Did you really expect them to do something on their own? They are the Apple of the car world, copying BMW and Mercedes for decades and selling it for three times the price.

Whenever they do something unique, it ends up worse than the competitors see 911.

GM made a better 458 Speciale at a third of the price. If this were a German or Italian car people would go crazy. This is the car the 296 should be and not a boring turbo 6 cylinder hybrid.

Good choice!

I’ve owned multiple $100k+ performance cars over the years but there has always been a track prepped Miata in my garage, currently an ND2 with an endless list of track-relevant mods that only make sense because the base car is so great.

I understand why a Miata seems to be an unattractive value proposition when something like the 6 cylinder, way more powerful M2 seems like the more logical purchase. But I think you can’t really appreciate the beauty of the Miata until you’ve driven many more expensive performance vehicles.

I would put it this way: The Miata offers 75-90% of the fun of the best-driving classic sports cars with 20% of the purchase cost and 5% of the running costs, while something like the 991.2 or 992 GT3 offers maybe 5% of the fun of a classic sports car. I say that as someone who is crazy about air-cooled 911s and, from the perspective of the Porsche community, owns one of the best-driving and most special 911s of all time.

It’s not for everyone just like a classic sports and performance car isn’t for everyone and there is nothing wrong with that.

I’ve owned multiple $100k+ performance cars over the years but there has always been a track prepped Miata in my garage, currently an ND2 with an endless list of track-relevant mods that only make sense because the base car is so great.

I understand why a Miata can seem to as an unattractive value proposition when something like the 6 cylinder, way more powerful M2 seems like the more logical purchase. But I think you can’t really appreciate the beauty of the Miata until you’ve driven many more expensive performance vehicles.

I would put it this way: The Miata offers 75% of the fun of the best-driving classic sports cars with 20% of the purchase cost and 5% of the running costs, while my 991.2 GT3, for example, offers 5% of the fun of a classic sports car. I say that as someone who is crazy about air-cooled 911s and, from the perspective of the Porsche community, owns one of the best-driving and most special 911s of all time.

It’s not for everyone just like an air-cooled or water-cooled 911 isn’t for everyone and there is nothing wrong with that.

1. It looks nothing like a Corolla or any other eco-box of the time.
2. It’s arguably the most special feeling FWD sedan/wagon of the class in its era and the Busso has a glorious soundtrack.
3. Considering the money asked for a 156 GTA today, you have to be an aficionado to buy it. For everyone else: just buy an E46. Much better driving car, much better car in general.