New Owner Observation / Stories

[ELIAS64]

First 1,000 miles done in about 14hrs over the last two days road tripping the car from Monroe, LA to Miami, FL. For the worry warts out there, I hit redline within the first minute of driving it.

Great car. Below might sound like a list of complaintsand nit picking but bear in mind I'm from Connecticut and that's how we do If I hated the car you'd know. Also, be prepared for a lot of Miata comparisons hehheh.

What's with the light in the phone cubby? Haven't looked yet but I want that thing off. The two overhead mini lights I eventually tuned out but they are odd to me as well. I kinda dig the ambient door lighting though, it's mild enough that I didn't find it distracting.

Ergos are Honda good, I was able to hop in and get going right away. I do wish they'd put some "targeting" bumps on some of the buttons though to make it easier to place - I kept stabbing the dang Nanny button instead of TC half the time for example. Wish the armrest didn't have the cutout but the alcantara feels very nice on my elbow.

Interior is very nice overall and a huge jump from our '13 Si. If they slapped some more leather in there and added sound deadening they could legit call it an entry level luxury car IMO, oh wait - that's the upcoming Type-S!

I'm shocked that I don't want to tear out the Bose system - I had replacement speakers all lined up to order but I think I'll hold off. It's funny because the first track that played sounded TERRIBLE and I was like oh, man here's the POS Bose sound but other than that one track it actually sounds good at moderate volume. At high volumes it falls on its face and sounds like garbage - but I don't need that to be honest, sure I like to blast it on occasion but unlike Miatas it's not a convertible and doesn't require full blast just to hear it.

Very happy to see you can disable the various nannies and they stay off on restart, if only it would do that with VSA (and allow really, really off without shenanigans). In a FWD car the only time I'd ever want stability is in the rain - and hard pass on any form of "traction control" unless they get it from GM or Ferrari. So far the highly invasive never off VSA is the one big negative of the car to me.

Ok, there is one other issue that is legit - I had the infotainment issue today with the graphical corruption. Not sure if it's the app, car software, or phone... hopefully it will clear up with updates to one or all of those. Otherwise it works decently and is fairly responsive.

Cruise has a max of 90mph in case anyone is curious. I didn't play with it much but is there an "on the fly" adjustment for the cruise distance? I kinda expected the scroll wheel on the right button cluster to do that. I turned cruise on just to see it work and man it slowed down waaay far back and too much, like unusably so. Tomorrow I should have some time to actually just have fun with the car looking through menus without the pressure of trying to get home, I know there is a setting for this somewhere.

Power. There is plenty although once or twice I found myself having to downshift farther than I expected, haven't driven a boosted car in ages so I'll need to recalibrate a bit. Car cruises all day at high speed, very easy to find yourself in triple digits. Motor redlines as I would expect with power up to cutoff, not much sound though - kinda sad tbh. I loved winding out the motors in my Si and Miatas and hearing it, this car not so much. Will be doing an intake & exhaust of some sort methinks. Definitely the worst\weakest sounding of anything I've owned in 20 years I think I may have heard some turbo whooshes a few times and I want more!

22.x MPG btw and I have a very heavy foot. Like real heavy. How heavy? My ND Miata I bought used, the prior owner got 30mpg average over the 30k miles he had it. I got 19.

Haven't fooled around enough yet with modes, etc but in at least some the power gets real muted on upshifts - almost like a whack of TC. Not a fan. Power delivery is also a bit uneven? Eh, I'll get used to the turbo I guess.

Steering is interesting, I can tell it has wide tires & track but there doesn't appear to be a lot of feel - my ND Miata didn't either. This car should have a smaller diameter wheel and/or flat bottom IMO, a Miata with bucket seat shouldn't be easier to get into! I love the buttons - just the right amount to be useful but not cluttered. Like the rest of the car, tasteful not tacky.

Shifting is very, very good. Having owned NA and ND Miatas whose gearboxes are some of the best out there I rate the FL5 highly. Very short throws and smooth. Rev matching is impressive but feels a bit weird, I think it's because I'm used to doing it myself. I've left it on for now. Every Japanese car I've had have been easy to drive but I think this may be the easiest with the shifter throws being just a single notch in each direction and a clutch that feels like any other car. Rev hang appears moderate, it's something I don't like but the rev match system makes it moot to some extent.

Seats are great but could use more lumbar support. For this style of seat I'd rate them medium sized, not crazy narrow like the edirB seat I had last but also not as wide fitting as something like a Recaro SRD/Speed. I would not expect to feel the need to upgrade these for autox or track. They look the business.

Well there's a buttload of words about a car I've owned for all of 48hrs! Expect more

Very kosher. Thank you for this!

Sponsored

 

[mbaapk]

First 1,000 miles done in about 14hrs over the last two days road tripping the car from Monroe, LA to Miami, FL. For the worry warts out there, I hit redline within the first minute of driving it.

Great car. Below might sound like a list of complaintsand nit picking but bear in mind I'm from Connecticut and that's how we do If I hated the car you'd know. Also, be prepared for a lot of Miata comparisons hehheh.

What's with the light in the phone cubby? Haven't looked yet but I want that thing off. The two overhead mini lights I eventually tuned out but they are odd to me as well. I kinda dig the ambient door lighting though, it's mild enough that I didn't find it distracting.

Ergos are Honda good, I was able to hop in and get going right away. I do wish they'd put some "targeting" bumps on some of the buttons though to make it easier to place - I kept stabbing the dang Nanny button instead of TC half the time for example. Wish the armrest didn't have the cutout but the alcantara feels very nice on my elbow.

Interior is very nice overall and a huge jump from our '13 Si. If they slapped some more leather in there and added sound deadening they could legit call it an entry level luxury car IMO, oh wait - that's the upcoming Type-S!

I'm shocked that I don't want to tear out the Bose system - I had replacement speakers all lined up to order but I think I'll hold off. It's funny because the first track that played sounded TERRIBLE and I was like oh, man here's the POS Bose sound but other than that one track it actually sounds good at moderate volume. At high volumes it falls on its face and sounds like garbage - but I don't need that to be honest, sure I like to blast it on occasion but unlike Miatas it's not a convertible and doesn't require full blast just to hear it.

Very happy to see you can disable the various nannies and they stay off on restart, if only it would do that with VSA (and allow really, really off without shenanigans). In a FWD car the only time I'd ever want stability is in the rain - and hard pass on any form of "traction control" unless they get it from GM or Ferrari. So far the highly invasive never off VSA is the one big negative of the car to me.

Ok, there is one other issue that is legit - I had the infotainment issue today with the graphical corruption. Not sure if it's the app, car software, or phone... hopefully it will clear up with updates to one or all of those. Otherwise it works decently and is fairly responsive.

Cruise has a max of 90mph in case anyone is curious. I didn't play with it much but is there an "on the fly" adjustment for the cruise distance? I kinda expected the scroll wheel on the right button cluster to do that. I turned cruise on just to see it work and man it slowed down waaay far back and too much, like unusably so. Tomorrow I should have some time to actually just have fun with the car looking through menus without the pressure of trying to get home, I know there is a setting for this somewhere.

