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I hadn't driven my Miata in a while because the starter broke and I was too busy with other things to fix it, but I just got around to getting it to run again last week and I've been driving it around while my Elise is in the shop, and I thought I'd do a little comparison between the two. I know this isn't a fair comparison, one car being a 24 year old economy sports car and the other being a purpose built exotic, but I thought it was a fun idea.
Fuel Economy
Even when driving in a spirited fashion, the Lotus has yet to return less than 30 MPG, and averages 31-33 MPG. The Miata returns a consistent 27.5 MPG in the winter, 28.5 MPG in the summer. The Lotus requires premium fuel, but even so, it gets ~15-20% better fuel economy, so it is definitely costs less to run based on gas alone.
Winner: Lotus
Repair and Parts Cost
I do almost all my own auto maintenance and repair and I always have, so I am going to go mainly off the cost of parts for this comparison. The Lotus definitely has a lot going for it with its economy car-rooted driveline, but from what I've seen, especially from the parts estimate from the body shop on things like headlamp covers, some stuff is astronomical for this car. Other stuff is surprisingly not, like the indicator light housing, which is reasonable. Aftermarket parts for the Lotus tend to be a lot more expensive for the same type of part than on something like a Miata, but this is a factor of economies of scale making the engineering costs for parts considerably higher per unit than something where a million of them was made, plus a lot of rich dummies drive these cars who will pay $200 for a cup holder.
The Miata is dirt cheap to run. I have had the car for 4 years and have put close to 50k miles on it (it started with 138k). Because they made a million of them, almost every replacement part manufacturer makes parts for the Miata, so you can get just about anything from Advance Auto, Pep Boys, and if you want it cheap, Partgeek or Rock Auto.
For repairs, the Miata is most certainly an easier car to work on, unless the rear clam is off of the Lotus, in which case you have unabated access. I haven't done any real work on the Lotus yet, so my opinion may change. Some stuff on the Miata is a son of a bitch to get to; mainly anything under the intake manifold, such as the starter, oil filter, and clutch hydraulics, are impossible to work on without severely mangling your arms reaching through this gap. This is a symptom of a front wheel drive motor being mounted longitudinally.
Winner: Miata
Acceleration
2300 lbs / 115 HP = zippy. 1950 lbs / 190 HP = fast.
Winner: Lotus
Braking
The Lotus, with its lively ABS tuning, much better brakes, much better tires, and significantly lower weight, stops better than anything I've ever driven or ridden in that wasn't a full blown race car. The Miata, well, it stops.
Winner: Lotus
Handling
The Miata, with its 50/50 weight balance, low weight, and excellent suspension geometry begs for a lot less compliance in the suspension, much much stiffer springs, and much tighter shock valving, along with much much better tires. If the set up was close to what the Lotus is stock, the Miata would be a lot more competitive here. It sure is a lot of fun though! And you can easily hang the back end out without worrying too much that you're going to swap ends.
The Lotus happens to be the best handling car I've ever driven or ridden in that wasn't a full blown race car, stock. It is also a bit nervous in front/rear weight transitions while cornering because of its rearward weight bias, and the bicycle tires on the front of the base suspension package do make it as steady state "understeery" as the Miata. It seems to reward driving skill much more than something like a Miata, which is much easier for a neophyte to get 90% of the way there. The Miata is confidence inspiring, albeit with lower limits, while the Lotus is a little intimidating.
Winner: Lotus
Driveline
Notwithstanding the generational leaps in engine technology, fuel management, valve/lift variation or specific output, I'm going to talk about how it actually feels when your foot goes down on the accelerator, power goes through the transmission to the wheels, the clutch goes in, a gear change happens, and the clutch comes out.
The Lotus - the immediacy of the power delivery, no doubt helped by having a transaxle bolted directly to the motor, in naturally aspirated form is second to none. The accelerator; well, mine sticks sometimes. I probably need a new cable. And the gear shifter feels like an afterthought, with way longer throws than I'd expect. My gearbox (and even the same gearbox on a brand new celica GTS I test drove years and years ago) is fairly vague and does not give great feedback on engagement. The clutch is linear in engagement, though surprisingly heavy for a car with no torque, and is easy to modulate.
The Miata - the immediacy in power delivery is almost as good as the Lotus, and far better than most other front engine/ rear drive cars. This is due to something called the PPF (power plant frame) that connects the rear differential to the transmission above the drive shaft with a solid metal structure, making the entire driveline have essentially no play. Then there's the shifter - this is one of the best shifters of any car, period. It is very precise (except when going full throttle from 2nd to 3rd, in which case it sometimes goes to 5th because of a shot motor mount making the whole driveline rock), mechanical, direct. The throws are perfect in length and weight. Then the clutch - it is too light and somewhat vague, causing me to feather the throttle while slowly letting it out if I haven't driven the car in a while. It also slips sometimes under full throttle in higher gears at lower RPMs, but it is probably worn out.
