I only had 1 session with the car and I'm not a good enough driver to fully figure out a car that quick. for me it mostly meant downshifting to second. I mostly kept the same line, or tried to at least... the less sticky tires and street pads kinda changed my line without my consent
the different shift points threw me off a few times too, I kept trying to shift where I'd shift with my Miata and that didn't work.. then trying to shift where the brz needs to shift and somehow it was always at the apex of a turn, haha... but thats me needing to adjust, not the cars fault


I hear a couple bolt on's and tune help a lot with mid range torque though, I'm pretty sure my power band comments only apply to stock

 

Second gen 86/BRZ is supposedly due next year. They are going to have to up their game to compete with the Miata.

 

if they make a version with a turbo, I might still have to get one... still kinda annoyed that I'd be losing double wishbone and going to a McStrut setup though

 

Hard to beat a Miata if you can fit and can live with the power limitations.

You can seriously beat the living daylights out of it, perform semi-regular service, and it'll still keep on trucking. If it does break just about everything is cheap.

 

an oil cooler would really help though

 

If you want more power, V8 it.

 

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...red-toyota-86/

 

Pick up an 85-91 BMW 325i/s with an engine swap. much better looking than a miata and handling to match. a stock car can be found for under 4k and a seriously nice swapped track car shouldn't cost you over 11k. for the money you can't find a more fun car and performance parts are ridiculously cheap. I daily a 1991 supercharged 318is E30 and its a blast. Plenty of waves and head turns for such a classic looking car and nothing can touch me in curves save for a bike.

 

I question the claim that it's a better handling car than a Miata. Looks are subjective so I won't touch those.

 

my buddy has a turbo mazdaspeed miata (2004 I believe) on coilovers and in a straight line he's faster due to twice the boost I'm running but he can't keep up with me in quick corners. I do have an extremely quick rate steering rack and coilovers as well, but I can put a pretty good gap on the turbo miata after a set of twisties. both of us run the same tires and similar brakes, could be the driver but my neighbor has pulled several miatas in corners in his E30 as well.

 

A guy I know runs a swapped 318. It does really well, IMO. Especially considering he's a relatively noobish driver.





after DTM widebody and paint:

 

E30 is McStrut up front and has kinda funky rear suspension geometry... and I like my cars to have ABS... E30's are cool and all, but not really my cup of tea to own

 

that really sounds like driver... I pass tons of cars that should be faster than my miata, corners or straight. This last track day I actually got asked if I have a turbo under the hood. and I'm not even the fastest miata out there, there's a guy with an NC, same coilovers as me (Ohlins), 200tw tires, bone stock power (10-15hp down from me), and he's running 4 seconds per lap faster

 

Driver or setup.

 

Could be. at this point there's a huge amount of factors. My friend runs Ohlins as well, I run Ground Control, which is about the best you can get for an E30. I weigh about 100 pounds more, but he has turbo lag and I have linear supercharger boost and an 8Ib flywheel vs the 28Ib stock flywheel as well as a 4.10 LSD so I get a pretty good launch out of the corners. I don't think you can go wrong with either car, both are extremely versatile and well built cars with super cheap performance parts. Not sure about the swap options for a miata but people will put anything in an E30. Our cars are both DD's, so at the end of the day I prefer the look and roominess of my E30 vs his miata with no legroom and a shoebox trunk. To each their own. It's always fun when a 350z or an FRS/BRZ owner yells "WTF is in that car?!"