Power. There is plenty although once or twice I found myself having to downshift farther than I expected, haven't driven a boosted car in ages so I'll need to recalibrate a bit. Car cruises all day at high speed, very easy to find yourself in triple digits. Motor redlines as I would expect with power up to cutoff, not much sound though - kinda sad tbh. I loved winding out the motors in my Si and Miatas and hearing it, this car not so much. Will be doing an intake & exhaust of some sort methinks. Definitely the worst\weakest sounding of anything I've owned in 20 years I think I may have heard some turbo whooshes a few times and I want more!

22.x MPG btw and I have a very heavy foot. Like real heavy. How heavy? My ND Miata I bought used, the prior owner got 30mpg average over the 30k miles he had it. I got 19.

Haven't fooled around enough yet with modes, etc but in at least some the power gets real muted on upshifts - almost like a whack of TC. Not a fan. Power delivery is also a bit uneven? Eh, I'll get used to the turbo I guess.

Steering is interesting, I can tell it has wide tires & track but there doesn't appear to be a lot of feel - my ND Miata didn't either. This car should have a smaller diameter wheel and/or flat bottom IMO, a Miata with bucket seat shouldn't be easier to get into! I love the buttons - just the right amount to be useful but not cluttered. Like the rest of the car, tasteful not tacky.

Shifting is very, very good. Having owned NA and ND Miatas whose gearboxes are some of the best out there I rate the FL5 highly. Very short throws and smooth. Rev matching is impressive but feels a bit weird, I think it's because I'm used to doing it myself. I've left it on for now. Every Japanese car I've had have been easy to drive but I think this may be the easiest with the shifter throws being just a single notch in each direction and a clutch that feels like any other car. Rev hang appears moderate, it's something I don't like but the rev match system makes it moot to some extent.

Seats are great but could use more lumbar support. For this style of seat I'd rate them medium sized, not crazy narrow like the edirB seat I had last but also not as wide fitting as something like a Recaro SRD/Speed. I would not expect to feel the need to upgrade these for autox or track. They look the business.

Well there's a buttload of words about a car I've owned for all of 48hrs! Expect more

After reading this one thinking maybe you should return and get a GT4. Mostly negatives here, would not want buyers remorse.

 

[pigfacedalarm]

First 1,000 miles done in about 14hrs over the last two days road tripping the car from Monroe, LA to Miami, FL. For the worry warts out there, I hit redline within the first minute of driving it.

Great car. Below might sound like a list of complaintsand nit picking but bear in mind I'm from Connecticut and that's how we do If I hated the car you'd know. Also, be prepared for a lot of Miata comparisons hehheh.

What's with the light in the phone cubby? Haven't looked yet but I want that thing off. The two overhead mini lights I eventually tuned out but they are odd to me as well. I kinda dig the ambient door lighting though, it's mild enough that I didn't find it distracting.

Ergos are Honda good, I was able to hop in and get going right away. I do wish they'd put some "targeting" bumps on some of the buttons though to make it easier to place - I kept stabbing the dang Nanny button instead of TC half the time for example. Wish the armrest didn't have the cutout but the alcantara feels very nice on my elbow.

Interior is very nice overall and a huge jump from our '13 Si. If they slapped some more leather in there and added sound deadening they could legit call it an entry level luxury car IMO, oh wait - that's the upcoming Type-S!

I'm shocked that I don't want to tear out the Bose system - I had replacement speakers all lined up to order but I think I'll hold off. It's funny because the first track that played sounded TERRIBLE and I was like oh, man here's the POS Bose sound but other than that one track it actually sounds good at moderate volume. At high volumes it falls on its face and sounds like garbage - but I don't need that to be honest, sure I like to blast it on occasion but unlike Miatas it's not a convertible and doesn't require full blast just to hear it.

Very happy to see you can disable the various nannies and they stay off on restart, if only it would do that with VSA (and allow really, really off without shenanigans). In a FWD car the only time I'd ever want stability is in the rain - and hard pass on any form of "traction control" unless they get it from GM or Ferrari. So far the highly invasive never off VSA is the one big negative of the car to me.

Ok, there is one other issue that is legit - I had the infotainment issue today with the graphical corruption. Not sure if it's the app, car software, or phone... hopefully it will clear up with updates to one or all of those. Otherwise it works decently and is fairly responsive.

Cruise has a max of 90mph in case anyone is curious. I didn't play with it much but is there an "on the fly" adjustment for the cruise distance? I kinda expected the scroll wheel on the right button cluster to do that. I turned cruise on just to see it work and man it slowed down waaay far back and too much, like unusably so. Tomorrow I should have some time to actually just have fun with the car looking through menus without the pressure of trying to get home, I know there is a setting for this somewhere.

Power. There is plenty although once or twice I found myself having to downshift farther than I expected, haven't driven a boosted car in ages so I'll need to recalibrate a bit. Car cruises all day at high speed, very easy to find yourself in triple digits. Motor redlines as I would expect with power up to cutoff, not much sound though - kinda sad tbh. I loved winding out the motors in my Si and Miatas and hearing it, this car not so much. Will be doing an intake & exhaust of some sort methinks. Definitely the worst\weakest sounding of anything I've owned in 20 years I think I may have heard some turbo whooshes a few times and I want more!

22.x MPG btw and I have a very heavy foot. Like real heavy. How heavy? My ND Miata I bought used, the prior owner got 30mpg average over the 30k miles he had it. I got 19.

Haven't fooled around enough yet with modes, etc but in at least some the power gets real muted on upshifts - almost like a whack of TC. Not a fan. Power delivery is also a bit uneven? Eh, I'll get used to the turbo I guess.

Steering is interesting, I can tell it has wide tires & track but there doesn't appear to be a lot of feel - my ND Miata didn't either. This car should have a smaller diameter wheel and/or flat bottom IMO, a Miata with bucket seat shouldn't be easier to get into! I love the buttons - just the right amount to be useful but not cluttered. Like the rest of the car, tasteful not tacky.

Shifting is very, very good. Having owned NA and ND Miatas whose gearboxes are some of the best out there I rate the FL5 highly. Very short throws and smooth. Rev matching is impressive but feels a bit weird, I think it's because I'm used to doing it myself. I've left it on for now. Every Japanese car I've had have been easy to drive but I think this may be the easiest with the shifter throws being just a single notch in each direction and a clutch that feels like any other car. Rev hang appears moderate, it's something I don't like but the rev match system makes it moot to some extent.

Seats are great but could use more lumbar support. For this style of seat I'd rate them medium sized, not crazy narrow like the edirB seat I had last but also not as wide fitting as something like a Recaro SRD/Speed. I would not expect to feel the need to upgrade these for autox or track. They look the business.

Well there's a buttload of words about a car I've owned for all of 48hrs! Expect more

Man, turn off that auto rev control (can do it in Vehicle Settings) and enjoy it!!

also, how did the front end paint hold up? A lot of rock chips, no rock chips? I had a 40 mile drive home and somehow picked up no rock chips. Everyone had me scared, saying Honda paint is notoriously thin and soft, and rock chips are prevalent. I come from Subaru, and if you sneeze on the paint, it chips.

