Dange wrote:oh agreed, my car is a pure blast to drive. thats why I bought it. not to win everything, but it still irks me the wrong way that they cant say put us down one level along side with the audi TT. that would make a bit more sense.
me: I would choose a msm over a NC sport anyday. stock for stock we are about equally as fast. but just an intake and exhaust puts us over the 180whp mark
and even if going for bigger power a cosworth blower on an nc automatically gets it to 225, which is damn fun linear power but that same amount of money in a msm will have us well over 240whp. and if you want to go by looks, im really not a fan of NC styling except for the super 20 and to a lesser degree the PRHT,
erod550 wrote:NB >>>>>> NC in the looks department.
Well gentlemen, I believe looks are subjective and as such, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that one, as I prefer the looks of the NC over the NB. While I think the NB is clean looking, the flared fenders on the NC make it look more masculine in my eyes. Just a preference I suppose.
As far as driving both of them, well, I've driven a few MSM's over the years... they're a BLAST to drive! Very lively, yet controlled, those things are a ton of fun to pitch around, and the mid-range gained from boosting it makes for a peppy little motor. In truth, I think that car actually feels faster than it really is with it's short wheelbase & increased mid-range over the naturally aspirated motors.
With that said, the NC chassis always felt more solid to me. The car always felt planted, like it was harder to upset the chassis at the limit. It seemed like it absorbed bumps in the road a bit better than the NB, without being "soft" or losing any of the Miata's (MX-5's) handling prowess. I also prefer the 2.0L MZR motor over the old 1.6/1.8 motors, not just because they make more power (sans turbo MSM motor), but also because they feel more refined/eager to rev and have pretty linear torque curves. I would give the nod to the MSM when it comes to fun factor, but would say the NC with the sport package typically felt like a more capable machine IMO, and while I agree modding a turbo motor is always going to be cheaper than an NA motor when it comes to making more power, at the same time, for a day of hard lapping around a big road course, or pushing it hard through a long mountain pass, I would feel a bit more comfortable with the NA motor as far as reliability goes. Just my own personal preference.
This is coming from a guy who has owned numerous turbo motors over various platforms.... I LOVE the mid-range kick of a turbo motor, but don't care for increased oil temps, EGT's, added complexity (more to go wrong), and decreased knock resistance of a turbo motor, as higher IAT's & increased pressure always bring you closer to the knock threshold; you can run them richer & reduce timing advance under load in order to keep them from knocking, but in general, I'm still going to give the nod to the NA motor for being less likely to pop under more harsh circumstances.
So, to me, there's pros and cons with both, and I would be hard pressed to pick between the two.
Just my $.02