Oh My, What Big Teeth You Have

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I’ve had all kinds of teeth in the mouth of my Miatas. The first were the alligator ones that I kept on the 1995 all the time for the last three years of my ownership in the early 2000s. As a joke, somewhere in that same time frame I bought some rabbit teeth, took a picture of the car, and then removed them. A few years later they were given away to someone on the Miata Forum that was looking for those kinds of teeth, probably to make that same kind of joke as well. When I bought the 2003 car, I bought some vampire teeth, which I put on just for the month of October every year.

All those teeth came from the same manufacturer, and they had both upper and lower teeth. Somewhere along the line they stopped making them. This year, feeling nostalgic, I looked to see if someone, somewhere, had picked up where the OG company left off. Nope, but Etsy to the rescue, I found some fangs. So you can see both fangs, I had to remove my front plate, I hope I don’t get a ticket this month…

Same Species

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Came out of the trail that is my favorite morning latte walk and found this. I was tempted to move the Miata, but the size disparity was great enough even with the two vehicles separated by 15 feet. Over the years I’ve taken a few of these types of photos, and every time I am reminded of the West Wing episode where Allison Janney is involved in a walk and talk with Kristin Chenoweth.

Everyday Driver Bingo II

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Dedicated listeners of the Everyday Driver podcast will know that a lot of them invariably have a lot of the same words, phrases, and cars mentioned. Way back in 2019 I created a standard Bingo card with 24 of those things with a center Free Space . If you’ve read yesterday’s post about my sending them a car debate to replace the GTI. I have tried to combine these two things into a second bingo card that I can follow along with if they do my debate on an upcoming podcast.

Did some searching on AutoTempest.com/everyday to see what’s out there that meets my criteria, and I started collecting cars. From there I gathered a rough estimate on the length and width of each car, and my choices were then narrowed down to just fourteen.

Acura Integra Type S / BMW M4 / BMW Z4 Coupe / Fiat 124 Abarth / Fiat 500 Turbo / Ford Fiesta ST / Ford Focus RS / Mazda 3 /Mini Cooper S / Porsche Cayman / Subaru BRZ / Subaru Impressa WRX / Toyota GR Carolla / Volvo C30

I needed to fill 24 squares with just 14 cars and not have 2 of the same car in any row, column, or diagonal. It started to make my head hurt, so ChatGPT to the rescue:

A Car Debate In Three Acts

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My favorite automobile-related podcast, Everyday Driver, does a new/different car “debate” where someone writes in and asks, “What car should I buy?” The two guys, Paul & Todd, based on your email, give you some ideas as to what might fit your needs. They are kind of like Dear Abby & Ann Landers for car nuts. *This is the second version I sent in to them because the I felt I needed to swap the Overture and the End credit teaser scene.

Overture:
On the Utah Adventure there was only one car I wanted to drive other than my own, and he agreed to swap. It was Bodie’s supercharged 2006 Mini Cooper S. It was an absolute hoot. Truth be told, if he kiddingly asked if we could swap titles, I just might have taken him up on it. So, feel free to recommend the 1st-gen car, but nothing newer, because according to the eminent philosopher Jonny Smith, “The new Minis has gone all Elvis in Vegas.”

Act I:
Previous cars I have owned, not including the flirtation with air-cooled VWs in the 70s:
1982 Honda Prelude (1982-1989)
1990 Miata (1989-1995)
1995 Miata (1995-2003)
2003 Miata (2003 – 2016)
2011 Hyundai Sonata (2011 – 2017)
2012 Mini Cooper (2017 – 2022)
2002 Miata (2016 – 2023)
2016 Mini Cooper (2022 – 2025)
2024 Miata (2024 – 2025)
2001 Miata (2025 – Present)
2020 VW Golf GTI S (2025 – Present)

Act 2:
This “new car” will be a replacement for the GTI. I really love the car, but I think I’d like a different, but somewhat comparable, experience. The only thing that is non-negotiable is that it must have a manual transmission and not be too much larger than the GTI. Good things come in small packages.

Act 3:
The budget is $40k, but there are two bonus levels attainable. If the car is green, so that I don’t need to wrap the car and I can keep my current personalized plate (GRN JKT) you get +$5k. The second is +$2k if the car can accept my current Rally Bronze Sparco DRS wheels and the Toyo R1Rs Size: 17×7.5, Bolt Pattern: 5X112mm, Offset: +48mm, Backspacing: 6.220″.

End credits teaser scene:
I have tested-driven a new BRZ back in 2023, and it is considered a possibility, but I don’t necessarily want to be someone who is just one of a big herd of sheep. 🙂

Don’t worry, you know I’m going to write about it here as to what they suggest.

Busy Damn Day

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While I was gone, I received a couple of texts that I waited until I returned to respond to.

The first was from my dermatologist’s office, they wanted me to set up my 6-month skin check. This morning I thought that I’d just do it online. I sign in to my account, and I get the verification code (so they know it’s me), and then the form asks for my insurance information. Full stop. The office is 2 miles away, I’ll just head over and do this IRL. So, the regular doctor I have been seeing didn’t have an opening for at least 4 weeks. I told the desk person that I wasn’t particularly locked in with her, so she looked at the whole team’s schedule and said, “Do you want to do it now?” “Well, sure,” I replied. It was 10 minutes to 10:00 AM, and they had a ten o’clock opening.

The next adventure was the Mazda dealer. This is where the Miata has been since a couple weeks before I left to go to Utah. The right turn signal would not come on, the left worked fine, and I really didn’t need to fix it, nobody out west does state-mandated inspections anymore. But I’m used to using the turn signals, I like using them, so I was willing to spend a few hundred dollars to fix it. Trouble was the dealer had a heck of a time getting in. There was one new/old stock in the US, but it got lost in transit. They then had one shipped from Japan, but it was broken. They ended up finding a used one at a Miata salvage shop. The used one was about $60 cheaper than the new one, so because I had already paid for the fix, they are going to give me my next oil change/tire rotation on them.

This afternoon consisted of me washing both cars. The GTI was encrusted in dead insects on the front, and the sides had a coating of dust and grime of Utah dust. The Miata was dirty from just living outdoors behind the service bays for a couple weeks.

Just The Facts Ma’am

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Miles Driven: 3,446
Gallons of Gas: 108.3
Highest Gas Price: $5.899 right here in Fairview, OR
Lowest Gas Price: $4.899 in Torrey, UT
Average Cost Per Gallon: $5.532
Total Cost of Gas: $599.93
Average MPG: 31.82

Back Home in Oregon

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Burned a lot of what the guy in front of the GTI gave his all for, so I could have so much fun the last eleven days. Totals tomorrow, the shock of the return to normal sensibility has been debilitating. I’m going to bed early.