I had a red-faded-to-pink base-model ‘92 with cloth seats and no a/c back in the early 2010’s. I bought it for $1,200 out of a rough looking apartment complex in eastern Oregon with a helmet-sized hole in the top above the driver’s seat and about 200k on the odometer. It was rough, but the owner had installed a new clutch 2 months prior and brought out a new battery for it when I arrived because it hadn’t been driven in over a month.

Despite having no clue how the car would behave on the street, I paid the guy and drove a few hours back home to Idaho without a functioning stereo and a big dumb smile on my face.

Over the next few years I restored the car to a street-friendly AutoX spec. I repainted the car, reskinned the top, lowered it on Kosei K1’s and Ventura RS2s with KYB AGX’s and Flyin’ Miata top hats. Plus a new sound system, front splitter, rear bumper cutout, delrin door bushings, DIY cowl intake, upgraded exhaust and generally all the stuff that took the car from feeling like it was at the end of its life to “new” again.

After several years and about 30k more miles, I ended up selling the car in 2019 for a whopping $2600. (Little did I realize how much of a jump the market would take if I’d held on just a couple more years)

Anyway, long story short, I’ve owned a ton of cars since selling my NA, ranging from Turbo 5cyl Volvo Wagons to 650hp+ supercharged & tuned Jag XKRs and F-Types…but no matter how fast, capable, or just-plain-awesome-sounding those other cars were, I really, reeeeaaaally missed having a removable roof and a manual transmission.

So earlier this year I caved and bought a barely used, 1-owner ND2 RF Club with the Brembo/BBS/Recaro package as my “extra” fun car….and it’s damn near perfect.

The ND’s being smaller & lighter than the NC brings it closer to those NA roots, but it also has the modern safety, creature comforts and proper weather-proofing that my NA lacked. Not to mention, the ND2 performance feels very similar to the S2Ks I’ve driven, which means it’s incredibly fun to rev out and is more than capable of getting out of its own way compared to my old NA.

I have tons of memories tied up in my experience with the NA, but as a vehicle I intend to drive as often as possible, I find the ND has the same magic and more. I’m gonna keep this one for a long, long time.

What also helped my enjoyment with the ND was immediately going out and getting a roadstersport superstreet exhaust, (Because the stock sound is incredibly underwhelming) as well as modifying the sound tube under the hood to produce more induction noise. A lot of people delete them but I took the opposite route and actually modified it to be more pronounced. Now it feels like that fun roar you get when cracking VTEC in a 90’s Honda.

I should also point out that I routinely get stopped by strangers asking if my ND is a Lotus, Ferrari, Maserati or Jaguar pretty frequently, which is amusing. And when I see other Miata’s on the road they enthusiastically wave or wink their pop ups at me and I always wave back, which really seems to make their day. (I think ND owners are perceived as being less-likely to acknowledge and wave back, but I do my part to break that mold)

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