Hiya folks!

Well...after lurking for some time I finally traded in my '98 Maxima (had it 8 years...great car) and picked up a new 8. I had to drive 'bout 3 hours to find the color and options I wanted, but the dealer was nice and I came in at $7k under MSRP. :yesnod:

Pics below show my new toy alongside my OTHER favorite 4-wheeled object. As you might tell...I like Mazdas.

Anyhoo, I'm glad I can now post as an official 8-owner...damn she's fun!. I can definitely understand why you folks say this car is all about the refinement and the "twisties". It's clearly the most tightly built car I've ever driven. Just as much fun as her red sister below. Fortunately for me though, the car has 9 billion airbags and DSC, which helped sell the wife since we've got two rugrats that fit snugly in the back. For her, safety is of paramount importance, and for me a nifty benefit of owning such a unique car.

As far as mods go, I think I'll be starting with the painted front splash guards. Saw another member here who had a Silver with them on and the Aero Kit...really great look...and (at least somewhat) functional too! Then I suppose we'll do the clear corners...god-forsaken orange just does NOT fit with the Silver. Eventually I'd like to do the coilovers and drop that sucker a bit, but no hurry. She's pretty enough in her own right...

Anyone by chance have a pic of a Silver with the body-colored strakes? Thinking about those too...but not sure if it would be too much bling with the Aero Kit and front splash guards. I'm open to opinions. Anyhoo, proud to have an 8 in me driveway...hope to see you guys at a meet sometime. :wink2:

Welcome and congrats. I loved my miata, had it set up identical to yours but in marina green and no roll bar. Great fun!

Buy I also have a couple of kids, the 8 is THE COOLEST car to drop 'em off at school with (so says my oldest boy).

Nice cars

Go for the bling, preferably stainless steel, they look better than the colored strakes on all 8 colors imo.

You carry two rugrats? I carry three! Gotta love the space and comforts of such a well refined car that's wicked fun to drive. I'm glad you're getting to experience it first-hand.

Welcome to the forum!

clear corners

Welcome, you might want to invest in some sort of protection for the oil coolers and such. I am installing mine this weekend, if nothing breaks before then.

congrats!

congrats, welcome, enjoy. bask in the vast resources...

Lookin good. I'm glad you thought of your children as well.

nice cars. I say if you want strakes, go for the steel ones. Hey you already have chrome badges, get something on the side to match. However.. I say this only for a silver.

Nice Miata! Congrats on the 8. :)

IMO the stainless strakes look best on TI Gray, Silver, and Black... it would be a nice little estetic mod, not too over-bling, but just noticable. When I put mine on, everyone said "they should have been on there stock!"

Congrats on the car, now just BE CAREFUL! IDK if you knew this when u picked the silver, but it comes with terrible curse... my prayers are with you.

First thing you should mod is adding oil cooler screens, and probably one for the radiator as well. :)

I owned 2 NB's before my 8..I miss that car but congrats on your 8!

Congrats on the car, now just BE CAREFUL! IDK if you knew this when u picked the silver, but it comes with terrible curse... my prayers are with you.

Yeah, I kinda saw that thing for the first time AFTER I bought it...figures. Accident magnet huh? Well, at least I have nine bajillion airbags to protect me.

And thanks for the suggestion about the chrome strakes over the body-color style. The more I've thought about it, it would compliment the badging nicely. I'll also do a search for the oil cooler screens. Saw that too, but just assumed it wasn't a hugely critical issue. You'd think if it is a significant enough problem, Mazda would have installed 'em on the car in the first place.

Also I do hereby solemnly swear to use the search function before asking any stupid questions...but go easy on me if I miss something. :sad:

Welcome to the club, GroundRush!!!

My wife drives an MX-5, also (2001 SE British Racing Green). What a great pairing of wheels.
We're past the rugrat stage, just need to be concerned about the occasional GrandBaby rider. I do appreciate the confidence that 8 air bags provide.

I've now logged 60,000 (mostly Interstate) miles without any mods. But I do notice the bugs and slight dings on the oil coolers, now. Time to get those screens now that I've taken that first step and the clear cornes are on.

Again, welcome. Zooooom!

Me too! :hahano:

Me too! :hahano:

Add one more stall with a FD RX-7 in it and that would be the perfect garage.

Don't I wish!

I'm already playing musical cars with my 3 vehicles. Guess it time to move. Thinking 4-car garage and a couple of acres of land to store a trailer. :mdrmed:

Hey Groundrush,

So you wanted pics of a silver 8 with fender strakes. How about a silver with the aero kit and strakes? I'm from Dublin, Ireland and our cars a pretty much identical except you don't have to ruin the line of your grill with a number plate!

I've never posted an image before but I'm hoping this works.

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/5233/140406a6ox.th.jpg (http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=140406a6ox.jpg)

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/1231/140406b7kw.th.jpg (http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=140406b7kw.jpg)

I think it has!

I can take some close-ups if you like. Just let me know.

Cheers,

dzm

Sweet DZM...thanks! Those DO look nice in chrome! Mine has the aero kit too, and that's EXACTLY the type of pic I was looking for. Looks great! Definitely gonna have to get the chrome ones myself.

And GO48...great license plates! :D: