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  April 25, 2011 1:13 p.m. DaveEstey HalfDork

  A club member is selling her 1996 Miata with 108k miles with a second set of/rims rubber for $2,900. It's in awesome shape and she has stored it inside for the past 5 years. Also, watching her autox it I'm sure it hasn't been abused, at least not by her.

  So I'd be buying the Miata to replace my Subaru Legacy GT for DD and fun duty. I just accepted a new job (more $$$!) with a 1 hour Massachusetts commute each way and the expensive gas and 300hp just aren't making sense right now. I'd be selling the Subaru and running the miata at least until snow flys and buying a winter beater, or just run the Miata year-round. Yes I always buy good snow tires.

  So, talk me out of it.

  It should be noted that I have never and would never race this Subaru. I have no desire to race it.

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  April 25, 2011 2:49 p.m. ReverendDexter SuperDork

  Only agument I could possibly have against it is that the Legacy GTs Wagons are some of the best looking cars to come out of Subaru.

  

  --There is no turd more polished than the Ford Mustang--

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  April 25, 2011 3:11 p.m. DaveEstey HalfDork

  Well my sedan would be up for sale so you could own a good looking piece of fast Subaru hardware!

  I wasn't expecting longevity

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  April 25, 2011 3:21 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

  You want us to talk you out of a Miata?

  Sanity is vastly overrated.

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  April 25, 2011 3:22 p.m. ReverendDexter SuperDork

  You're on the wrong side of the country for that

  Only other thing I could say is that the Miata isn't going to get that much better mileage, and the Subaru will be much more comfortable to do that commute in.

  Can't do both?

  --There is no turd more polished than the Ford Mustang--

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  April 25, 2011 3:26 p.m. DaveEstey HalfDork

  Parking aint cheap. The Legacy gets 27mpg highway on it's best behavior and isn't known for it's handling. To get the handling where I want it I'd have to spend almost what the Miata would cost.

  I wasn't expecting longevity

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  April 25, 2011 3:53 p.m. Brett_Murphy Reader

  I am a utility freak. Based on that, there is absolutely no reason to choose the Miata over the Legacy for daily driving. You're going to lose the ability to carry around lots of junk and multiple passengers if you get rid of the Legacy. The only way this makes sense to me is if you sell the Legacy for what you owe on it and then pick up the Miata and maybe a hatchback for utility trips to the hardware store, etc.

  However, you mention that you can't keep both of them because parking isn't cheap. Buying a beater for winter driving isn't going to cost any less than parking the Legacy.

  If brute force isn't solving your problem, you're not using enough.

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  April 25, 2011 3:57 p.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

  ReverendDexter wrote: the Legacy GTs Wagons are some of the best looking cars to come out of Subaru.

  Although they had a couple of good years there in the 90's, Subaru has a history of building ugly cars, and this ones not going against the grain. It looks like a Corolla wagon with a Taurus front end. For $2900, buy the Miata.
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  April 25, 2011 4:17 p.m. dculberson Reader

  I daily drove a '99 Miata for years and loved it. But my wife had an Accord wagon - it would have been really rough if the only car I had access to was a Miata. If you are a single-car household and that car is a Miata, how do you move anything sizable?

  The Miata's not going to beat 27mpg that's for sure. I always got 25mpg on mine, that's city or highway, summer or winter, beating on it or babying it. The gearing is really short so you just always get 25mpg in my experience.

  Driving for two hours a day in a Miata is not something I would look forward to, but it's not necessarily a penalty box either. Have you ever driven one? Have you ever driven one long distances in inclement weather? When I ended up with a 4-hour each way drive to make once a week and hit my first serious winter storm in the Miata, I ended up buying a Roadmaster wagon immediately after that. It's tolerable, even fun, to drive a Miata in bad weather once. But every day through a hard winter and you're gonna get sick of it - they're a handful in the snow even with Blizzaks, which again is fun for 15 minutes but exhausting for two hours a day every day.

  I'm not ready to say "don't do it!" but I am ready to say: know what you're signing up for!!!

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  April 25, 2011 4:22 p.m. DaveEstey HalfDork

  Brett_Murphy wrote: I am a utility freak. Based on that, there is absolutely no reason to choose the Miata over the Legacy for daily driving. You're going to lose the ability to carry around lots of junk and multiple passengers if you get rid of the Legacy. The only way this makes sense to me is if you sell the Legacy for what you owe on it and then pick up the Miata and maybe a hatchback for utility trips to the hardware store, etc. However, you mention that you can't keep both of them because parking isn't cheap. Buying a beater for winter driving isn't going to cost any less than parking the Legacy.

  I rarely if ever have passengers. My girlfriend brought up that we couldn't take the dog in the Miata, and I reminded her that we don't always have to take my car everywhere, we can take her Prius. She just likes the power and the sound. But on long trips the Prius just makes more sense even if it makes me fall asleep on contact.

  The Subaru's seats don't fold down so I can't haul much (I moved once using this car and hated myself for not finding a wagon). I tend to travel light anyway. And since I rent, I don't have construction projects more than running to Ikea for a bookshelf.

  During the winter the Miata would be stored at my brother's place so I would only have to pay to park one car at a time. Parking is $65 a month so it adds up quickly. I could pick up an old Outback and throw winter tires on it, run it till it dies, wash rinse repeat.

  I can sell the Legacy for more than I owe on it. I put a huge down payment on it and replaced the engine 20k miles ago and the chassis has 85k miles on it. I also have receipts for all maintenance which was all done at the dealership because I got paranoid after it spun a bearing while full of oil and wanted a paper trail.

  I wasn't expecting longevity

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  April 25, 2011 4:32 p.m. EvanB SuperDork

  I get 31mpg in my Miata, no matter how I drive it. I would probably get tired of driving it 2 hours a day every day though.

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  April 25, 2011 4:33 p.m. Woody SuperDork

  What caused the engine to fail at 65K?

  I lift things up and put them down.

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  April 25, 2011 4:35 p.m. DaveEstey HalfDork

  Woody wrote: What caused the engine to fail at 65K?

  Nobody from Subaru could explain it to me. It had 1/8th inch of play in cylinder 3. Luckily I caught it fast enough so the turbo didn't eat metal particles, that saved me $800 alone. The shortblock was $4,500 out the door.

  I wasn't expecting longevity

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  April 25, 2011 5:12 p.m. barnca Reader

  is it denise pattens car.. if so she took great care of it.

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  April 25, 2011 5:34 p.m. DaveEstey HalfDork

  No it's Donna Stevens'

  I wasn't expecting longevity

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  April 25, 2011 6:59 p.m. aussiesmg SuperDork

  Buy it and keep the Suby... I can't believe you didn't see that coming.

  Cornering is like bringing a woman to climax. Jackie Stewart

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  April 25, 2011 8:54 p.m. Woody SuperDork

  Okay, okay...I'll be the one to ask:

  How much is the Subaru going for?

  I lift things up and put them down.

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