11 April, 2012

My Lady Wears White

I love my car. It's a 1990 Miata "A" package powered by a massive 98 cubic inch Japanese dual overhead cam inline 4 cylinder engine with muti-port electronic fuel injection and generating a whopping 116 horses.

Okay - not so much muscle, but it does go zoom. 0-60 in 9.4 seconds and a top speed of 119 mph. And that gas tank - wow! She holds every ounce of 11.9 gallons which she sips at the rate of about 30 miles per gallon on the highway. Even if you did manage to run out of gas, she's so light that you can just pick the car up and carry it. Pure green muscle, what there is of it!!!

My gal and I are about to have an anniversary - our 19th. I bought her on Mr. Jefferson's birthday in 1993. She was already four years old. So far, she's amassed a bit over 40,000 miles - not bad for a 23 year old car (a 1990 model but built in 1989).

Everyone should have one, but I have an number of colleagues who have purchased Prius models instead. Gold. Green. Black. I think I saw a blue one too. La-dee-dah. La-dee-dah. Let's compare. How does my white "Princess Leia" Miata compare with, say, the evil black "Luke, I am your father" Prius I see in the Faculty Center parking lot? Very well, it seems - although we'll have to ignore that electric motor stuff.


Okay - your wheels are larger: Miata 14" - Prius 15" but you're heavy: Miata a tad over 2100 pounds - Prius over 3000 pounds. The Miata has more legroom 42.7" vs. 42.5 in the Prius. Headroom? The Prius has 38.6" and Miata 37.1". Oh, wait, ... headroom in a convertible is infinite, isn't it? I forgot.

Miata 3.6 cu.ft. in trunk, Prius 21.6 cu.ft. That's a real difference, but the Miata is a convertible. Do I repeat myself? Prius seats 5. The Miata seats 2, but - oh yeah - it's a convertible.

With a 1.8 L. displacement, the Prius engine is larger than the Miata's 1.6 L. engine. Other than that they're very similar - except the Miata cranks out 116 horses. The Prius? 98. And given the weight difference ... that's why Miata goes zoom.

Gas tanks are the same at 11.9 gallons - so the Prius will go further at 50 mpg than the Miata at 30 mpg. But ... the Miata goes zoom. AND it's a convertible. With a longer wheelbase and greater width and length overall, the Prius needs a larger parking space than the Miata, but it would be better off-road since its ground clearance is 0.9 in. greater. Um, who would go off-road in a Prius?! Prissy starts with Pri ... too.

Of course, a new Prius costs twice as much as my Miata did when it was new, and the Prius is everywhere. They produced only 45,000 units of my Miata. The latest Prius production run will be ten times that many cars.

Give me my Miata, please. It's not evil. And it goes zoom. AND it's a convertible.
TGB   

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