Tuesday, February 22, 2005

For the love of the Miata

We check on Miata Club Phils. and walk away impressed

By Brian Afuang, Art Director & Motoring Writer 

IT’S a gathering of kindred souls, a birds-of-a-feather thing, proof yet again of a species’ predisposition to bond with its ilk. It’s an assembly of people who are smitten by the intimate confines and sublime handling responses of a certain car, one blessed with a body that’s soft-porn erotic. It’s the Miata Club Philippines, and the object of their affection is, of course, the Mazda Miata.

Ah, the Miata.

Introduced to the world in 1989, the Miata shunned the excesses of the 80s. No “greed is good” mantra here, no “new wave” music, no oversized shoulder-padded jackets or any similar tackiness that defined the hair-spray decade. The Miata eschewed the automotive equivalent of these and came out sans traction control, active suspension, four-wheel steering and, therefore, a stratospheric price tag.

But the car is also far from the brooding grunge crap that became the mark of the early 90s. Instead, the Miata is the pure, unabashedly simple type of fun, the kind British roadsters in the 50s and 60s (like the MGs, Triumphs and Austin Healeys) were about. Like its spiritual Anglican forebears, the Miata is tiny, making it light and thereby quick on its feet. It seats two, making it the perfect date car (at least for less kinky folks), has enough trunk space to haul a weekend getaway’s worth of luggage, and a soft or hard top that should be put up only in the foulest weather. The Miata is a wind-in-your-hair, bugs-in-your-teeth bundle of motoring bliss.

And since the Miata is Japanese, it offers advantages Italian and British cars—especially British and Italian sports cars—can’t. An utterly trouble-free existence, for example, where erratic electricals, leaking water pumps, overheating radiators and other mystifying exotic car woes are unheard of. Plus, the Miata has all the cushy features—air conditioning and power-assisted steering, locks, windows and mirrors—modern cars thankfully have. Little wonder that through the years, the Miata has attained iconic status in the automotive world.

In 1998, Columbian Autocar Corp., the erstwhile Philippine Mazda assembler, brought the Miata to its showrooms. Shortly thereafter, Miata Club Philippines was formed. Some owners, especially the certifiable car nuts, felt they should band together to make Miata ownership an even more pleasurable experience. As more people bought Miatas, the club also grew in size. Presently, more than 90 members are on its roster, around 60 of whom are active, which means they regularly attend the club’s monthly meetings and sundry activities.

The club’s members are a mix of successful businessmen and professionals whose ages vary from twenty- to seventy-somethings, and whose preferences in Miata usage are just as diverse.

Incumbent club president Chito Frondoso says he drives his street-stock Miata “like it’s a motorcycle”—meaning oftentimes on fair-weather weekends only. In contrast, Camus Engineering’s Luis Camus, a prime example of the gentleman car enthusiast, uses his Miata as a daily driver.

“We actually have three Miatas in our household, two of which are owned by my sons,” he says. “Mine is stock, the other slightly modified, and the third a race car. I drive mine every chance I get because it really is such a wonderful car,” Camus says. As somebody whose name has long been associated with fine cars, Camus’s word has to be taken seriously. This man knows his cars.

Like the Camuses, a number of the members are also multiple-Miata owners whose cars are specifically set up either for daily street use or for racetrack action. Most, however, prefer relaxing weekend country drives, so the club lines up many such activities regularly.

Another popular club activity though is the Miata Cup, a one-make race series that has proven to be one of the most successful race events of such type over the recent years. Mostly held at the Subic International Raceway or at the Batangas Racing Circuit, the Miata Cup boasts a 20-plus grid on any given race weekend, more than double the attendance of most circuit racing events. Here, the Miatas are divided into three classes: one street-stock category, another for slightly modified cars which must be naturally-aspirated, and an open class where the baddest of the country’s Miatas compete in—stripped-down, roll-caged and turbocharged. Philippine racing’s living legend, Pocholo Ramirez, races in the third class.

Incidentally, the lap record for a street car at the Subic track presently belongs to Joey Pery’s Miata, who is only too proud of the fact. Besides the horsepower Pery has managed to coax from the Miata’s four-pot engine (around 250 hp), Pery says the car is simply a “joy to drive” on the racetrack.

For the most part, though, members are one in saying that they enjoy the club for the camaraderie, where good organization, exciting activities and pleasant company are most welcome. And like in most car clubs, the Miata Club has a network wherein members can get assistance in the technical aspect of Miata ownership, like where to get upgrade parts or accessories from.

The launch of Mazda Philippines last year may also spell good things for the club—and vice versa. Mazda Phils. Brand Manager Tonette Lee says they are certainly active in partnering with the club, and “hopes to do even more activities with them in the coming years.”

“They’ve been asking us to bring in the new Miata. While we can’t commit to that for now, we are certainly considering bringing in that model,” Lee says.

Now that would be something the club—and all autophiles for that matter—will look forward to. Zoom-zoom.