Winner: Miata
Styling
The Lotus is an exotic car. It looks like a 7/8ths scale Ferrari, and is often confused for a Ferrari, Lamborghini, and even once, a Maserati (I'm guessing a Bora?). It shares a wheel base with a Porsche 917, but because it is designed with passenger safety in mind and it is no longer cool to hang your feet over the front axle, the passenger compartment is pushed back, which gives it awkward, smushed proportions from the side when compared to a larger mid-engine car like a Ferrari. The view out of the front with the mini-pontoon fenders is what I imagine is similar to a group C / GTP era prototype. It breaks necks constantly, and is sometimes a curse having such a space-ship looking car and 4 people asking you questions at a gas station when you're late for something and all you wanted was gas.
The Miata is definitely a period piece, and its smooth, round lines are indicative of the 90s sports car aesthetic. The best use of this aesthetic is the Porsche 993 and the Miata's stable mate, the FD RX-7. The worst is the 3000GT twins. The Miata lands squarely in the middle. It is friendly looking, with anthropomorphic features; I swear, Miata with teeth in the front grill look like living cartoons. It is handsome, but not a head turner.
Winner: Lotus
Total cost of ownership / Value
It's probably safe to say that early Miata's have bottomed out; in fact, since I bought mine 4 years ago, I've seen the average cost of 1st gen Miata's go up maybe 33%, which isn't a lot since the going rate was about $2k for a working one that wasn't rusted to ****. Early Elise's have also most likely bottomed out, and seem to be on the rise since the great recession. Assuming you maintain the car throughout your ownership, you will probably get what you paid for it, so these aren't depreciating.
The cost to run a Miata for 4 years, with a fair amount of repairs done by me (drive shaft, rear end, all wheel bearings and hubs, lower ball joints, inner/outer tie rods, new brake pads / rotors / calipers, starter 3 times, clutch slave cylinder, replaced dented fender, water pump / timing belt / drive belts / intake manifold gasket) and a set of new tires, including the cost of the car and regular maintenance, I'm into it for less than $4500. I could easily sell the car on for $3000, so it would have cost me $1500 over 4 years / 50,000 miles, or about $375 / year or 3 cents a mile. Not bad.
I'm guessing the Lotus will be a little more than that to run per mile
, but of course you get a completely different class of automobile for new V6 Camry money.
Winner: Tie
Overall winner: Lotus
Fuel Economy
Even when driving in a spirited fashion, the Lotus has yet to return less than 30 MPG, and averages 31-33 MPG. The Miata returns a consistent 27.5 MPG in the winter, 28.5 MPG in the summer. The Lotus requires premium fuel, but even so, it gets ~15-20% better fuel economy, so it is definitely costs less to run based on gas alone.
Winner: Lotus
Repair and Parts Cost
I do almost all my own auto maintenance and repair and I always have, so I am going to go mainly off the cost of parts for this comparison. The Lotus definitely has a lot going for it with its economy car-rooted driveline, but from what I've seen, especially from the parts estimate from the body shop on things like headlamp covers, some stuff is astronomical for this car. Other stuff is surprisingly not, like the indicator light housing, which is reasonable. Aftermarket parts for the Lotus tend to be a lot more expensive for the same type of part than on something like a Miata, but this is a factor of economies of scale making the engineering costs for parts considerably higher per unit than something where a million of them was made, plus a lot of rich dummies drive these cars who will pay $200 for a cup holder.
The Miata is dirt cheap to run. I have had the car for 4 years and have put close to 50k miles on it (it started with 138k). Because they made a million of them, almost every replacement part manufacturer makes parts for the Miata, so you can get just about anything from Advance Auto, Pep Boys, and if you want it cheap, Partgeek or Rock Auto.
For repairs, the Miata is most certainly an easier car to work on, unless the rear clam is off of the Lotus, in which case you have unabated access. I haven't done any real work on the Lotus yet, so my opinion may change. Some stuff on the Miata is a son of a bitch to get to; mainly anything under the intake manifold, such as the starter, oil filter, and clutch hydraulics, are impossible to work on without severely mangling your arms reaching through this gap. This is a symptom of a front wheel drive motor being mounted longitudinally.
Winner: Miata
Acceleration
2300 lbs / 115 HP = zippy. 1950 lbs / 190 HP = fast.
Winner: Lotus
Braking
The Lotus, with its lively ABS tuning, much better brakes, much better tires, and significantly lower weight, stops better than anything I've ever driven or ridden in that wasn't a full blown race car. The Miata, well, it stops.
