized this, Packer quickly realized this, and the sentiments are shared among many track people.

If you just want to get out there for as cheap as possible = miata hands down
If you spend just a bit more dough, youll enjoy the car all the way through the HPDE levels

Miatas are now just an exercise in "stick your hand out the window" during HPDE. 5-10 years ago it was different.