Shabba

I took a trip down both the Cherohola Skyway and the Tail of the Dragon yesterday, commonly known as Deal's Gap to those of you not on the east coast, a road consisting of 318 turns in 11 miles. I'm a long time biker so I have been on the road before and knew what to expect. My xA has the Enkei 18's w/Pirelli's and I was loaded down with 4 people and a days worth of clothes/food/supplies from a rafting trip we took. Coming from a WRX, let me say that there is no way I could have taken the WRX down the Dragon's Tail faster than the xA. For those of you who are wondering how the handling is on this car, I would put my money on a well driven xA with 18's over a well-driven WRX ANYDAY. We pulled over on the bridge by the dam (the south end of 129), got out and the brakes were SMOKING. The tires were almost too hot to touch. AWESOME. This car has exceeded my expecations by a large margin. Next up : Suches, GA. with a new set of TRD springs.
:twisted:

turbomx5

SWEET!!

I go to Deals Gap every July for the annual Miata gathering. It's one of my favorite roads.

The wife and I may head up there later in the year, when the leaves change. We went a few years ago, and she has been wanting to go back. Perfect opportunity to see how well the box will handle the twisties.

IsItSnowing

sounds like fun! Though you would be hard pressed to keep up with a wrx...

Shabba

I had a WRX before the xA and feel that the xA is the better handling car. I think I made it down Deals faster in the xA than I did in my WRX.

Macster

Now that is seriously impressive... guess when I get my xA and it hasn't started snowing in the mountains, I'll have to take it on the Chumstick road..

phinzup

If my dealer gets his heart right tomorrow and trades right for my Dodge truck, I'll be at Deal's Gap this weekend. I have already decided that I'm gonna get Killboy to shoot some pics of me passing through. Then I'll buy the pictures of me in my Miata from July and the June before, as well as the Box shots. :D

I'm the "chief instigator" of that little shindig in July., fwiw. :twisted:

turbomx5

Phinzup

Cool, I've been enjoying the "little" shindig for the past 5 years. I missed the 1st two.

I don't know if 400+ cars is little though. :D

Glad to hear there's another one of us on this forum. The other forum has discussed the Scion before, and they were less than kind. I guess they don't get it.

phinzup

Well, I won't be driving a box anytime soon. Seems the dealerships like to hide behind the "pure pricing" thing on their trades. They lowballed me at $5k less than clean book and wouldn't budge, saying that Scion would take away their franchise if they gave me more. I'll see you at DG next July, unless you want to come out for Roadsters At The Gap in April, and will have a beer waiting for you... or something a little stronger. Just look for Phinz in the suite at Tapoco. :D

BTW, this was the 8th year, so you've either been going for 6 years, or you missed the first three.

jimsxb

colin

c'mon, better handling than the rex? I came from a rex wagon and it handled way better stock
than any xa/xb. the tc may be another issue, but IMHO, scions can't hold a candle to the rex.

Even w/ sticky/wider tires, I'm still skeptical.

that said, I am very impressed by the handling of my box w/ TRD springs and stocker wheels/tires. it's pretty good, but not that good.

sounds like a fun drive

jim

phinz

Well, I couldn't log in under my original moniker, so here's the shortened version.

Got my Box on Saturday. Other dealer in town gave me better money for my trade.

Can't wait to get this little understeering shoebox out on the twisties. Should be a hoot. For those that aren't familiar with Deal's Gap, check out this and this. (Right-click, save as for best results)

http://www.tailofthedragon.com

LeeD

Ha,

Deal's Gap? That's what the real name is? I've always known it as the Tail of the Dragon! Sounds a lot better too. ; )

I've never driven a WRX, but I will definately agree with you that the xA RS 1.0 definately impressed me in it's handling too, and I came from a 300ZX TwinTurbo that I raced frequently and sometimes with race tires. With out a dought in my mine, and I hate to say it, she holds the road better than my Z does even after it had been lowered with SO2 tires. I'm even tempted to say it handles close to the Z with worn Kumho race tires.

