I have own and tracked both cars. E30s by a country mile is a better car off the shelf. No matter what year 325i or iS you cant go wrong tracking the car other than the late model fuel starvation which is easily remedied.
Whereas miata have gremlin years. Albeit pulley wobble & thrust bearing issues. 1.6 model have brakes the size of coke can. Then there's the engine. It has an engine that was designed for fwd cars so you have to reroute the cooling to the back of the motor forward. Otherwise the rear 2 cylinders dont get enough cooling. How did mazda make a performance motor out of an engine that was designed for economy? The geared the F out of it. So mpg is crap. Then there's the diff. Lets say you buy a used car and you need to replace the diff cover gasket.. You have to remove the diff from the car because the output flanges come out the dam cover.. nice mazda. Man this list is endless.
Now lets look at a typical trackday suspension setup of both cars without a cage..
E30 - 450 / 550 spring setup..
Miata 450 / 250 spring setup..
I just wish they dropped the weight of race e30 to the same weight as spec miatas..
SpecE30 weight 2700
SpecMiata weight 2350
Whereas miata have gremlin years. Albeit pulley wobble & thrust bearing issues. 1.6 model have brakes the size of coke can. Then there's the engine. It has an engine that was designed for fwd cars so you have to reroute the cooling to the back of the motor forward. Otherwise the rear 2 cylinders dont get enough cooling. How did mazda make a performance motor out of an engine that was designed for economy? The geared the F out of it. So mpg is crap. Then there's the diff. Lets say you buy a used car and you need to replace the diff cover gasket.. You have to remove the diff from the car because the output flanges come out the dam cover.. nice mazda. Man this list is endless.
Now lets look at a typical trackday suspension setup of both cars without a cage..
E30 - 450 / 550 spring setup..
Miata 450 / 250 spring setup..
I just wish they dropped the weight of race e30 to the same weight as spec miatas..
SpecE30 weight 2700
SpecMiata weight 2350
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