Paradise Found

Mazda’s Miata will never be the longest, widest, lowest, most powerful, or fastest car in the industry. But when it comes to being the most enjoyable car to drive, the Miata ranks right at the top. And that’s all Mazda ever wanted.

Perception can become reality. Forget about 400 horsepower, or 0 to 60 in four seconds, or rock-solid suspension that can jar your fillings loose, or a $50,000 sticker price. There is a place for pure driving pleasure, and the Miata proves that if it feels fast, it is; if it feels firm, it is; if it feels like so much fun you want to laugh out loud, it must be a Miata.

From the driver’s seat, use one hand to unlatch and flip the top down into its self-folding bin, then hit the starter, and run the revs up through the silky smooth six-speed shifter until you find an uninhabited rural two-lane highway, where, with absolute precision, the car snakes around the turns at any speed you choose.

With a base price just over $20,000—the loaded, limited-edition model is still less than $27,000—the Miata somehow costs less than some compacts. It’s also the largest-selling two-seat sports car in the world. It reached that level when sales hit 532,000 in 2000. The global total is somewhere north of 700,000—but that was before the completely revised 2006 third-generation model arrived in showrooms this month.

Japan, the car was known simply as the Roadster, while the rest of the world knew it as the MX-5, except in the United States,  where its name was Miata. In 1993, the car’s engine was increased in size from 1.6 to 1.8 liters, but the second generation wasn’t introduced until 1999—making the 2006 model only the third version of the Miata in sixteen years. It had been rumored that Mazda was going to eliminate the Miata name, but it will stick with it in the United States, for now.

Design ideas were pulled in from Germany, Japan, and California, but the final product looks quite a lot like the outgoing model, which is no surprise. Both the grille and the headlights have low, horizontal oval shapes. Weight was shaved off by the gram from the entire car, including the engine block and deck lid, which are aluminum. Strategic doses of high-strength steel—and 12 percent ultra-high-strength steel—in 46 percent of the unibody structure maximize strength, but the car still weighs less than 2,500 pounds.

The wheelbase was stretched 2.6 inches, but the overall length increased by only 1.6 inches, which means less overhang. Another inch could have been used for more foot room for the right-seat passenger, but Mazda engineers were consumed with weightier matters. The engine was shifted rearward by 5.3 inches, improving the weight distribution of the rear-drive car. Surprisingly, the car is slightly nose-heavy—until the driver and passenger take their seats. Then it’s a perfect fifty-fifty. No surprise after all. The body structure is 47 percent stiffer against torsional bending, and the new rear suspension has a fifth link that alters the rear wheel’s angle slightly for more responsive cornering.