Lucas

Painted contrast is fine with me. Unpainted contrast isn't. Another reason why is that if you look at a car with unpainted plastics after a few years the plastic starts to fade and discolor with white splotches from sun exposure.

Automakers:

Unpainted gray plastic trim does not look tough and rugged. I looks CHEAP and UGLY and should be a crime on a car this expensive.

A few quick questions:

How quick/aggressive is the automatic at deciding to downshift? Do you have to floor it or will it go down a gear or two at part throttle?

How well does the manumatic shift mode work? Is the delay between shift inputs tolerable? Will it stay in the chosen gear until you hit redline and/or until you're about to slow to a stop?

That would actually make it a MX-8, as MX is Mazda's designation for sporty/sportscars with piston engines. Really I'd like to see a Miata with the Renesis, fuel economy be damned. It would handle even better with the improved weight distribution and lower center of gravity, probably drop 100-150lbs from the engine alone, combined with the power increase would make it something really special. S2000 / Boxter / 350z killer. Still not in Corvette territory though, but they would be stupid to price it there.

Really, I hear what you are saying about the NC. But I owned an NB, and I love the NC more. The NB was a better toy, the NC is a better car. Whether the Miata should be a car or a toy is a good discussion, but I believe it could be both. Really just just need to make a hardcore factory version of the same car, with all mazdaspeed parts and stripping out all that is unnecessary. And I'm not talking about the air conditioning like the SV model they had for awhile. I haven't found issue with the gear ratios as you said, but I do find issue with the suspension. It just isn't as sporty as it should be, and is compromised a little too much towards comfort for what the car is supposed to represent. Fortunately, that is pretty easily and cheaply fixed. If you haven't driven an NC with mazdaspeed springs and sways, you don't know what you are missing! It really should have come that way from the factory.

JF,

I was comparing city to city, which was a 6mpg difference. It's the biggest difference between the two, but it gives you a more realistic picture of how gas miserly the Corvette and Miata are when they can't get into their respective 6th gears, which would be most of the time unless you are on the interstate on a road trip or live in the desert. The average to average is a 5mpg difference as you said. Less, but still significant. I bet a lot of SUV owners wish they got "just" 5mpg more with gas prices as they are!

The owner observed mileages are for 4 different owners per car averaged together, not just one guy. Granted the sample size is small. But I'm trying to show that my car is not an exception to the rule that the EPA estimates are too high for the Corvette and too low for the Miata. Personally, I don't know many Miata owners that get much less than 28-30mpg.

I am angry that every single sporty/sportscar article that gets posted has Corvette owners that flood it with off-topic posts about how inferior that car is to the Corvette regardless of catagory, class, price difference, engine, etc etc etc. Not every sporty/sportscar on the planet has to be a Corvette. Not everyone wants one. As I said, the price difference between the two cars would buy me 13.5 years of free gasoline at my current consumption rate for my Miata versus the Corvette. They aren't in the same economy catagory at all. They are both convertible sportscars, that's about all they have in common.

Ok,

Since you love the EPA so much let's get the numbers off their website shall we?

From Fueleconomy.gov:

EPA rating:
Miata 22cty / 27hwy / 24 comb
Corvette 16cty / 26hwy / 19comb

The EPA observed city mileage is 6mpg in the Miata's favor. 6mpg is a huge difference.

But wait, let's look at the owner observed mileages from the same website:

Owner observed:
Miata Lo29 / Hi32 / Avg30.9
Corvette Lo19 / Hi30 / Avg23.8

The the average LOW for the Miata is 1mpg off of the average HIGH for the Corvette! This is exactly what I am talking about. I have a few friends that own 'vettes that average around 20-23mpg unless they are taking a cross-state interstate trip with all highway mileage. They would love to get the mileage figures you say every Corvette owner sees.

The EPA figures come from driving like a granny, using 6th gear as often as possible, and most importantly SKIP SHIFTING which is the first thing every 'vette owner I know disabled the first chance they got.

The 'vette is an efficient car, and amazing so considering the performance, but it is NOT more economical than a four cylinder in everyday driving much less being driven like it is supposed to be. And, even if that was somehow magically possible, the $26,992 price difference between base models buys the Miata owner 6504 gallons of gasoline to burn any way he pleases at $4.15 for premium. These cars aren't in the same economy class at all, so let's stop comparing them like they are being cross-shopped by price-conscious buyers, OK?

Ratings are blatant lies. In both cases.

Yes, the Corvette gets excellent mileage. Driven in 6th gear. Like a Grandma. Like nobody does.

I average a real world 26mpg on my bumper-to-bumper, gridlocked commute from Marietta to Atlanta everyday. I got 36mpg driving the tail of the dragon all day long. My worst tank so far has been 22mpg. On a track day. RACING. Try those with a 'vette. The EPA ratings for these cars are a sham, pure and simple.

More efficient to stay competitive? Really?

Mine gets 26mpg city and 37mpg highway... that's not efficient and competitive in the sportscar catagory? That's not efficient and competitive in ANY catagory (including the Fit/Yaris/Versa one)?

How efficient, exactly, do you expect a sportscar to be?

Oh there are plenty of cars I would like to buy that wouldn't take much if anything to make 35mpg. Unfortunately for you, GM doesn't make any of them. Maybe you should make other good and desireable vehicles that aren't big soccer mom SUVs and the Corvette.

Owner of an '06 TC here... to pause without switching to the radio or etc, just push the "power" button. To resume, push it again. Tada!