 

[Tickle]

The Type R paint is quite soft. So far I've been lucky but honestly it's only a matter of time.

I tend to drive less on the interstate and take the longer way home so I have purchased the car. Enjoying the drive!

 

[Clark_Kent]

First 1,000 miles done in about 14hrs over the last two days road tripping the car from Monroe, LA to Miami, FL. For the worry warts out there, I hit redline within the first minute of driving it.

Great car. Below might sound like a list of complaintsand nit picking but bear in mind I'm from Connecticut and that's how we do If I hated the car you'd know. Also, be prepared for a lot of Miata comparisons hehheh.

What's with the light in the phone cubby? Haven't looked yet but I want that thing off. The two overhead mini lights I eventually tuned out but they are odd to me as well. I kinda dig the ambient door lighting though, it's mild enough that I didn't find it distracting.

Ergos are Honda good, I was able to hop in and get going right away. I do wish they'd put some "targeting" bumps on some of the buttons though to make it easier to place - I kept stabbing the dang Nanny button instead of TC half the time for example. Wish the armrest didn't have the cutout but the alcantara feels very nice on my elbow.

Interior is very nice overall and a huge jump from our '13 Si. If they slapped some more leather in there and added sound deadening they could legit call it an entry level luxury car IMO, oh wait - that's the upcoming Type-S!

I'm shocked that I don't want to tear out the Bose system - I had replacement speakers all lined up to order but I think I'll hold off. It's funny because the first track that played sounded TERRIBLE and I was like oh, man here's the POS Bose sound but other than that one track it actually sounds good at moderate volume. At high volumes it falls on its face and sounds like garbage - but I don't need that to be honest, sure I like to blast it on occasion but unlike Miatas it's not a convertible and doesn't require full blast just to hear it.

Very happy to see you can disable the various nannies and they stay off on restart, if only it would do that with VSA (and allow really, really off without shenanigans). In a FWD car the only time I'd ever want stability is in the rain - and hard pass on any form of "traction control" unless they get it from GM or Ferrari. So far the highly invasive never off VSA is the one big negative of the car to me.

Ok, there is one other issue that is legit - I had the infotainment issue today with the graphical corruption. Not sure if it's the app, car software, or phone... hopefully it will clear up with updates to one or all of those. Otherwise it works decently and is fairly responsive.

Cruise has a max of 90mph in case anyone is curious. I didn't play with it much but is there an "on the fly" adjustment for the cruise distance? I kinda expected the scroll wheel on the right button cluster to do that. I turned cruise on just to see it work and man it slowed down waaay far back and too much, like unusably so. Tomorrow I should have some time to actually just have fun with the car looking through menus without the pressure of trying to get home, I know there is a setting for this somewhere.

Power. There is plenty although once or twice I found myself having to downshift farther than I expected, haven't driven a boosted car in ages so I'll need to recalibrate a bit. Car cruises all day at high speed, very easy to find yourself in triple digits. Motor redlines as I would expect with power up to cutoff, not much sound though - kinda sad tbh. I loved winding out the motors in my Si and Miatas and hearing it, this car not so much. Will be doing an intake & exhaust of some sort methinks. Definitely the worst\weakest sounding of anything I've owned in 20 years I think I may have heard some turbo whooshes a few times and I want more!

22.x MPG btw and I have a very heavy foot. Like real heavy. How heavy? My ND Miata I bought used, the prior owner got 30mpg average over the 30k miles he had it. I got 19.

Haven't fooled around enough yet with modes, etc but in at least some the power gets real muted on upshifts - almost like a whack of TC. Not a fan. Power delivery is also a bit uneven? Eh, I'll get used to the turbo I guess.

Steering is interesting, I can tell it has wide tires & track but there doesn't appear to be a lot of feel - my ND Miata didn't either. This car should have a smaller diameter wheel and/or flat bottom IMO, a Miata with bucket seat shouldn't be easier to get into! I love the buttons - just the right amount to be useful but not cluttered. Like the rest of the car, tasteful not tacky.

Shifting is very, very good. Having owned NA and ND Miatas whose gearboxes are some of the best out there I rate the FL5 highly. Very short throws and smooth. Rev matching is impressive but feels a bit weird, I think it's because I'm used to doing it myself. I've left it on for now. Every Japanese car I've had have been easy to drive but I think this may be the easiest with the shifter throws being just a single notch in each direction and a clutch that feels like any other car. Rev hang appears moderate, it's something I don't like but the rev match system makes it moot to some extent.

Seats are great but could use more lumbar support. For this style of seat I'd rate them medium sized, not crazy narrow like the edirB seat I had last but also not as wide fitting as something like a Recaro SRD/Speed. I would not expect to feel the need to upgrade these for autox or track. They look the business.

Well there's a buttload of words about a car I've owned for all of 48hrs! Expect more

Congratulations on finally picking up the car! It's always great reading reviews and perspectives on the CTR from enthusiasts and not just YT'ers and/or journalists. I appreciate the "I'm from Connecticut" disclaimer but it sounds like a lot of cons for items that will never resolve and very few pros. For example, the seats will never have more lumbar support, the sound of the car will likely never be excellent no matter how many exhaust or intake modifications you make, and the Bose system will not all the sudden get better. Sure you can change every little thing to your liking but then that begs the question: Should you just get a different car that checks more boxes out of the gate?

 

[mbaapk]

The Type R paint is quite soft. So far I've been lucky but honestly it's only a matter of time.

I tend to drive less on the interstate and take the longer way home so I have purchased the car. Enjoying the drive!

Let my flaming commence

 

[mbaapk]

Congratulations on finally picking up the car! It's always great reading reviews and perspectives on the CTR from enthusiasts and not just YT'ers and/or journalists. I appreciate the "I'm from Connecticut" disclaimer but it sounds like a lot of cons for items that will never resolve and very few pros. For example, the seats will never have more lumbar support, the sound of the car will likely never be excellent no matter how many exhaust or intake modifications you make, and the Bose system will not all the sudden get better. Sure you can change every little thing to your liking but then that begs the question: Should you just get a different car that checks more boxes out of the gate?

Funny thing is the bose actually sound great. I typically rely on premium brands like sennheiser for my jams (audiophile) and the bose are solid.

My interpretation of the Bose…

 

[pigfacedalarm]

The Type R paint is quite soft. So far I've been lucky but honestly it's only a matter of time.

I tend to drive less on the interstate and take the longer way home so I have purchased the car. Enjoying the drive!

I hear everyone say that, but I’m curious to see how many chips Icehawk picked up on his journey. My 40 miles highway trip and I had zero rock chips. I think Subaru paint may be the worst- I doubt Honda can be that bad. If Icehawk had no rock chips in his 1000 mile highway jaunt, I’ll feel much better about Honda’s paint. It’s my first Honda, and anecdotally so far, the paint isn’t as soft as everyone says. Not nearly as bad as Subaru.

