7 Reasons The AE86 and The Miata Are Overrated
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.
Comments
It doesn’t matter if it is overrated or not actually fast it doesn’t matter!! You know you like the car then you like the car!! Also power isn’t everything is all about the balance!!
Finally
What?
Remember that with the AE86, part of the appeal is because it is a neo-classic.
Alex will not like this
well seeing how an 86 is kinda expensive these days, miata is the funnest car for the money. Sure there are better and faster cars but they cost much more and consider the cost of maintenance, and cost of upgrades.
Im going to buy a miata because they’re fast!
said no one ever
Most of these reasons are bullshit.
-One. Nobody EVER said that miata or ae86 are fast in a streight line because they are not. They are fast in the corners and thats why people like them.
-Two. They were in the initial D BECAUSE THEY WERE POPULAR. Initial D just made them even more popular.
-Tree. They are overhyped because they have stereotypes. Who cares about that?
-Four. New corrola is a four door fwd sedan. Ae86 i a front engined-rear wheel drive hatchback (looks more like a coupe). How could you not understand why people like ae86 more than the new one?
-Five. Ok, mk3 supra is a cool car and it has more power but it is bigger and heavyer. I would guess that it doesn’t handle better than the ae86 or miata and that is the entire point of those two cars, they HANDLE WELL and that is the whole point of those two cars.
-Six. This reason is just bullshit. You werec learly running out of ideas. Miata IS the cheapper alternative to those other cars (actually, this depends on where you live, but mostly they are cheaper)
-Seven. FINALLY, a one good reason in this list of bullshit. Yes, they wont teach you how to controll power. But isnt it suposed to be like that so it makes it easyer for a new driver to controll?
I almost never writte these hate comments but this list is almost pure bullshit (the one about bmw’s was about 50-60% bullshit).
A car can’t be overrated if it’s still a top tier choice for building a track car, especially after 30 years have past. That alone says something. People who hate on the AE86 just assume they’re econo boxes but they actually came pretty equipped stock. 5 speed manual, LSD, 4 wheel disc brakes, responsive fuel injected engine that revs to 7.5k etc. etc.
As i said the AE86 “these facts are for the GT-S in America” wasn’t an econo box, they sold for 12k new. To compare that’s twice the average price of a car in 1985. A new Camaro Z28 was 8k, a Mustang 7k, Celica 6k.
99% of the people who hate on the AE86 haven’t even seen one in person before. People go into their first drive thinking they’ll hate it, but just a slight over correction of the wheel and a blip of the throttle going around a corner will change that.
so many things wrong with this article that I don’t even know where to start :D ….but ok..
1st point
… you don’t buy miata or ae86 because they are fast … you buy them because they are great way to learn how to drive and how to get maximum potential of the car. Its like in drifting if you can drift a car with 120 hp than you don’t have a problem to drift a car with 500 hp … but if you strugle to drift a car with 300 hp more power will not help you accoplish your goal
3.
WAT ? how does the stigma of beeing hairdressers car or girl car add to car beeing OVERrated is beyond my understanding.
4
IF a new corolla would be a RWD economic car I would have one right now. But the times changes and manufactures produce FWD cars because is more economical and easier to produce.
5.
Yes, the supra mk2/3 is arguably better car but. mk2/3 were technological showcases for toyota at the time of their production, that means after 40 years latter the probability of fact that something goes wrong is much bigger then compare to rather simple normaly aspirated 4AGE…and another thing is because of the extra luxurious interiors and bigger turbocharged engines these cars are a hell of a lot heavier then AE86/MX5 … .just so you know AE86 is somewhere between 923-1089 kg depending on spec whereas MK3 for a turbo one is like 1500 kg
So please you …
The Mk II Supra doesn’t have a turbo option, if I remember right, and has a very bulletproof I6 engine and is basically just the bigger, badder brother to the 86. Def. one of my realistic dream cars. They can also be bought for peanuts compared to the 86, because tofu tax.
well who cares about what you think anyways, as a matter of fact it’s not about being fast or being powerful, i felt some grass cutter speaking for him self here :)