Articles by AAA Insurance

2 articles
Japanese
03/09/19
On Hardtop Miatas - a Blogpost
Often, in the automotive community, you’ll hear talks of hardtop Miatas - “If Mazda put a roof on the MX5, they’d sell trillions” “if you want a hardtop Miata, just get an FT-86, RX7, etc”, which is usually followed by “just install one/get an RF”. But the problem with the RF and the plastic hardtops is that they aren’t proper, static roofs - they’re detachable/retractable, and thus not as rigid. And the alternatives are too big and heavy. However Mazda did, in fact, make genuine Hardtop MX5s - that’s where the NA and NB come in.
British Cars
31/01/19
The Miata is not a modern Lotus Elan, but a modern MG MGB
In automotive journalism, you’ll often hear that the NA Miata’s primary source of inspiration was the Lotus Elan, with its popup headlights and all. While that may be true from the standpoint of Mazda’s engineers, the first gen, early 1990s Miata’s true predecessor was the MG MGB, particularly the roadster. The engines were both similar to those of the Miata. The Elan had a 1.6 liter inline 4, while the MGB had a 1.8 liter, both having 8 valves in total. The first few years of the NA had a 1.6, with the later NA and NB having a 1.8, so there’s no real winner here.