7 Reasons The AE86 and The Miata Are Overrated

27 Jan 2016

The Miata and the AE86 are great cars and it’s hard to deny that. However, it seems as if their imagined performance doesn’t live up to their actual performance. Both of these cars are very similar, so I thought I would save some time and do one article including both. My article about overrated BMW’s was probably one of the worst articles ever written, so this time, I’ll try my darndest to get this article right; here we go.

ONE Both the AE86 and the Miata aren’t that fast.
It seems as if many JDM cars suffer from exceedingly high expectations and hype. The Mark 4 Supra and Skyline GTR are both cars that are associated with big speed and big power. However, in stock form, they aren’t as fast as they’re hyped up to be. Same thing goes with the AE86 and the Miata. In Initial D, Takumi is beating drivers on the touge in cars that are much faster than his car in a Toyota Corolla. However, fanboy’s dreams of the capabilities of the AE86 never live up to the reality of what the AE86 really is. It’s 0-60 MPH time is about 8.5 seconds. To put things into perspective, a 1997 Toyota Camry could the same sprint 1 second faster. The Miata is also plagued by slow acceleration. The 0-60 sprint for a 1996 Mazda Miata takes 8.6 seconds, also slower than the 97 Camry. The Miata and AE86 are the opposites of sleepers, they are expected to be fast, but aren’t.

TWO If it weren’t for Initial D, the AE86 wouldn’t be very popular.
A stock Delorean was a terrible car, but ever since it starred in the Back To The Future movies, it’s become a car people drool over; the same thing has happened to the AE86. Because Takumi delivered tofu and raced in an AE86, people are willing to buy them for big amounts of money. AE86’s in good condition cost about $14,000, a bit much considering it’s a 40 year old car with 128 horsepower. If Initial D never aired, I’m sure AE86’s would be selling for half the price, and half of us car guys would never know about the Takumi mobile.

THREE The Miata has unshakable stereotypes.
Car stereotypes include truck drivers are compensating for things, BMW drivers never use their blinkers, Audi drivers tailgate people, and the Miata is a hair dresser/chick car. You’ll get jokes from car guys and non cars guys alike saying “Have you told your parents your gay yet?” and “Where in the car do you keep your hair dryer?” Because of this, people feel like they need to be more manly to compensate for this (Alex Kersten maybe?), so people become persons that they are not; just be yourself.

FOUR The AE86 is basically a souped up economy car.
The Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno is a Corolla. When most people think of a Corolla, they think of a small sedan that they can use to commute to work, not to the racetrack. The Corolla AE86 is worshiped by car guys while a brand new Corolla S is ignored by the same people. It seems like a little bit of a double standard, don’t you think?

FIVE The 80’s Supra is arguably a better sports car than the AE86.
The 80’s Supra can make up for what the Sprinter Trueno lacks, power. You can get a Mark 2 or a Mark 3 supra with a variety of larger turbocharged engines. This makes it faster and easier to make faster. Car and Driver named the Toyota Supra as one of the coolest cars from the 80’s, while the Sprinter Trueno was nowhere to be found on that list.

SIX The Miata blinds people to other alternatives.
It seems as if Miata owners talk about Miatas 24/7, even though there are other cars they could blabber about. MR2, Nissan S Chassis, Mg roadsters, there are a million light front engined RWD cars out there that are fun to drive. The pedestal we put the miata on blinds us from an assortment of choices, better, faster and cheaper ones. Remember, there are plenty of fish in the sea.

SEVEN You have to modify both cars in order to be competitive with other sports cars
A stock Miata can be a great learning tool for the track, but at some point you’re going to need more power, better brakes and better suspension. These cars fail to teach you how to control real power. Driving a Mustang GT or a Camaro SS will teach you to control power, not a Miata. Because the miata is overhyped, it drives up the prices of used ones. This means the Miata fails to serve its purpose within the car community, being an affordable blank canvas to hone your driving skill in or being a good project car. The Miata is just a start, it leaves the factory as a blank slate, waiting for you to make it into what you want, and what you need to drive. If the Miata left the factory with a turbocharger, that should fix things pretty good.

To all the haters out there

Comments

Overrated where? Not where I live, in Europe. Oh you mean on the internet..

I could write the same story about Golf Mk2 or or Alfa 155 but I don’t see the point here. Who am I to judge people who can buy affordable sporty-ish car this year and go on with improving it later.

In different parts of the world there are different favorite sporty cars with potential of being sports or racing cars. Markets are sooo different around the globe. One might want a Supra or Mustang very badly but then again how much you have to put in to get it, how much are you prepared to sacrifice your money and time to get something from another country far away.

Ummm you said the Mr2 was an alternative front engined rwd car? Dafuq?

You said MG Roadster, so heres a upvote!

Even as a Miata owner I’d have to agree with almost all of what you said, why do I own one then? Simple. I like it. Nutella isn’t as sensible a breakfast as weetabix, but I like that too, and thats what it comes down to. However as far the Miata alternatives go I don’t think any of them quite cut it, while the S chassis and MR2 are both excellent cars , possibly superior, the former surfers chronic drifters tax and the latter will cost a fortune if it does break. Admittedly, fanboy tax is getting bad with Miatas but they’re reasonable affordable so far. And the MG TF? Well just look at it, I mean really, beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but even if you have a cataract that thing is horrible, and then the head gasket will blow. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article!

I DISSAPROVE! MIATA IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!

They don’t over rate the Toyota AE 86 and Miata. They were driving downhill that’s why it is not important if it is not powerful or not. Even a bike can go faster in downhill. If you watch or read the manga Initial D you will realize that you are stupid because large engine car is not good in downhill and not good in tire management because of heavier engine.

Deep sigh Here’s a response to all of your reasons:

There are MANY MANY sports cars that aren’t very fast yet we still enjoy, why the hell is the Lotus ELise so expensive when it has a ~150hp Toyota engine?
AE86s were still extremely popular in the drift scene, they’d be the equivalent of S13s in popularity even without Initial D
Who cares? A good car is a good car, Mustangs have stereotypes, still good cars, not a reason to discount a car at all
True to an extent, the AE86 is a RWD sport variant of an economy car. And lest you forget, the same story is there with the Civic Type R, Focus RS, Sierra Cosworth, and so on. Not a valid point.
Different appeal, not even the same genre, that’s like comparing the Nissan S13 to the R32 GTR. Doesn’t hold water
It’s a good car, just let people like things dammit
Toyota Supra is useless without mods, for example. Many many enthusiast cars are popular because of potential. And that’s a matter of fact the older a car gets. Little known fact: The AE86 came 2nd in a retro comparison by Motorweek against its contemporary hot hatch rivals, only bested by the first gen VW GTI, which is arguably a much better known car and pristine examples are big money these days.