 

[AspecR]

I hear everyone say that, but I’m curious to see how many chips Icehawk picked up on his journey. My 40 miles highway trip and I had zero rock chips. I think Subaru paint may be the worst- I doubt Honda can be that bad. If Icehawk had no rock chips in his 1000 mile highway jaunt, I’ll feel much better about Honda’s paint. It’s my first Honda, and anecdotally so far, the paint isn’t as soft as everyone says. Not nearly as bad as Subaru.

On my 600 mile drive home from Georgia I had zero rock chips. 2 weeks later the good ole Florida highways gave me a lil something to remember them by.

 

[yeaitsahonda]

First 1,000 miles done in about 14hrs over the last two days road tripping the car from Monroe, LA to Miami, FL. For the worry warts out there, I hit redline within the first minute of driving it.

Great car. Below might sound like a list of complaintsand nit picking but bear in mind I'm from Connecticut and that's how we do If I hated the car you'd know. Also, be prepared for a lot of Miata comparisons hehheh.

What's with the light in the phone cubby? Haven't looked yet but I want that thing off. The two overhead mini lights I eventually tuned out but they are odd to me as well. I kinda dig the ambient door lighting though, it's mild enough that I didn't find it distracting.

Ergos are Honda good, I was able to hop in and get going right away. I do wish they'd put some "targeting" bumps on some of the buttons though to make it easier to place - I kept stabbing the dang Nanny button instead of TC half the time for example. Wish the armrest didn't have the cutout but the alcantara feels very nice on my elbow.

Interior is very nice overall and a huge jump from our '13 Si. If they slapped some more leather in there and added sound deadening they could legit call it an entry level luxury car IMO, oh wait - that's the upcoming Type-S!

I'm shocked that I don't want to tear out the Bose system - I had replacement speakers all lined up to order but I think I'll hold off. It's funny because the first track that played sounded TERRIBLE and I was like oh, man here's the POS Bose sound but other than that one track it actually sounds good at moderate volume. At high volumes it falls on its face and sounds like garbage - but I don't need that to be honest, sure I like to blast it on occasion but unlike Miatas it's not a convertible and doesn't require full blast just to hear it.

Very happy to see you can disable the various nannies and they stay off on restart, if only it would do that with VSA (and allow really, really off without shenanigans). In a FWD car the only time I'd ever want stability is in the rain - and hard pass on any form of "traction control" unless they get it from GM or Ferrari. So far the highly invasive never off VSA is the one big negative of the car to me.

Ok, there is one other issue that is legit - I had the infotainment issue today with the graphical corruption. Not sure if it's the app, car software, or phone... hopefully it will clear up with updates to one or all of those. Otherwise it works decently and is fairly responsive.

Cruise has a max of 90mph in case anyone is curious. I didn't play with it much but is there an "on the fly" adjustment for the cruise distance? I kinda expected the scroll wheel on the right button cluster to do that. I turned cruise on just to see it work and man it slowed down waaay far back and too much, like unusably so. Tomorrow I should have some time to actually just have fun with the car looking through menus without the pressure of trying to get home, I know there is a setting for this somewhere.

Power. There is plenty although once or twice I found myself having to downshift farther than I expected, haven't driven a boosted car in ages so I'll need to recalibrate a bit. Car cruises all day at high speed, very easy to find yourself in triple digits. Motor redlines as I would expect with power up to cutoff, not much sound though - kinda sad tbh. I loved winding out the motors in my Si and Miatas and hearing it, this car not so much. Will be doing an intake & exhaust of some sort methinks. Definitely the worst\weakest sounding of anything I've owned in 20 years I think I may have heard some turbo whooshes a few times and I want more!

22.x MPG btw and I have a very heavy foot. Like real heavy. How heavy? My ND Miata I bought used, the prior owner got 30mpg average over the 30k miles he had it. I got 19.

Haven't fooled around enough yet with modes, etc but in at least some the power gets real muted on upshifts - almost like a whack of TC. Not a fan. Power delivery is also a bit uneven? Eh, I'll get used to the turbo I guess.

Steering is interesting, I can tell it has wide tires & track but there doesn't appear to be a lot of feel - my ND Miata didn't either. This car should have a smaller diameter wheel and/or flat bottom IMO, a Miata with bucket seat shouldn't be easier to get into! I love the buttons - just the right amount to be useful but not cluttered. Like the rest of the car, tasteful not tacky.

Shifting is very, very good. Having owned NA and ND Miatas whose gearboxes are some of the best out there I rate the FL5 highly. Very short throws and smooth. Rev matching is impressive but feels a bit weird, I think it's because I'm used to doing it myself. I've left it on for now. Every Japanese car I've had have been easy to drive but I think this may be the easiest with the shifter throws being just a single notch in each direction and a clutch that feels like any other car. Rev hang appears moderate, it's something I don't like but the rev match system makes it moot to some extent.

Seats are great but could use more lumbar support. For this style of seat I'd rate them medium sized, not crazy narrow like the edirB seat I had last but also not as wide fitting as something like a Recaro SRD/Speed. I would not expect to feel the need to upgrade these for autox or track. They look the business.

Well there's a buttload of words about a car I've owned for all of 48hrs! Expect more

About the cruise distance- I think you have to push one of the buttons on the right side of the wheel then you can use the scroll to adjust. I think there are 4 options to pick from.

 

[Icehawk]

LOL, so I wrote that after a long day driving it home and in retrospect I can see why some think I'm unhappy or not going to love this car long term. Expect a long reply below...

Have you seen it's widebody? Those fat 265s?! This car is dope and it's a keeper. It's really a great all-arounder and something my wife can enjoy driving too, she was not a fan of driving my Miatas really. She loves her '13 Si (and the dearly departed '99). She's got good taste IMO



For me buying the CTR is coming full circle to the first car I bought.

Growing up in the 80s/90s all the cars I would later watch in Initial D were the ones I thought were so cool, when I was in college in Boston there were some dope modded rides - you'd see Dinan BMWs and Supras with their giant wings cruising around. Man, I wanted something cool too but I was driving a junker Volvo 240GLT that had seen better days.

Not the S-boxes my parents gave or "helped" me buy but the first car I bought - it was brand new and oh so cool a 1999 Electron Pearl Blue Civic Si. There was this one car though... it was even cooler but at $24,500 the ITR was just too much for me at 24yrs old and in my first series of career (IT) jobs in Boston.

Ever since though I've lusted after Type Rs and I'm a through and through JDM fanboy - every car I've bought with my own money has been a Honda or a Mazda. My wife and I loved that EBP Si for 13 years until the fifth, and final time, it was stolen. We absolutely would still have it today if not for that. That B16b motor was so sweet, oh man. That redline... sold me in the first two minutes of the test drive.

Buying a CTR is the fulfillment of 24 years of desire for me and one I can, and have, attained. It's never leaving our family.


