Saddest day of the year....

* pltrgyst wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:

> Yes, it is. Late this afternoon, the hardtop went on. 8;(
>
> -- Larry

Ah! I love my PRHT Perfect for those indian summer days.

--
David

SINNER wrote:

> Ah! I love my PRHT Perfect for those indian summer days.

Yes, I am not a big fan of the NC, but the PRHT is awesome. One area
that the NA & NB can never compete in without extensive and expensive
modification, and maybe not even then if you want it to look nice.

Some people have complained about the time that it takes to raise and
lower the PRHT, a complaint which I laugh at.

The advantages of an always-ready hardtop compared to the many inherent
disadvantages of using vinyl as a car roof makes it to where the PRHT
could take a lot longer to operate than it does, and I would still want it.

Leave it to Mazda to take 16 years to finally improve the top design so
that the top side stays up and there is no boot to ever deal with.
They then offered the PRHT a year later, which made the ragtop
improvement completely irrelevant to me.

Pat

* pws wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:

> SINNER wrote:
>
>> Ah! I love my PRHT Perfect for those indian summer days.
>
> Yes, I am not a big fan of the NC, but the PRHT is awesome. One area
> that the NA & NB can never compete in without extensive and expensive
> modification, and maybe not even then if you want it to look nice.
>
> Some people have complained about the time that it takes to raise and
> lower the PRHT, a complaint which I laugh at.

Yeah, 12 seconds out of my life is such a drag while I am waiting at a
traffic light or waiting for the garage door to open.

Damn you Mazda!

>
> The advantages of an always-ready hardtop compared to the many
> inherent disadvantages of using vinyl as a car roof makes it to where
> the PRHT could take a lot longer to operate than it does, and I would
> still want it.
>
> Leave it to Mazda to take 16 years to finally improve the top design
> so that the top side stays up and there is no boot to ever deal with.
> They then offered the PRHT a year later, which made the ragtop
> improvement completely irrelevant to me.
>

Its my first one, so I cant speak to any of the above, but I will never buy
another convertible without this feature.

--
David

On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:47:32 -0800, bipestuff wrote:

> You know when you post this kind of note you are going to get these
> kind of remarks! I live in the Charlotte area and don't even own a
> hardtop, as you never know when it will be in the 70's in December or
> January! This past week and this weekend we have been in the low 70's
> for highs, so nice top-down fall color days on the way home from work
> or just cruising. I hope the winter goes fast for you!
>
> Tom - '04 MSM

Hey! I have an '04 MSM, my first Miata. It puts a smile on my face every
time I drive it. Even when commuting to work.

I live in Central FL. My wife and I have been vacationing in NC the past
couple of years, mostly around Asheville. The roads are a hell of a lot
better where you live.

We drove the Tail of the Dragon last time. It was crowded and there were
a lot of police. There are so many other roads in the area that are just
as good, with zero traffic. We never bothered with it after that.

Carbon wrote:

> Hey! I have an '04 MSM, my first Miata. It puts a smile on my face every
> time I drive it. Even when commuting to work.
>
> I live in Central FL. My wife and I have been vacationing in NC the past
> couple of years, mostly around Asheville. The roads are a hell of a lot
> better where you live.
>
> We drove the Tail of the Dragon last time. It was crowded and there were
> a lot of police. There are so many other roads in the area that are just
> as good, with zero traffic. We never bothered with it after that.

Now you have done it.
Get ready for a post about how the "Tail of the Dragon" seems like a
straight highway compared to the fun roads out west.

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/pat/DRAGONmap.gif

That looks about as straight as a road can get to me. ;-)

I consider the Tennessee & North Carolina border area to be one of the
most appealing places that I have seen so far in this country.

Fun roads, nice people, beautiful scenery, not necessarily in that order.
The scenery is not quite as nice in November as in the summertime, but
there was almost no traffic to deal with, so it balanced pretty nicely.

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/pat/gapmiatas.jpg
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/pat/gap3.jpg

Asheville is on my top ten list as a city to live in or close to if I
ever make it out of Texas. I plan to make it back again to visit in any
case.

This Thanksgiving, however, it is time to finally see Hawaii, woo-hoo!

10 days of camping, swimming, and sitting around vegging out on the
beach is just what the doctor prescribed. :-)

Pat

SINNER wrote:

> Yeah, 12 seconds out of my life is such a drag while I am waiting at a
> traffic light or waiting for the garage door to open.
>
> Damn you Mazda!

Heh, I think that the main complaint is the extra time that it takes if
caught in a sudden downpour.

12 seconds is a lot longer than 1 to 2 seconds when heavy rain is coming
down, but hopefully you have already raised it by then.

That one small con, along with a very slight weight gain, are both
way more than offset by the long list of pros with a PRHT, imho.

I do wonder how the PRHT's will operate at the 10 year and 15 year
marks, but that is to be seen. So far everything looks good.

However, it is also not like the ragtops are free of problems and
maintenance.

> Its my first one, so I cant speak to any of the above, but I will never buy
> another convertible without this feature.


I will definitely never buy a new Mazda convertible without that feature.

I can't say never on any convertible without one because it would be
nice to have a NA, NB and NC, as I find them all fun to drive, but each
one for different reasons.

Pat

pws > wrote:

> Now you have done it.
> Get ready for a post about how the "Tail of the Dragon" seems like
> a straight highway compared to the fun roads out west.

Not to disappoint you.... it is pretty tame and usually crowded.

Here's a much more interesting road:
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2059/stories/52884
http://www.americansouthwest.net/ari...nadotrail.html

--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://improve-usenet.org

XS11E wrote:

> Not to disappoint you.... it is pretty tame and usually crowded.

I found Deals Gap to be far from tame, as tame roads do not usually have
multiple hairpin turns on them.

Also, I don't go there often enough to know what is is usually like as
far as crowds.
Where do you get your updated information on this pretty tame road that
is more that halfway across the country from you?

> Here's a much more interesting road:
> http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2059/stories/52884
> http://www.americansouthwest.net/ari...nadotrail.html

The Coronado Trail looks very cool and interesting to drive, I agree.

I do highly doubt that it would make the other cool roads in the world
less fun or interesting to drive.

Having the road located in Arizona doesn't help either.
Even the Austin hill country looks prettier than that scrubby and arid
area "near the edge of the national forest" that the Coronado Trail is
passing through.

Deals Gap is about 100 times more aesthetically appealing than that area
in Arizona, just imho, of course. ;-)

Pat

pws > wrote:

> XS11E wrote:
>
>> Not to disappoint you.... it is pretty tame and usually crowded.
>
> I found Deals Gap to be far from tame, as tame roads do not
> usually have multiple hairpin turns on them.
>
> Also, I don't go there often enough to know what is is usually
> like as far as crowds.
> Where do you get your updated information on this pretty tame road
> that is more that halfway across the country from you?

From having ridden it more than once.


--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://improve-usenet.org

XS11E wrote:

> From having ridden it more than once.

We had this discussion about how you found Deal's Gap to be a massive
disappoint long ago, and my response of a negative opinion to that based
on my own experience. At least we both find it to be scenic.

Amazingly, someone found it to be worth chronicling......

http://www.autostalk.com/mazda-mx-5-...-367581-2.html

Just massively different tastes and a generation gap going on, no big
deal. :-)

Pat