Mazda MX-5 Miata

The MX-5 Miata—or Miata, as it’s more often called in the U.S.—is a small, two-seat sports car and the epitome of the classic roadster, with a long hood and short cabin, a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, and a design that keeps it lean and simple, sometimes at the expense of some comfort. That said, the Miata has maintained a reputation for being one of the most enjoyable vehicles to drive, without resorting to horsepower figures and 0-60 times.

Originally brought out for 1990, the MX-5 Miata For several years was the only vehicle of its kind in the U.S. market, save for a few especially low-production vehicles and the then-aging Fiat Spider. With the look and driving feel of the small British roadsters that were somewhat trendy—combined with the reliability of a well-engineered Japanese car—the Miata struck the right balance in appealing both to a certain type of enthusiast and to those who wanted an inexpensive, economical fair-weather machine. But the Miata wasn’t alone in the market for long; in the mid-1990s the BMW Z3, Porsche Boxster, and Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class were introduced. Those German models, though they started out with as more stripped-down machines, quickly went upmarket, with the BMW and Mercedes trading in four-cylinder engines for six-cylinders, and this past decade the Miata’s direct rivals have been limited to the short-lived Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

The MX-5 Miata has never possessed a spec sheet that would set hearts racing—engine outputs have ranged from 116 to 167 hp, with the exception of a briefly offered turbo model—but somehow it all comes together. Mazda offered a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine the first several years of the Miata, but it was only offered with a manual transmission and did fine with it. By the mid-1990s the Miata got a 1.8-liter engine, and Mazda started to offer a wider range of performance options and wheel upgrades. In 1999, the Miata lost its distinctive pop-up headlamps but gained an even better top mechanism, a rear glass window, and a number of structural improvements—including better side-impact protection. It’s worth noting that taller drivers should skip these years of the Miata, the side-impact improvements left the footwells especially narrow, with little space beside the steering wheel. These Miatas were a little heavier than the original cars but still drove with a comparably sharp, responsive feel. 2004 is a noteworthy year; that’s when variable valve timing was introduced for the 1.8-liter, earning it some more torque and slightly improved responsiveness.

In 2006, the Miata saw a complete redesign to its present form, and thankfully weight was carefully kept down and the original light-and-lean formula was maintained. A 2.0-liter four powers the Miata, along with five- or six-speed manual transmissions or an automatic, though the automatic tends to take some fun out of it. And while the Miata maintains a go-kart-like handling feel, with a low-to-the-road driving position that tends to exaggerate the feeling of speed without breaking the speed limit, the tight cabin can lend a feeling of vulnerability (there’s a lack of crash-test information on the Miata). The base cloth top isn’t power-operated, but it remains easy to open and close by hand, however a power-retractable hard top (PRHT) version of the Miata was introduced in 2007. Thanks to smart design, the hard top opens and closes very quickly, preserves headroom, and creates a tight, quiet cabin environment good for driving in cold weather.