My wife and I went over what cars made sense for our current needs and it was pretty much CTR, GRC, M2, CT4V-BW, or Mustang. We've got a 6yr old son so my wife really wanted this new car to be a 4 seater that could be dailied but would also let me take it to shows and track events.

Price made me shy away from the M2 & BW, GRC is too chintzy and I've yet to drive a Toyota that made me giggle (I've driven 1st gen MR2 and MRS a few times). I was never going to buy a Blackwing, it's a friggin' Caddy but it drove like it costs IMO. Super nice and we even put a deposit down on one while we searched for a CTR. The Mustang was pretty good and that V8... oh, man it sounds GLORIOUS. Like I could just rip gears in that thing until I die of old age... but it's American and that means unreliable.

It may sound crazy but my #1 thing is the car has to be reliable (read: Japanese) - I do not need to have a car that breaks down or has costly repairs, I think this comes from the series of POS cars I, and my friends, had as teens that always needed something. That Volvo was costing me like $400 a month in repairs before I said I'd had enough that money could be paying for something new. #2, must be manual. I've driven the BW and Mustang with autos and they are a lot better than what I'm used to in cars like my old Accord but... still a hard pass. I won't buy German cars although I admit the new M2 had me willing to at least consider for a minute - but a dealer I know said as of last month he had no info on them incoming and my hunch is ADM would push it up into BW territory.



I miss RWD though, no lie, so I "need" another Miata or something to feed my other driving addictions. I'd love a S2000 but their age is starting to get up there and Miatas are a known, good, quantity for me so I'll probably pick one up in a couple years and mod the bejesus out of it for drift/track type fun. Kinda need a garage first my wife says before we throw a project car into the mix and I agree.

After reading this one thinking maybe you should return and get a GT4. Mostly negatives here, would not want buyers remorse.

No remorse here. I'm just a nitpicker, no joke the more I like something the more I'm going to look for those little things that would make it perfect to me. If I didn't like it I'd review it like the Tuscon I had as a rental recently: Terrible transmission, no power, poor ride quality. That's about it, no point going into fine details since I would not recommend this vehicle to anyone. Oh, it had a good infotainment system though - super fast.

My NA Miata was customized all over the place from the differential (RX-7 clutch lsd) to JDM Mazdaspeed seats. Nothing is perfect but it sure can be fun trying to make it so - or drive you nuts if you are that type. I like to mod stuff.

I've never driven a GT4 but my sister had a 718 and honestly I didn't like it that much. The gearing and power make it unusable on the street for me - I want to get a RWD car loose at low speeds and have fun not blast a corner at breakneck speed. I'm sure it would be a killer track toy though and I certainly wouldn't turn down one if it descended from heaven

Man, turn off that auto rev control (can do it in Vehicle Settings) and enjoy it!!

also, how did the front end paint hold up? A lot of rock chips, no rock chips? I had a 40 mile drive home and somehow picked up no rock chips. Everyone had me scared, saying Honda paint is notoriously thin and soft, and rock chips are prevalent. I come from Subaru, and if you sneeze on the paint, it chips.

I will admit, I'm not the best heel/toe guy and these cars for me aren't easy as it's a totally different "pace" - I drove a (here it is again) NA Miata with lightweight flywheel for 17yrs and that just revved so much freer & faster, I've got that amount and speed of blip kinda ingrained. When I drive my wife's car the rev hang always messes with me.

I'm certainly going to drive the CTR both ways of course, needs a dang button! There is a perfect spot for one too right below the mode switch - wouldn't shock me if the FL5.2 has that. Retrofit!

Paint looks perfect from a chip POV (I can see some light swirls). I was a bit worried as a few times on the trip a dump truck ahead of me was spilling debris and I could hear some pinging. I did the first round of cleaning - man SO MANY BUGS DIED FOR ME - and didn't see any chips. I imagine it might be harder to spot them on CW though. My ND Miata was so bad, no kidding in the 3 years I had it more chips than the 17yr old NA that I had! My wife's 13 Si is pretty bad, the leading edge of the hood has numerous large spots with bare metal at all of 60k miles.

Congratulations on finally picking up the car! It's always great reading reviews and perspectives on the CTR from enthusiasts and not just YT'ers and/or journalists. I appreciate the "I'm from Connecticut" disclaimer but it sounds like a lot of cons for items that will never resolve and very few pros. For example, the seats will never have more lumbar support, the sound of the car will likely never be excellent no matter how many exhaust or intake modifications you make, and the Bose system will not all the sudden get better. Sure you can change every little thing to your liking but then that begs the question: Should you just get a different car that checks more boxes out of the gate?

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Bear in mind I'm 47 and my back ain't great - the seats are a B+ in comfort and A+ in keeping you in place, I'm just spoiled from the Mazdaspeed seats I had in the NA - they were JDM versions of Recaro SRDs designed for endurance racing and were the most comfortable seats I've ever encountered. I should never have sold the car with them in it. I had a Bride in my ND and that just sucked - literally no lumbar or shaping of any sort to the back and they used cheap one layer closed cell foam in a fabric pillow case for cushions. Ridiculous for their price, I do NOT recommend the brand in any way. It did look dope as hell though in the car and you were not moving an inch in the corners.

For longer trips I might need to throw a lumbar pillow in, I can live with that.

Oh, I bet the exhaust can sound better, or at least loud enough to hear. My Bonneville needed pipes, my ND Miata got a replacement muffler... no biggie. I just need to ride the line of "can hear it" and "where's the earplugs", I had a buddy whose NA Miata had this jumbo dual setup and it's drone was brutal. Like shoot yourself in the head bad on the highway. Super fun when autocrossing or taking it out for a 30min spin on the twisties though. Or for making people jump at the gas station when you rev it

Hopefully we can get a bit more sound from the intake side too, man the Si motors sound so sweet I just want a teensie taste please! I'd love to hear some PSSSH noises too, I'll admit I have a juvenile love of blowoff sounds, but I know that's probably not much in the cards here.

Like I said the Bose I found to be "fine" and if you throw money at it probably the easiest to fix if I wanted. My hunch is most people would be very happy with it. I drove convertibles daily for 20yrs and don't expect much from my car audio-wise, mostly I want to hear the car TBH, but I'm familiar with good audio and enjoy it at home.

I can always pop some CDTs in the front door, replace the tweeters, toss in the spare powered sub I have... did that in the ND and it was a good enough improvement to satisfy me without spending too much.

I mean, let's be honest - I'm going to do that at some point just because I can, lol - just not an immediate need like the ND I had where the Bose just couldn't support the volumes needed to hear the music at all, let alone get some volume over the wind noise. The 6.5" door speakers were like under 2lbs each, it was hilarious. Some of the cheapest looking speakers I've seen The Miata guys were like "it's lightweight" and I was like yeah, I can budget an extra 5lbs so I can hear the damn audio.

Remember, I like modifying my car. No, love. In the pictures below you can spot my first "mod".


Here she is post wash & de-ironing today - still need to clay, lightly polish as needed, and graphene coat.

 

[Clark_Kent]

LOL, so I wrote that after a long day driving it home and in retrospect I can see why some think I'm unhappy or not going to love this car long term. Expect a long reply below...

