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For years, I’ve told anyone who’d listen that the Miata is “all the sports car anyone needs.” Like most people who do this job, I love to drive and reserve a big, squishy soft spot for cars that reward my enthusiasm with responsive handling, sufficient power and first-rate steering and braking.
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The Miata was designed as a lightweight, two-passenger, rear-wheel-drive sports car. Its rigid platform, short wheelbase, sport-tuned suspension and 50/50 front-to-rear weight distribution are at home on twisty autocross and road courses, not the drag strip.
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The Miata manages the 0-60 mph sprint in the mid-6-second range, well off the pace set by conventional performance cars. The fun starts when a corner looms. Unlike more powerful peers, the Miata is not so powerful one needs the reflexes or the skill set of a professional driver to probe its limits.
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Its transmissions — they include five- and six-speed manuals and a six-speed automatic — are calibrated to take advantage of the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine’s power curve. On manual-transmission models, clutch take-up is light and direct and shifts gates are clearly defined.
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More to the point, the Miata needn’t be driven hard to be rewarding. A retired auto engineer once told me that driving satisfaction derives from the feedback provided a driver by the car — through the hands, the eyes and the ears and the seat of the pants. Some of the most powerful performance cars don’t begin providing useful feedback until they’ve achieved speeds and cornering forces well beyond what’s legal — or reasonable — on public roads. The Miata makes a drive to the grocery store fun
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There are many things the Miata is not. Its trunk is tiny and incidental cabin storage isn’t much better. Low-slung seats present ingress/egress challenges for anyone bothered by bad knees and/or hips. Cabin electronics lag woefully behind the curve. The ride is sports-car bouncy
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