Mazda MX-5 Miata
The best affordable sports car ever?
$25,790
Mazda’s mitey MX-5 Miata has a loud cabin, a firm ride, and barely enough trunk space for two carry-on bags. And it’s a riot. The car’s lack of just about everything is what makes it so much fun to drive, the modus operandi of an affordable sports car. While this review contains facts, features, and figures that might sound bad, they can be construed as negative only if you’re comparing the Miata with a normal car—which it isn’t. Choose between the softtop roadster or the folding-hardtop RF, pick your preferred transmission, and hit your favorite road on a sunny day. We guarantee you’ll love the Miata as much as we do.
What’s New for 2017?
The RF (that’s Retractable Fastback) joins the softtop roadster in the fourth-generation Miata lineup, bringing with it a power-operated, coupe-mimicking hard roof that lowers into the area behind the seats, along with extra refinements. Some of the RF’s enhancements make their way into the 2017 roadster, namely its quieter manual transmission, retuned steering, and full-color driver-information display in the gauge cluster.
Trims and Options We’d Choose
Regardless of roof choice, the Club model with the six-speed manual transmission is the most enthusiast-friendly Miata and the one we’d pick. In fact, it is the one we picked for a 40,000-mile long-term test. As the mid-level trim for the roadster ($29,675) and the entry-level take on the RF ($32,430), the Club includes performance-enhancing goodies such as:
• Sport suspension with Bilstein shock absorbers
• Limited-slip differential
• 17-inch wheels and tires
• Front shock-tower brace
Fuel Economy
Pencil in another W in the Miata’s column for being so light. With so little car to haul around, the 2.0-liter engine squeaks out relatively high EPA fuel-economy numbers and outperforms them in the real world.
Both the Miata roadster and the Miata RF exceeded their EPA-estimated highway fuel economy figures on our test loop. The numbers of both Miatas fall just short of best in class behind their fraternal twin (albeit with a smaller engine), the Fiat 124 Spider.
You don’t sit in a Miata as much as wear it. The cabin is a cozy fit for two adults and includes only the bare essentials. While some might categorize the interior as spare, glass-half-full types (us) appreciate the businesslike prioritization of the steering wheel, pedals, and shifter and the refreshingly basic accommodations.
Interior Space Comparisons
The Miata is strictly a two-seater and surprisingly accommodating for such a tiny vehicle. Those taller than six and a half feet will need to bend their knees to fit, and with the roof down, their heads might be above the top of the windshield header. For everyone else, though, there’s room enough. The Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ are as capacious in front and although they both offer rear seats, the second row is nearly useless.
Interior Features
A steering wheel, a set of pedals, a shifter, and easy-to-read analog gauges are the only items that truly matter in a sports-car interior—which is good, because there isn’t much else inside a Miata. Heated seats, automatic climate control, leather upholstery, and (for softtop models) a more insulated dual-layer top are restricted to the Grand Touring trim. Instead of fixed cupholders, Mazda sprinkles three anchor points for two portable drink holders throughout the cabin.
The Miata sits low. The driver’s backside resides a mere 15.3 inches off the road; as a comparison, a Volkswagen Passat’s seating height is 21.9 inches. To accurately measure seating height—the distance from the road to the driver’s hip—we use an H-Point Machine (HPM), a precisely engineered device marketed by SAE International. This versatile tool, in conjunction with a laser device, reveals the width and location of roof-pillar visibility obstructions (blind spots). Our H-Point Machine and laser measurement tools determine the length of road obscured by the hood as well as the road obscured by the trunk or hatch (as seen through the rearview mirror).
The view forward through the Miata’s windshield is expansive. The view to the sides and rear is even better, provided the roadster’s top is down. However, when raised, the softtop’s small rear window and thick B-pillars restrict outward visibility. The RF has similar obstruction to the rear, but since only the roof panel above the passengers’ heads can be lowered, the visibility issues are omnipresent.
Roof pillars protect occupants in a rollover crash, but they also create blind spots. We determine visibility by measuring the location and width of each pillar using an H-Point Machine and a laser beam (surrogates for a driver and eyeball, respectively). Front and rear visibility are calculated by subtracting the viewable area blocked by the pillars from a perfect 180-degree score.
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