Have you seen it's widebody? Those fat 265s?! This car is dope and it's a keeper. It's really a great all-arounder and something my wife can enjoy driving too, she was not a fan of driving my Miatas really. She loves her '13 Si (and the dearly departed '99). She's got good taste IMO



For me buying the CTR is coming full circle to the first car I bought.

Growing up in the 80s/90s all the cars I would later watch in Initial D were the ones I thought were so cool, when I was in college in Boston there were some dope modded rides - you'd see Dinan BMWs and Supras with their giant wings cruising around. Man, I wanted something cool too but I was driving a junker Volvo 240GLT that had seen better days.

Not the S-boxes my parents gave or "helped" me buy but the first car I bought - it was brand new and oh so cool a 1999 Electron Pearl Blue Civic Si. There was this one car though... it was even cooler but at $24,500 the ITR was just too much for me at 24yrs old and in my first series of career (IT) jobs in Boston.

Ever since though I've lusted after Type Rs and I'm a through and through JDM fanboy - every car I've bought with my own money has been a Honda or a Mazda. My wife and I loved that EBP Si for 13 years until the fifth, and final time, it was stolen. We absolutely would still have it today if not for that. That B16b motor was so sweet, oh man. That redline... sold me in the first two minutes of the test drive.

Buying a CTR is the fulfillment of 24 years of desire for me and one I can, and have, attained. It's never leaving our family.


My wife and I went over what cars made sense for our current needs and it was pretty much CTR, GRC, M2, CT4V-BW, or Mustang. We've got a 6yr old son so my wife really wanted this new car to be a 4 seater that could be dailied but would also let me take it to shows and track events.

Price made me shy away from the M2 & BW, GRC is too chintzy and I've yet to drive a Toyota that made me giggle (I've driven 1st gen MR2 and MRS a few times). I was never going to buy a Blackwing, it's a friggin' Caddy but it drove like it costs IMO. Super nice and we even put a deposit down on one while we searched for a CTR. The Mustang was pretty good and that V8... oh, man it sounds GLORIOUS. Like I could just rip gears in that thing until I die of old age... but it's American and that means unreliable.

It may sound crazy but my #1 thing is the car has to be reliable (read: Japanese) - I do not need to have a car that breaks down or has costly repairs, I think this comes from the series of POS cars I, and my friends, had as teens that always needed something. That Volvo was costing me like $400 a month in repairs before I said I'd had enough that money could be paying for something new. #2, must be manual. I've driven the BW and Mustang with autos and they are a lot better than what I'm used to in cars like my old Accord but... still a hard pass. I won't buy German cars although I admit the new M2 had me willing to at least consider for a minute - but a dealer I know said as of last month he had no info on them incoming and my hunch is ADM would push it up into BW territory.



I miss RWD though, no lie, so I "need" another Miata or something to feed my other driving addictions. I'd love a S2000 but their age is starting to get up there and Miatas are a known, good, quantity for me so I'll probably pick one up in a couple years and mod the bejesus out of it for drift/track type fun. Kinda need a garage first my wife says before we throw a project car into the mix and I agree.



No remorse here. I'm just a nitpicker, no joke the more I like something the more I'm going to look for those little things that would make it perfect to me. If I didn't like it I'd review it like the Tuscon I had as a rental recently: Terrible transmission, no power, poor ride quality. That's about it, no point going into fine details since I would not recommend this vehicle to anyone. Oh, it had a good infotainment system though - super fast.

My NA Miata was customized all over the place from the differential (RX-7 clutch lsd) to JDM Mazdaspeed seats. Nothing is perfect but it sure can be fun trying to make it so - or drive you nuts if you are that type. I like to mod stuff.

I've never driven a GT4 but my sister had a 718 and honestly I didn't like it that much. The gearing and power make it unusable on the street for me - I want to get a RWD car loose at low speeds and have fun not blast a corner at breakneck speed. I'm sure it would be a killer track toy though and I certainly wouldn't turn down one if it descended from heaven



I will admit, I'm not the best heel/toe guy and these cars for me aren't easy as it's a totally different "pace" - I drove a (here it is again) NA Miata with lightweight flywheel for 17yrs and that just revved so much freer & faster, I've got that amount and speed of blip kinda ingrained. When I drive my wife's car the rev hang always messes with me.

I'm certainly going to drive the CTR both ways of course, needs a dang button! There is a perfect spot for one too right below the mode switch - wouldn't shock me if the FL5.2 has that. Retrofit!

Paint looks perfect from a chip POV (I can see some light swirls). I was a bit worried as a few times on the trip a dump truck ahead of me was spilling debris and I could hear some pinging. I did the first round of cleaning - man SO MANY BUGS DIED FOR ME - and didn't see any chips. I imagine it might be harder to spot them on CW though. My ND Miata was so bad, no kidding in the 3 years I had it more chips than the 17yr old NA that I had! My wife's 13 Si is pretty bad, the leading edge of the hood has numerous large spots with bare metal at all of 60k miles.



Thank you, I appreciate that.

Bear in mind I'm 47 and my back ain't great - the seats are a B+ in comfort and A+ in keeping you in place, I'm just spoiled from the Mazdaspeed seats I had in the NA - they were JDM versions of Recaro SRDs designed for endurance racing and were the most comfortable seats I've ever encountered. I should never have sold the car with them in it. I had a Bride in my ND and that just sucked - literally no lumbar or shaping of any sort to the back and they used cheap one layer closed cell foam in a fabric pillow case for cushions. Ridiculous for their price, I do NOT recommend the brand in any way. It did look dope as hell though in the car and you were not moving an inch in the corners.

For longer trips I might need to throw a lumbar pillow in, I can live with that.

Oh, I bet the exhaust can sound better, or at least loud enough to hear. My Bonneville needed pipes, my ND Miata got a replacement muffler... no biggie. I just need to ride the line of "can hear it" and "where's the earplugs", I had a buddy whose NA Miata had this jumbo dual setup and it's drone was brutal. Like shoot yourself in the head bad on the highway. Super fun when autocrossing or taking it out for a 30min spin on the twisties though. Or for making people jump at the gas station when you rev it

Hopefully we can get a bit more sound from the intake side too, man the Si motors sound so sweet I just want a teensie taste please! I'd love to hear some PSSSH noises too, I'll admit I have a juvenile love of blowoff sounds, but I know that's probably not much in the cards here.

Like I said the Bose I found to be "fine" and if you throw money at it probably the easiest to fix if I wanted. My hunch is most people would be very happy with it. I drove convertibles daily for 20yrs and don't expect much from my car audio-wise, mostly I want to hear the car TBH, but I'm familiar with good audio and enjoy it at home.

I can always pop some CDTs in the front door, replace the tweeters, toss in the spare powered sub I have... did that in the ND and it was a good enough improvement to satisfy me without spending too much.

