Replacement For The Miata - Open Season

[lupinsea]

Replacement For The Miata

I think I've reached the time to ditch the Miata.

Oof.

Hard words considering I love the car but as the years go on it's a harder and harder fit it in our lives given how our family works. I haven't really gotten out much for "just for fun" back road drives (which is what the car was built for). And it's 2 seat arrangement and cramped interior is a big compromise on a day-to-day basis.

Plus . . . . . . I've been finding myself a bit burned out on it. Doing the daily slog through rush hour, squeezing in and out at the end of trips. Shit, I think I'm getting old.

The last several months I've been pondering the possibilities of other rides: hatch backs, cuvs, the odd mustang vert, Toyota Tacoma 4x4 pick-up truck. All over the place.

This all came to a head recently when I broke my collar bone in a bike accident. The first week wasn't "that" big of a deal as I was on pain meds waiting surgery and being driven around. Now that I'm off pain meds and driving my self places, well, I'm using my wife's Forester. Which means she's driving the Miata. . . . which she hates. And I hear about. Think of any of the car's draw backs and its a big sore spot. All of them.

In any case, we're going to ditch the car and probably pretty quick. While it might seem like a rash decision over a recovery period of maybe 2 months until I could drive it again, the car was on borrowed time anyways for the above reasons. Plus, probably best to sell the car now in summer rather than drag it through winter or trying to sell it next season.

So......

Any ideas on a replacement?

I'm looking for:

Fun / Interesting Vehicle
This is super open. Sedans to me are too boring and limited. Don't want a minivan. I'm looking for something fun and hopefully interesting but I find a great many vehicles fun for different reasons. Hatchbacks are at the front of my thoughts for their small (nimbler?) size and cargo / passenger flexibility and I'm sure there are some that are funnish to drive on the road. The CUVs have caught my attention recently, particularly the Mazda CX-3 as the are like a hatchback but with a little extra ride height which would be cool on the many mountain gravel roads around hear. Cars can handle them ok but the extra 1-2" of ground clearance would help with peace of mind over pot holes. Smaller SUVs I could see but it'd really depend. Again, not so much fun on the street but more of a sub-jeep-capable mountain road explorer / recreational activity vehicle. It's why I dig our Forester and like the "idea" of the Subie XV. I've always liked Toyota's small compact pick-up trucks. They've been fun in their own sporty utilitarian way.

Ok Fuel Economy
I'll be doing the commute slog for a while so it needs to get ok fuel economy. If I'm getting low-to-mid 20's in real world mixed driving I'd be happy. The Miata gets ~25-26 mpg on my mix commute rush hour driving for example. We get mid-to-low 20's in our Forester. I figure most hatchbacks would probably be in the target range easily. Anything else it's a tougher call.

Transmission: Stick . . . or Auto
Geez, really depends on the vehicle. It's going to primarily be a road going vehicle and despite the stop and go rush hour I could see a stick. It'd add some fun to a few moments throughout the day. If it's a hatch I'd prefer a stick. If we're talking CUV, truck, or SUV thingie then I'm up in the air. For example, I kind of dig our Forester with his antiquated 4 spd auto. It'd probably be more fun with a stick but, eh. Pretty sure most potential manuals will be a let down after the Miata's shifter.

Toys
Don't care about extra features, sat nav, bluetooth, etc. Preferably power locks and windows and AC.

Bonus
If the thing can handle ok-ish gravel mountain roads it's a big plus. I'm getting back into mountain biking and want to try some trails further out and some trail heads are beyond the edge of the pavement. Which also means I'll be throwing a trailer hitch on whatever we get so I can use the awesome bike rack Kognito gifted me with. Plus, I'd love to be able to toss a few rifles in the back and head up target shooting easily enough.

$12k
This is the tough part. We still have remodel projects going on for the forseable future and with what the Miata is worth we're probably looking at a $12-13k price range (including Miata trade in value) figuring we'll also need to shell out for ~10% TTL on top of the sales price.

I wasn't figuring on replacing the Miata for another few years but, eh, it is what it is.

The next ride isn't going to be super long term but if it can get me through 2-4 years and ~50-70k miles of driving we'll probably be in a good position to replace it then. So I'm not going to get too emotionally wound up about things. Would prefer something not too old but 5-6+ years is probably where I'll have to start for our price range.