Winner: Lotus
Handling
The Miata, with its 50/50 weight balance, low weight, and excellent suspension geometry begs for a lot less compliance in the suspension, much much stiffer springs, and much tighter shock valving, along with much much better tires. If the set up was close to what the Lotus is stock, the Miata would be a lot more competitive here. It sure is a lot of fun though! And you can easily hang the back end out without worrying too much that you're going to swap ends.
The Lotus happens to be the best handling car I've ever driven or ridden in that wasn't a full blown race car, stock. It is also a bit nervous in front/rear weight transitions while cornering because of its rearward weight bias, and the bicycle tires on the front of the base suspension package do make it as steady state "understeery" as the Miata. It seems to reward driving skill much more than something like a Miata, which is much easier for a neophyte to get 90% of the way there. The Miata is confidence inspiring, albeit with lower limits, while the Lotus is a little intimidating.
Winner: Lotus
Driveline
Notwithstanding the generational leaps in engine technology, fuel management, valve/lift variation or specific output, I'm going to talk about how it actually feels when your foot goes down on the accelerator, power goes through the transmission to the wheels, the clutch goes in, a gear change happens, and the clutch comes out.
The Lotus - the immediacy of the power delivery, no doubt helped by having a transaxle bolted directly to the motor, in naturally aspirated form is second to none. The accelerator; well, mine sticks sometimes. I probably need a new cable. And the gear shifter feels like an afterthought, with way longer throws than I'd expect. My gearbox (and even the same gearbox on a brand new celica GTS I test drove years and years ago) is fairly vague and does not give great feedback on engagement. The clutch is linear in engagement, though surprisingly heavy for a car with no torque, and is easy to modulate.
The Miata - the immediacy in power delivery is almost as good as the Lotus, and far better than most other front engine/ rear drive cars. This is due to something called the PPF (power plant frame) that connects the rear differential to the transmission above the drive shaft with a solid metal structure, making the entire driveline have essentially no play. Then there's the shifter - this is one of the best shifters of any car, period. It is very precise (except when going full throttle from 2nd to 3rd, in which case it sometimes goes to 5th because of a shot motor mount making the whole driveline rock), mechanical, direct. The throws are perfect in length and weight. Then the clutch - it is too light and somewhat vague, causing me to feather the throttle while slowly letting it out if I haven't driven the car in a while. It also slips sometimes under full throttle in higher gears at lower RPMs, but it is probably worn out.
Winner: Miata
Styling
The Lotus is an exotic car. It looks like a 7/8ths scale Ferrari, and is often confused for a Ferrari, Lamborghini, and even once, a Maserati (I'm guessing a Bora?). It shares a wheel base with a Porsche 917, but because it is designed with passenger safety in mind and it is no longer cool to hang your feet over the front axle, the passenger compartment is pushed back, which gives it awkward, smushed proportions from the side when compared to a larger mid-engine car like a Ferrari. The view out of the front with the mini-pontoon fenders is what I imagine is similar to a group C / GTP era prototype. It breaks necks constantly, and is sometimes a curse having such a space-ship looking car and 4 people asking you questions at a gas station when you're late for something and all you wanted was gas.
The Miata is definitely a period piece, and its smooth, round lines are indicative of the 90s sports car aesthetic. The best use of this aesthetic is the Porsche 993 and the Miata's stable mate, the FD RX-7. The worst is the 3000GT twins. The Miata lands squarely in the middle. It is friendly looking, with anthropomorphic features; I swear, Miata with teeth in the front grill look like living cartoons. It is handsome, but not a head turner.
Winner: Lotus
Total cost of ownership / Value
It's probably safe to say that early Miata's have bottomed out; in fact, since I bought mine 4 years ago, I've seen the average cost of 1st gen Miata's go up maybe 33%, which isn't a lot since the going rate was about $2k for a working one that wasn't rusted to ****. Early Elise's have also most likely bottomed out, and seem to be on the rise since the great recession. Assuming you maintain the car throughout your ownership, you will probably get what you paid for it, so these aren't depreciating.
The cost to run a Miata for 4 years, with a fair amount of repairs done by me (drive shaft, rear end, all wheel bearings and hubs, lower ball joints, inner/outer tie rods, new brake pads / rotors / calipers, starter 3 times, clutch slave cylinder, replaced dented fender, water pump / timing belt / drive belts / intake manifold gasket) and a set of new tires, including the cost of the car and regular maintenance, I'm into it for less than $4500. I could easily sell the car on for $3000, so it would have cost me $1500 over 4 years / 50,000 miles, or about $375 / year or 3 cents a mile. Not bad.
I'm guessing the Lotus will be a little more than that to run per mile
, but of course you get a completely different class of automobile for new V6 Camry money. Winner: Tie
Overall winner: Lotus