I mean, let's be honest - I'm going to do that at some point just because I can, lol - just not an immediate need like the ND I had where the Bose just couldn't support the volumes needed to hear the music at all, let alone get some volume over the wind noise. The 6.5" door speakers were like under 2lbs each, it was hilarious. Some of the cheapest looking speakers I've seen The Miata guys were like "it's lightweight" and I was like yeah, I can budget an extra 5lbs so I can hear the damn audio.

Remember, I like modifying my car. No, love. In the pictures below you can spot my first "mod".


Here she is post wash & de-ironing today - still need to clay, lightly polish as needed, and graphene coat.

Long post but I read every word of it. There are many bits that resonate with me. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[CTRifecta]

Some initial impressions while I'm still breaking the car in (only at 50 miles so far):

Interior:
Seats are super comfortable and as someone who's a little out of shape, I was worried they'd be too tight. I also find lumbar support to be adequate , however we'll see how they hold up to a longer drive.

While the bright red carpets and seats look great, one of the first things I did was install a set of black tuxmats and dream seat covers, as this is going to be my DD. Interior is much more subdued now, and you still have the red belts, red H logo the steering wheel, CTR # plaque to feel special. BTW, love the tuxmats, they cover much more of the red carpet vs. weathertechs.

Based on my seating position, I struggle to avoid hitting the bottom of the steering wheel when getting in and out of the car, do others have this issue too?

Rear seats have plenty of room, and already took my 3 and 6yr old out for a drive and we all fit perfectly.

For a Civic, I gotta say, VERY impressed by the interior quality, layout, and features. Bose system is good enough. Gauge cluster is very crisp and customizable. Also, for those who don't like having too much info, you're able to show just the gauges which is cool.

Exterior:
Looks better in person, the widebody really pops and is hard to capture in photos. Boost blue is bright AF, I am officially a hot boy While my #1 choice was CW, blue fits this car very well and is a great color. Personally I will just need to get used to how loud it is, which is fine.

Driving impressions:

Lots of forward visibility which is noticeable

Wow - lots of tire noise from the PS4s

For those who are worried about the ride - IT'S FINE! especially in comfort mode. I live in the northeast with arguably the worst roads ever, and in comfort mode it was totally fine. I feel like a lot of folks on here had their shipping blocks still installed when reviewing the ride. I even flipped it to R+ for a little bit, and under normal relaxed driving, the ride was still fine.

Steering is light in comfort mode, sport mode seems the most 'natural' feeling for the car, if that makes sense.

Handling is amazing, seriously, and I haven't even pushed it that hard yet. Corners completely flat, and is very confidence inspiring. Compared to my AP2 (stock), it's much flatter. I am looking fwd to my first track day with this thing

Shifter feel is pretty good. Clutch is super easy, and I like the gear ratios a lot. Compared to my AP2, the shifter isn't as direct, however it's definitely solid and mechanical feeling. I'm still learning how to deal with the rev-matching.

Engine, while still under break-in (keeping it under 5k for now), feels very strong and boost comes in quick. Perfect amount of power for a fun DD in my opinion. Engine tuning feels good too.

With all the fake engine noise turned off, the exhaust note isn't that bad for a daily driver. Sure, I wish there were some pops and bangs, but that can be added via aftermarket tunes i'm sure

Brakes are amazing. you breathe on them, and they stop. Nothing more to add than what most others have stated. I do miss having a real parking brake, but that's it.

Compared to the focus RS I used to own, this thing is on a completely different level.

 

[Robert.C]

Some initial impressions while I'm still breaking the car in (only at 50 miles so far):

Interior:
Seats are super comfortable and as someone who's a little out of shape, I was worried they'd be too tight. I also find lumbar support to be adequate , however we'll see how they hold up to a longer drive.

While the bright red carpets and seats look great, one of the first things I did was install a set of black tuxmats and dream seat covers, as this is going to be my DD. Interior is much more subdued now, and you still have the red belts, red H logo the steering wheel, CTR # plaque to feel special. BTW, love the tuxmats, they cover much more of the red carpet vs. weathertechs.

Based on my seating position, I struggle to avoid hitting the bottom of the steering wheel when getting in and out of the car, do others have this issue too?

Rear seats have plenty of room, and already took my 3 and 6yr old out for a drive and we all fit perfectly.

For a Civic, I gotta say, VERY impressed by the interior quality, layout, and features. Bose system is good enough. Gauge cluster is very crisp and customizable. Also, for those who don't like having too much info, you're able to show just the gauges which is cool.

Exterior:
Looks better in person, the widebody really pops and is hard to capture in photos. Boost blue is bright AF, I am officially a hot boy While my #1 choice was CW, blue fits this car very well and is a great color. Personally I will just need to get used to how loud it is, which is fine.

Driving impressions:

Lot's of forward visibility which is noticeable

Wow - lots of tire noise from the PS4s

For those who are worried about the ride - IT'S FINE! especially in comfort mode. I live in the northeast with arguably the worst roads ever, and in comfort mode it was totally fine. I feel like a lot of folks on here had their shipping blocks still installed when reviewing the ride. I even flipped it to R+ for a little bit, and under normal relaxed driving, the ride was still fine.

Steering is light in comfort mode, sport mode seems the most 'natural' feeling for the car, if that makes sense.

Handling is amazing, seriously, and I haven't even pushed it that hard yet. Corners completely flat, and is very confidence inspiring. Compared to my AP2 (stock), it's much flatter. I am looking fwd to my first track day with this thing

Shifter feel is pretty good. Clutch is super easy, and I like the gear ratios a lot. Compared to my AP2, the shifter isn't as direct, however it's definitely solid and mechanical feeling. I'm still learning how to deal with the rev-matching.

Engine, while still under break-in (keeping it under 5k for now), feels very strong and boost comes in quick. Perfect amount of power for a fun DD in my opinion. Engine tuning feels good too.

With all the fake engine noise turned off, the exhaust note isn't that bad for a daily driver. Sure, I wish there were some pops and bangs, but that can be added via aftermarket tunes i'm sure

Brakes are amazing. you breathe on them, and they stop. Nothing more to add than what most others have stated. I do miss having a real parking brake, but that's it.

Compared to the focus RS I used to own, this thing is on a completely different level.

Are we twins? S2000 owner here with a 3- and 6-year-old.

 

[TypeRGirl]

LOL, so I wrote that after a long day driving it home and in retrospect I can see why some think I'm unhappy or not going to love this car long term. Expect a long reply below...

Have you seen it's widebody? Those fat 265s?! This car is dope and it's a keeper. It's really a great all-arounder and something my wife can enjoy driving too, she was not a fan of driving my Miatas really. She loves her '13 Si (and the dearly departed '99). She's got good taste IMO



For me buying the CTR is coming full circle to the first car I bought.

Growing up in the 80s/90s all the cars I would later watch in Initial D were the ones I thought were so cool, when I was in college in Boston there were some dope modded rides - you'd see Dinan BMWs and Supras with their giant wings cruising around. Man, I wanted something cool too but I was driving a junker Volvo 240GLT that had seen better days.

