To comment about the turbo 400 hp miata vs. the hypothetical 350 hp V8 miata...
Building a turbo car to that much power (especially from a 4 cyl) requires about 10x as much money, tweaking, tuning, and aggrivation....and for what? My money's on the naturally-aspirated-V8-swapped Miata with a few less ponies.
Why? For the most part, an NA car will be faster than a turbo car of the same power levels, for the simple reason that the NA car donesnt have to worry about turbo spool time, insane fuel systems, leaky plumbing, etc., etc., etc.
Yes, small displacement powerplants with turbos can be made to have the same power levels as NA large cube motors, but it does take ALOT more work (and headaches) to get there.....
Just some food for thought....how bout take that Blue Oval 302, stuff it into that go-kart of a Miata, THEN add a turbo with low boost.... now THATS insane
