Not A Car Guy

This represents my 15th time attending the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, but only my third time using it as an excuse for an epic road trip on California's backroads (see also 2019 and 2023 ).  A relatively late, wet Spring meant that California was surprisingly green, but not yet covered in flowers (as it was in 2023). And mercifully, there were far fewer potholes than there were after the epic rains of 2023. I largely stuck to the roads that I'd discovered on my previous Coachella road trips, which faithfully provided ~1200 miles of the kind of driving that my 2018 Miata was meant for.  Day One: SF to Santa Maria I made a few edits to my previous itineraries in this first 300 mile leg of the trip.  I began by making my way from SF to Skyline Drive (35), which I followed past Alice's Restaurant all the way to Highway 17. It had been a few years since I'd driven the single lane goat track that is 35 between Highways 9 and 17. It's a lovely set of twisties that...

  Five years, fifteen thousand miles. Time flies.  The car remains a joy to drive. As I anticipated when I bought it , I don't miss the extra horsepower you get in the 2019 and onward model years (aka ND2). That extra power is reportedly mostly at the top of the rev band, an area where I don't spend much time. The joy in this car, for me, is less about going fast than about the ways it engages you in the act of driving.  Cost of ownership? Here's the math:  Maintenance = $1,057 (basically oil changes, plus an engine air filter and transmission oil change) Depreciation = $500 (yes, Kelly Blue Book says I can basically get what I paid for it!) This makes the Miata by far the cheapest car to own that I've had, beating out my 2010 Honda Fit . Most of this is down the the crazy high post-pandemic used car prices holding depreciation in check. But that doesn't diminish the joys of simple reliability, which not all newer cars can provide.  Here's to the next 5 years!...

  In 2019, I turned the voyage to and from Coachella into a multi-day roadtrip , which led to discovering lots of beautiful central California roads. I decided to do it again for 2023, racking up another ~1,100 miles in beautiful "superbloom" weather. My faithful steed, a 2018 Mazda MX-5 Miata, did not disappoint.  Day One: SF to Santa Maria San Francisco to Santa Maria via 309 miles of California back roads, including some of my very favorites (Carmel Valley to Paso Robles). Beautiful weather, if a bit windy and chilly. But wow, there are a lot of pot holes, thanks to the recent rains. As in 2019, I started by taking Highway 1 down to Half Moon Bay, then up to Skyline Drive, and down from the mountains to Felton via Highway 9, still one of my favorite twisty Miata roads, even if there was a bit more traffic this year. Then back on a relatively boring stretch of Highway 1 to Castroville.  From there I drove into Salinas and then over the Laureles Grade (which I did in 201...

The Problem: Like most ND Miata drivers, I generally keep my phone in the little cubby next to the USB ports. But when accelerating rapidly from a standstill (aka "hard pull"), the phone will slide out, often falling into the driver's side footwell and sliding around some more. That's not ideal, especially since being distracted by trying to catch your phone mid-acceleration is not exactly safe. The Solution: I've velcro'd a pouch to the side of the transmission tunnel, right next to my right leg.  I affixed it with velcro (the hook side, which sticks to the interior carpet nicely). This also frees up the cubby for other things that hopefully won't slide out.

I'm actually late on this one, since I've now had the car for 16 months or so. Other than the modifications I've already detailed ( here and here ), the only out-of-pocket costs have been gas and the 5,000 mile service ($106). Oh, and I also applied protective film to the front of the car right after purchase to protect the paint from chipping. That was pretty pricey (~$2k), but it's a one time cost. Overall, that sounds pretty great, especially when compared to the maintenance costs I had with my previous cars . But you expect low maintenance costs for a new car. The trade-off is depreciation. And there, the news is never good for a new car. Kelley Blue Book estimates  depreciation of about ~$5k from my purchase price (that's not counting taxes, title, and registration costs, which in California are another 10% or so on top of the purchase price). This still makes the Miata the cheapest to own of the cars I've discussed on this blog (but not as cheap a...

There they are. The best driving roads I've ever experienced. Miata-perfect. Coastal California gets all the attention, but it's really inland central California where the best Miata roads are. From Carmel Valley to Paso Robles, and then from Paso Robles up to Gilroy. Glorious. Mostly through hilly ranch land, with a military base thrown in. Virtually no traffic at all (well, other than in Paso Robles itself). A great mix of tight corners and long sweeping curves. Mostly two-lane, but some single lane stuff thrown in for variety. Altogether, this is 237 miles that takes just over 5 hours. Other than Carmel Valley, Paso Robles, and Gilroy, there are few services available, so plan accordingly for your gas and bladder needs. Carmel Valley to Paso Robles (this is basically G16 and G14): East Carmel Valley Road (G16) to Arroyo Seco Road (G16), then left and over the bridge on Elm Avenue (G16), then right on Central Avenue to 101. Lots of ascending and descending, tight tu...