When I took her to the race track and spanked some butt I never thought possible only further convinced me of how well she handles. Of the people on street tires, the xA RS1.0 was faster than 90%, and faster than a few on race tires.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32608

I gotta hit that Tail of the Dragon sometime in the future... I've heard so much about it!

phinz

FWIW, we locals refer to it either as "The Gap" or "The Hill," as in "I'm going up to the hill this Friday. Anybody else want to go for a ride?" So if you see me talking about The Gap, that's what I mean. :D It's impressive, especially if you can make it there on a weekday when there are no cops around and traffic is light.

turbomx5

Phinz,

Glad to hear you finally got your box.

One thing I did to mine was to swap the stock springs for a set of Tein S. Big difference in conering. It handles the corners so much better now. Plus it took away some the bounce the car had over the bumps in the road. Also the 1.5 inch drop just looks so much better.

Just something to think about.

Let me know how the box handles The Gap

phinz

The biggest concern I have with lowering my Box is clearance in driveways/etc... The Miata's front end sits 3" off the ground and I have beaten the *crap* out of the Ratsback airdam that I have on it. I'm still getting used to the short overhangs onthe Box, which have actually increased my departure and entry angles. I'm sure I'd be OK, but I'm really tentative.

So,yeah, I have another itty bitty cult car in the herd. I took pictures of the two together, and it was amazing the similarities in size. Turns out the Box is .1" shorter and .6" wider. Same size, basically, but two different purposes. :D

Look me up at MATG this year!

Crappy pictures, but here they are:

Box and Miata

turbomx5

I totally understand your concern about scrapping. I'm careful in both cars, but poop happens. I've given up trying to keep the Miata's R package spoiler painted. I redid it 3 times, and yet it keeps cracking. If I had to do it over again, I would've left it black.

I had the new springs on for about 4 hours, when the wife and I went to Wallyworld. Sure enough I hit one of the parking stops. About 2 months later I hit a pot hole while pulling into a parking spot. Other than these 2 instances I haven't had any problems. Knock on wood.

The nice thing about the Tein's, is that it doesn't lower it so much that it's a huge problem. The way the car handles so much better, makes the tradeoff worth it.

Is it really 8+ months till 2005's MATG??? Come on July get here quick. We'll definitely get together and have a few beers.

Here's my Miata webite. I lost my password, so I haven't updated it lately. One of these days, I'll just do a new one and get some pics of my box on it.

www.cardomain.com/id/slvrsrfer

phinz

I remember your car. I think I have a pic of the license plate somewhere here on my hard drive. I've always loved the silver/black look.

Tapoco parking lot, last full weekend in July. Be there. :D

Here's my cardomain site. I'm sure you've seen her around. :D

http://www.cardomain.com/id/mrmiata

turbomx5

Didn't you have a Krispy Kreme windshield banner, and chevron stripes on the front quarter panel? And this past year the Mach 5 "M" on your hood? We talked for awhile last year.

I've always admired your car. The green stripes really stood out.

Man it's a small world!

Maybe we should start a Scion at the Gap weekend. Boy would that really tick off the sport bikes.

phinz

Yep, that was me. I have since removed the Teme Krispy Kreme banner, but still have the green chevron stripes and the M on the hood. :D I speak to so many people at the Gap that it's hard to keep up with them.

I miss the stripes sometimes, but don't know if I want to go back to them.

I don't spend as much quality time with my Miata as I used to. I really have neglected her since DG this year.

Go Speed Go!

turbomx5

I know what you mean, there's so many people to try and catch up with. Heck there are some friends that I only see that one weekend. I'm sure you know what I mean.

The past few years we've started gettin there on Thursday afternoon, and it still isn't enough time to do everything we want to. To many roads to drive, people to talk to, and let's not forget the beer to drink

I finally figured out that you had a link to pics of the cars up above. Lookin good. What are you planning on doing to the box?