Mia Pothe is sophomore at Santa Barbara High School and drives a 1990 Mazda Miata, ironically named Truck. Mazda Miatas are extremely small Japanese cars that are famous for their humanoid “smiles” and popup eyes, and for being fun to drive. Pothe fell in love with the cars after seeing them on TikTok, and decided to save up for one. Last year, she paid for half of the car with the money she earned working at a Christmas tree farm and her grandparents paid for the other half. The car is manual, but luckily Pothe has been driving manual since she learned at age 10 in a fiat in Sweden. Since buying the car, her main challenges have been that the car only has two seats and that she wishes the car was a bit faster. In the beginning, driving her car was a little intimidating on tall hills because it’s manual. Pothe comes from a family of Miata drivers (her older brother and dad also drive Miatas), so she has a car family that she can enthuse over Miatas with and get help from. Examples of this include her mom getting her a new clutch for her birthday this year, and her family helping her with three 10-hour-long days of fixing her radiator. 

Pothe loves when “all the kids try to get [her to make the car] wink,” and as for decorations and modifications, Pothe made teeth for her Miata which she sported during Halloween, and hopes to swap out her rims for chunky black ones, like on her dad’s car. 

Pothe is currently working at a restaurant and working on getting her motorcycle permit, and she evidently has great taste in cars and has made some impressive achievements, especially for her young age.

Mia Pothe’s NA Miata [Image Credit Kelly Meeder]