I’m kinda considering swapping my Mustang for a Miata
Economically it makes a lot of sense. I could easily trade in my Mustang and come out ahead on a Miata. My Mustang is on an unsecured auto loan, so I presumably wouldn’t even need to deal with getting new financing as I could just continue to pay the balance for the Miata on the same loan.
The tires are the real saving: a good autocross tire is as much as $200 less per tire than the Mustang. Considering I buy at least one set of tires a year, that’s a solid $800 annual saving.
Then there’s insurance. A 2013 MX-5 would be half as much to insure as my Mustang. That’s another $600 or so saved annually.
Of course there’s fuel economy: a Miata would save at least $600 in fuel a year, assuming I average about 23 MPG compared to my Mustang’s 16.
So in a year, putting aside the financial cost, a Miata would save close to $2k a year in fuel, tires, and insurance.
Miatas are fun, and I like the way they look. Given that my daily commute is only a few miles it’s not like I’d be that uncomfortable. I don’t carry much most of the time so practicality is kinda moot.
The problem is I love my Mustang. It looks great, sounds better, and is genuinely a nice car. I don’t really want to give it up but financially it’d be a good idea, and part of me thinks saving money for a few years just means I can accelerate adding a GT350 to the garage. If I swapped the Mustang for a cheaper Miata, saving annual cost and paying off my auto loan sooner, then I can funnel savings into a future GT350 and keep the Miata as a daily.
I’ll need to go test drive some and give it more thought. What does Oppo think?