Miata Mailing List: January 1996, Message #137
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   From: Robert Wolov 
Subject: Business Week and Dream Cars
   Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 15:25:28 -0500

Get ahold of yourselves people! Consider the source! Are we now letting 
"Business Week" make value judgements on things automotive? Sit back, 
relax and have a good laugh.

The reality is that a sports car...performance car...whatever you wish to 
call it, is more than a function of it's collective nuts and bolts. There 
is a style, a chemistry of expression that this particular design holds 
for you personally. That fact will *NOT* change regardless how old the 
car becomes or whatever alternatives are available. If it weren't the 
case, then old classic autos wouldn't have the appeal and staying power 
they do. I know people (myself included) who would take a rebuilt 1963 
Lotus 7 over a brand new 1996 Camaro in a heart beat! The Lotus people 
would understand and the Muscle Car people wouldn't have a clue!

But Business WeeK? C'mon get real. It was obviously a slow news week, the 
stock market was closed for the holidays, nothing was going on and they 
needed filler. What did you expect them to say, that BMW, an admittedly 
mainstream yuppie icon, made cr*p? BMW doesn't make junk. It is a worthy 
mate in the same class as the miata (and it only took them $10 grand more 
to do it!). Would you feel better if a comparison test was run between 
the Miata and a Yugo? Would that enhance the value of your cars (might 
make the Yugo people feel better though..."Gee my Yugo is competition for 
a miata!") I don't think so.

The minute that TVR comes out with a new design doesn't suddenly make all 
Lotus's worthless (maybe the otherway though). The Z3 is a good design. 
It will appeal to some people. The BMW name gives a warm fuzzy feeling to 
many folks and rightfully so. I personally do not find the styling of the 
Z3 all that appealling but I'm sure many others will. 

The reality of life is that my loaded '95 cost me about $22K. While not 
cheap by any extent, there are a few greckles left over here and there to 
play "project car for Team Wolov"
The Z3 will be closer to $35 or 38K (way outside my league) when all is 
said and done, and frankly I don't see the typical BMW customer sweating 
over things like free flow catback exhausts, timing advances and 
suspension mods. They are a different breed of customer. Not better or 
worse, just different. Some no doubt will be attracted to the Z3 
*because* it is a BMW, people who possibly never considered a roadster 
before.

Frankly, if I had that much to spend on a car and was determined *not* to 
buy a miata I would lust after a Lotus Elise not a Z3...but that's just 
me.

Now, I also understand that we didn't make it on a calendar? Problems, 
problems.

We should recognize that we, the owners of miatas are every bit as 
different as the cars we drive. I wouldn't lose any sleep because a 
business magazine on a slow week shows it doesn't understand our cars or 
ourselves as customers. Cars of this type are not purchased as simple 
appliances. They are a form of our self-expression (maybe that's why some 
out there are so irrate that someone would criticize our cars...they are 
criticizing us!

I recently heard an expression. "It's not what you call me, but what I 
answer to" If Business Week decided that miatas fall into the "family 
utility" class it still wouldn't make it so.

It is inevitable that there will be comparisons and that the miata for 
the sole reason that it is no longer the newest will suffer. Get use to 
it, it will happen again. Mercedes I believe also has a new roadster 
coming. So, we can all go through this again in the press. But rest 
assured, that your cars will become classics in design in the same manner 
that AH 3000's are still coveted or Lotus Elan S2's (on which they are 
based) 

Me, I'm just hoping for clear enough weather so I can relax this weekend, 
release some tensions putting another coat of wax on Raven and see 
whether it's worth a case of frostbite of the ears for another session of 
top down driving in 28 degree weather!

Now, will someone help me down from this box? And please tell the front 
office to cancel my Business Week subscription!!

Robb Wolov & Raven ('95 Black & Tan...the one without the frostbitten 
ears)

(Team Voodoo, Team PFS, Team Eibach, Team Addco, Team Akimoto, Team 
Hella, Team PIAA,
Team Frostbite, Team...)