Is it aesthetics? Performance? Engineering? Sentimental value? Nostalgia? Weirdness?..
I could go on, there’s as many ways to enjoy a car as there are car owners and I find it very interesting what people value in what is ultimately a tool of conveyance that is elevated by social and personal values.
I always love cars that are just a little weird, they have features that don’t quite make sense, they have styling that just doesn’t fit in with other modern cars, and they certainly don’t blend in at the grocery parking lot. They emanate a certain incongruence with the world around them.
Miatas are a blast partly because they are so slow and have such small tires. You can really wring them out and feel the dynamics of a sports car without going to jail. A cliche at this point but for good reason.
Kind of like an MG, but reliable.
I owned an Alfa Romeo Spider for a while, which was Italy’s answer to a question nobody asked: where else could I get an MG?
Plus being small, low to the ground, and with even weight distribution, it’s like driving a slow moving cloud.
Thinking back to the time I saw one wadded up into the trailer wheels of a semi.