Not the S-boxes my parents gave or "helped" me buy but the first car I bought - it was brand new and oh so cool a 1999 Electron Pearl Blue Civic Si. There was this one car though... it was even cooler but at $24,500 the ITR was just too much for me at 24yrs old and in my first series of career (IT) jobs in Boston.

Ever since though I've lusted after Type Rs and I'm a through and through JDM fanboy - every car I've bought with my own money has been a Honda or a Mazda. My wife and I loved that EBP Si for 13 years until the fifth, and final time, it was stolen. We absolutely would still have it today if not for that. That B16b motor was so sweet, oh man. That redline... sold me in the first two minutes of the test drive.

Buying a CTR is the fulfillment of 24 years of desire for me and one I can, and have, attained. It's never leaving our family.


My wife and I went over what cars made sense for our current needs and it was pretty much CTR, GRC, M2, CT4V-BW, or Mustang. We've got a 6yr old son so my wife really wanted this new car to be a 4 seater that could be dailied but would also let me take it to shows and track events.

Price made me shy away from the M2 & BW, GRC is too chintzy and I've yet to drive a Toyota that made me giggle (I've driven 1st gen MR2 and MRS a few times). I was never going to buy a Blackwing, it's a friggin' Caddy but it drove like it costs IMO. Super nice and we even put a deposit down on one while we searched for a CTR. The Mustang was pretty good and that V8... oh, man it sounds GLORIOUS. Like I could just rip gears in that thing until I die of old age... but it's American and that means unreliable.

It may sound crazy but my #1 thing is the car has to be reliable (read: Japanese) - I do not need to have a car that breaks down or has costly repairs, I think this comes from the series of POS cars I, and my friends, had as teens that always needed something. That Volvo was costing me like $400 a month in repairs before I said I'd had enough that money could be paying for something new. #2, must be manual. I've driven the BW and Mustang with autos and they are a lot better than what I'm used to in cars like my old Accord but... still a hard pass. I won't buy German cars although I admit the new M2 had me willing to at least consider for a minute - but a dealer I know said as of last month he had no info on them incoming and my hunch is ADM would push it up into BW territory.



I miss RWD though, no lie, so I "need" another Miata or something to feed my other driving addictions. I'd love a S2000 but their age is starting to get up there and Miatas are a known, good, quantity for me so I'll probably pick one up in a couple years and mod the bejesus out of it for drift/track type fun. Kinda need a garage first my wife says before we throw a project car into the mix and I agree.



No remorse here. I'm just a nitpicker, no joke the more I like something the more I'm going to look for those little things that would make it perfect to me. If I didn't like it I'd review it like the Tuscon I had as a rental recently: Terrible transmission, no power, poor ride quality. That's about it, no point going into fine details since I would not recommend this vehicle to anyone. Oh, it had a good infotainment system though - super fast.

My NA Miata was customized all over the place from the differential (RX-7 clutch lsd) to JDM Mazdaspeed seats. Nothing is perfect but it sure can be fun trying to make it so - or drive you nuts if you are that type. I like to mod stuff.

I've never driven a GT4 but my sister had a 718 and honestly I didn't like it that much. The gearing and power make it unusable on the street for me - I want to get a RWD car loose at low speeds and have fun not blast a corner at breakneck speed. I'm sure it would be a killer track toy though and I certainly wouldn't turn down one if it descended from heaven



I will admit, I'm not the best heel/toe guy and these cars for me aren't easy as it's a totally different "pace" - I drove a (here it is again) NA Miata with lightweight flywheel for 17yrs and that just revved so much freer & faster, I've got that amount and speed of blip kinda ingrained. When I drive my wife's car the rev hang always messes with me.

I'm certainly going to drive the CTR both ways of course, needs a dang button! There is a perfect spot for one too right below the mode switch - wouldn't shock me if the FL5.2 has that. Retrofit!

Paint looks perfect from a chip POV (I can see some light swirls). I was a bit worried as a few times on the trip a dump truck ahead of me was spilling debris and I could hear some pinging. I did the first round of cleaning - man SO MANY BUGS DIED FOR ME - and didn't see any chips. I imagine it might be harder to spot them on CW though. My ND Miata was so bad, no kidding in the 3 years I had it more chips than the 17yr old NA that I had! My wife's 13 Si is pretty bad, the leading edge of the hood has numerous large spots with bare metal at all of 60k miles.



Thank you, I appreciate that.

Bear in mind I'm 47 and my back ain't great - the seats are a B+ in comfort and A+ in keeping you in place, I'm just spoiled from the Mazdaspeed seats I had in the NA - they were JDM versions of Recaro SRDs designed for endurance racing and were the most comfortable seats I've ever encountered. I should never have sold the car with them in it. I had a Bride in my ND and that just sucked - literally no lumbar or shaping of any sort to the back and they used cheap one layer closed cell foam in a fabric pillow case for cushions. Ridiculous for their price, I do NOT recommend the brand in any way. It did look dope as hell though in the car and you were not moving an inch in the corners.

For longer trips I might need to throw a lumbar pillow in, I can live with that.

Oh, I bet the exhaust can sound better, or at least loud enough to hear. My Bonneville needed pipes, my ND Miata got a replacement muffler... no biggie. I just need to ride the line of "can hear it" and "where's the earplugs", I had a buddy whose NA Miata had this jumbo dual setup and it's drone was brutal. Like shoot yourself in the head bad on the highway. Super fun when autocrossing or taking it out for a 30min spin on the twisties though. Or for making people jump at the gas station when you rev it

Hopefully we can get a bit more sound from the intake side too, man the Si motors sound so sweet I just want a teensie taste please! I'd love to hear some PSSSH noises too, I'll admit I have a juvenile love of blowoff sounds, but I know that's probably not much in the cards here.

Like I said the Bose I found to be "fine" and if you throw money at it probably the easiest to fix if I wanted. My hunch is most people would be very happy with it. I drove convertibles daily for 20yrs and don't expect much from my car audio-wise, mostly I want to hear the car TBH, but I'm familiar with good audio and enjoy it at home.

I can always pop some CDTs in the front door, replace the tweeters, toss in the spare powered sub I have... did that in the ND and it was a good enough improvement to satisfy me without spending too much.

I mean, let's be honest - I'm going to do that at some point just because I can, lol - just not an immediate need like the ND I had where the Bose just couldn't support the volumes needed to hear the music at all, let alone get some volume over the wind noise. The 6.5" door speakers were like under 2lbs each, it was hilarious. Some of the cheapest looking speakers I've seen The Miata guys were like "it's lightweight" and I was like yeah, I can budget an extra 5lbs so I can hear the damn audio.

Remember, I like modifying my car. No, love. In the pictures below you can spot my first "mod".


Here she is post wash & de-ironing today - still need to clay, lightly polish as needed, and graphene coat.

Great content and congrats to you and wifey! I love that she drives manual too. We had a milano red 99 Si back in the day, it was stolen 3 times smh we should’ve still had it to this day. It would’ve looked sweet parked next to the FL5.

But such is life. Everyone has so much great input on here. Can’t wait to post ours soon too

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