Fun, distilled: 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata drive review

What is it?

It’s the prototype for all modern roadsters. It’s springtime, it’s road trips, it’s what every car should feel like behind the wheel. It’s the legendary Mazda Miata, and it’s all new. And, in a time when cars are getting heavier, busier and softer, the MX-5 gets lighter, simpler and more lovable.

Power is down. That’s right, down from the last generation, but weight is down, too, enough to improve the power-to-weight ratio by a few ticks. The Skyactiv-G 2.0-liter four delivers 155 hp at 6,000 rpm and 148 lb-ft of twist. In our MX-5 Club trim tester, it was mated to a six-speed manual, a unit so good it should be standard equipment in every car, from the Cadillac Escalade to the Tata Nano.

This Miata is lighter than the outgoing NC generation by about 180 pounds, and lighter than the NB by more than a few pounds, too. That means it feels fast, faster than the old car by a good margin, and maybe even faster than the more-powerful Subaru BRZ. That might not be the MX-5’s direct competitor, but it’s darn close in price and character.

All Mazda roadsters have a double wishbone suspension setup in front and a rigid multilink setup in the rear. The Grand Touring and the Sport model get the standard suspension; the Club trim, comes with a more sport-focused setup featuring Bilstien dampers, a shock-tower brace and a limited-slip differential. Ours also had the Brembo/BBS package, which adds high-performance front brakes, bigger tires and BBS rims. Our sticker, by the way, rang up to $32,950, including destination.

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What’s it like to drive?

It’s sublime. We took a half day off to get the full Miata experience, and thankfully the weather cooperated with 75 degrees and sun. We applied sunblock liberally, threw on our sunglasses and stuffed our wallet in the behind-the-seat storage compartment to get the perfect driving position.

Mazda spent a good bit of time on that last part. It actually built the driver’s seat, pedals and steering wheel, and then molded the rest of the car around it. The seat no longer has a height adjustment, but Mazda solved that problem with a little bit of clever engineering. It now slides forward on an upward angle, so drivers with shorter legs will get a bonus inch or so in height as they move toward the wheel.

The seats are new, as well. On the Club trim they’re made of fabric, and there are no rigid pieces in the backrest. Drivers are just cradled, hammock-style, in the seats. That’s also a weight-saving feature, according to Mazda, and every gram counts.

The clutch pedal is easy to push, but has good springback. It engages low in the stroke; by the time your foot is 2 inches off the floor, you’ll be in gear and on your way. The leather shifter ball sits on a stubby shaft, making for great short-throw changes. We talked about how good the setup is in the latest Mazda 3, but this is the ultimate realization of that linkage. There’s a tiny bit of wheel hop, but laying power down smoothly off the line is mostly problem-free.

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Actually, it’s smooth all the way up to the 6,800 rpm redline, which we may or may not have hit, with no big peaks or valleys in torque. And that’s where the thrill is in the MX-5, not at 137 mph on a track, though it’s good for that, too, but at high revs with the windows down and the exhaust humming behind your head on a traffic-free sunny day. Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” isn’t required, but it’s strongly advised.

With the rag top down, more than one friend gave us the nervous, how-fast-are-we-going glance and we had to calm them with the actual speedometer readout. That happens at about 62 mph, by the way. Also for the record, it’s an easy chirp of the tires into second gear, and a not-as-easy chirp into third. The upgraded Brembo brakes (bigger pads, bigger calipers, different vents on the discs) go a little deeper than we liked, but stopping was confident at any speed. We didn’t experience any fade, either, but we were street driving, not putting it through its full paces.

It does lift a bit on acceleration and dives a tad on braking, even with the Bilstien shocks on the Club trim. Mazda says it did that on purpose because this isn’t just for smooth racetracks, it for all the streets you’re likely to run into on vacation. Or maybe, every day just feels like vacation when you’re behind the wheel. We felt some body flex over the bigger potholes, which makes the stick shift shake semi-violently, as it’s attached directly to the spine of the car. The tunnel kicks off some heat, too; we found a removable panel on the passenger side, removed it and could have melted a marshmallow. So don’t remove it.

The cabin in the Miata has everything you need and nothing you don't. Photo by Steven Pham

So far, the MX-5 checks off every box an enthusiast needs, including price and everyday usability, and even some they don’t, like a top that pops up literally in less than 2 seconds. But we do have some issues.

Mazda went from the standard hydraulic rack and pinion steering system to an electronic setup. That made us instantly nervous, even after the company told us how it put the assist motor on the steering rack instead of the column for more feeling. Assurances aside, it just doesn’t feel as good as the previous generation. The first few inches of movement just a feel a little rubbery, where the last did not.

Regardless, and we need to stress this, the Mazda MX-5 still handles better than 90 percent of the cars on the road. It changes direction quickly, and with its small size and view from the front seat, you can place your tires on a dime at any apex. Under full throttle it’s controllable, pointable and squirtable, even for a novice driver. It’s just that the NC generation was probably better than 97 percent of the cars on the road.

Other than that, there’s not much too complain about. The phone holder area doesn’t do nearly enough to hold your phone during repeated, hard launches. There’s not a ton of cargo space -- obviously --though we did fit a string trimmer in the trunk after breaking it down into two pieces. And it’s a little hard to get out of without grabbing on to something and grunting. We’re also not quite sure Mazda has the radio system completely figured out. It’s not the easiest in the world to use, and we’d love to see the screen either retract into the dash or be integrated in it.

The Miata's top can come down manually in less than 5 seconds. Photo by Steven Pham

Do I want it?

Unless you already have an NC with low miles that you love to pieces, then yes, you want it. If you’ve never been one of the Miata faithful, there’s no better time than now to jump in. The MX-5 is summer smells, vacation road trips and track-day fun distilled into its purest form. And, if you need another reason to get out the checkbook, we drove the car for about 300 not-slow miles during our test, and easily averaged more than 30 mpg.

Jake Lingeman - Jake Lingeman is Road Test Editor at Autoweek, reviewing cars, reporting on car news, car tech and the world at large.
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