A backup camera. The 2019 MX-5 has one. The 2018 MX-5 for the Japanese domestic market has one. But not the pre-2019 MX-5s destined for US shores, including mine. Now it can reasonably be asked why you need a backup cam for such a small car, especially if the top is down. Well, first, the top isn't always down, and the rear visibility with the top up isn't great. Second, even with the top down, the backup cam lets you see things that are otherwise obscured. Especially at curb level. Like, for example, the curb itself. When parallel parking, I appreciate the additional information, which should reduce the risk of curb rash when I mess up the entry. Fortunately, you can self-install the exact camera that came as standard equipment in Japan in 2016-2018 MX-5s. The OEM camera and wiring harness are available from Rev-9 or Amayama ( wiring , camera ). Once installed, the camera video immediately appears on the dash display when you shift into reverse and the on-screen guide ...

A lovely NorCal, midweek, 127-mile drive today, trailing a friend on a motorcycle. First was the familiar path up to Tomales: over the mountain (slow, wet) to Stinson Beach, then straight up Hwy 1 to Point Reyes Station for lunch, then onward to Tomales. The weather included mostly rain and fog, unfortunately, so there wasn't much opportunity to push things (one early skid reminded me how little traction there is in the rain). From Tomales, it was all new roads to me. First Tomales Petaluma Road, then Chileno Valley Road, then Pt. Reyes Petaluma Road, winding upward to Nicasio Reservoir, a lovely spot I'd never been to before. Then downhill on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to (sunny!) Fairfax before climbing back up into the hills for the most insane bunch of switchbacks on Fairfax Bolinas Road. Back on top of the ridge above Stinson Beach on W. Ridgecrest Blvd., we were enrobed in thick fog until closing the loop back onto Hwy 1 via Panoramic Highway. Fog, rain, sun, clouds. ...

Why not turn the trip to Coachella into a first-rate road trip? OK, done. 1230 miles later, I can attest that California's backroads are spectacularly beautiful in springtime. Words fail me in describing these breathtaking landscapes. Fortunately, however, I can find the words to describe the best roads I found.  Day One: SF to Santa Maria I started the trip by taking Highway 1 to Half Moon Bay, then climbing up to Skyline Drive for the classic drive past Alice's Restaurant and Windy Hill, then dropping down on 9 to Santa Cruz. This is a familiar route to any Bay Area driving enthusiast. The weather was perfect and the midweek traffic was light. As usual 9 is a blast, with lots of dappled shade and tight corners descending from the mountains.  Highlight : Highway 9 from Skyline to Felton. Always great. This is a mountain road through the forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains, so lots of dappled light, narrow two-lane road, and tight switchbacks. What the Miata w...

No car is perfect when delivered, at least not for every owner. Besides, when a car is new, you can't fuss over maintenance, so you fuss over "improvements." At least I do. Mod #1: Android Auto This one was utterly crucial. In fact, I delayed buying the ND Miata until I was sure it either came with Android Auto or would be retrofittable. Who wants to live with auto company navs in a world with Google Maps? And who wants to perch your phone in a clamp on your dash when there's already a big color screen there? In November 2018, Mazda confirmed that all models from 2014 would be upgradeable. Soon after, they starting shipping the retrofit kits, and the wonderful Miata.net forums provided lots of advice on self-installing. The install took about three hours, all in, and now I've got Android Auto up and running, delivering Spotify, Pocket Casts, and Google Maps. Not to mention Google Assistant, which is more versatile than the Mazda voice recognition system. ...

This is a long-term purchase, so it brings my "different, interesting, fully-depreciated cars every year" experiment to a premature close. I always knew I would end up in a Miata, I just didn't realize it would be quite so soon. I love the Miata. I drove my first Miata in 1991 at a dealer in Chesapeake Bay. It was love at first drive. But it wasn't until 8 years later that I could afford one -- a lightly used 1997 in Montego blue. I kept that car for 11 years. I still miss it. So it was inevitable that I'd be in a Miata again someday. And when Mazda announced the new, fourth generation of the Miata (the "ND" version to enthusiasts) for the 2016 model year, I nearly ordered the " launch edition " off the boat. Since then, nearly every car critic who has written about the ND Miata has rhapsodized about it. In fact, by car reviewer consensus, the ND Miata probably ranks as best all-around, affordable sports car on the market today. I bought...