Duratec 35

[LittleHorse]

well the 6 speed factory is news to me, the last one i rode in (the first yr rwd i cant remember) only had a 5 speed, you went from 4th at 110 to 5th and you couldnt accelerate unless you were going downhill almost to the full 135. this was the older 1.8 as well. did they ever make a hardtop for one? all the ones i seen were soft tops and the newer one is a hardtop convertible. all this import talk makes me wish i had the money for that s2000 that was on sale for 12k...

yep, some time during the life cycle of the NB (second gen, with the non-popup headlights) they started offering a factory 6 speed as an option, with a 5 speed as standard. All have been RWD.

There are factory and aftermarket hard tops available for the NA and NB, they can usually be found for a few hundred bucks. I would have loved one for my NC but last time I looked there weren't any aftermarket ones, and Mazda wants $2500-$3500 for them, depending on the dealer. Mine actually had one on it when I test drove it and I would have bought it with the car had it not been for the $3500 price tag. So I'm still rocking the soft top year round. The power retractable hard top came out in '07, the second year of NC, but it's an option and most are still sold with the soft top.

 

[rurouni20xx]

the first ones around were fwd if im not mistaken, the ones w/ the turn signals sticking out w/ the headlights retracted, mid 90s i think. i rode in one that had the first yr solid headlights (not retractable) and soft top w/ a 1.8 5spd, silver in color and a 99 if im not mistaken. i loved it and seen another one shortly after at an import car show in elizabeth nj w/ the rx7 motor/trans in it. i asked them how much fab work they said none the mounts were the same which surprised me. it won the burnout competition and took 3rd in the drag race that was held elsewhere.