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The Mazda Miata needs no introduction, but the 2016 does.
It's seriously updated which always makes loyalists a little nervous.
Let's see how Mazda did as we drive the 16 forth generation MX5 Miata in the club trim, check the tech.
Now I'll be honest with you I don't care for the new look that's on the face and rump of the new Miata.
I think they're trying too hard and they're gonna look very dated in a few years, but that's just my opinion.
The important thing on the outside is this car is now three inches shorter and 150 pounds lighter than the last car that was already short and light.
Beyond that, the overall volume and the layout of a Miata is still a Miata.
Now the Miata cabin remains this very clean, simple place.
You really see it in the instrument panel.
That's like classic vintage gauge work and I like it.
Because we have a mid-trim car, we've got this sort of stick up LCD infotainment system here that has a very iDrive like controller cluster, and NextTouch and you have voice.
Big painter didn't Interior door tops.
You better love the color you buy.
The front console cup holder is tidy and basically solid.
The one in the back of the console is hateful, begging to be bumped by your elbow, as ours was during our shoot even though we Expressly were avoiding that.
Now, Miatas, and really any Mazdas, are not known as cabin tech power houses.
This is no different.
What they have under the promising apps menu is basically a joke, but the navigation system's the most important thing Is clean and crisp, as well as bluetooth screening and calling, all the basics.
The big missing thing here, is integration of Apple car play, and Android auto.
Give me that, and suddenly it's transformed, technologically.
You do however, have clean and snappy integration of aha, Stitcher, and Pandora, under audio sources.
The top is completely manual, that's a big part of the weight saving, and it's amazing, light and fast the way a power top can never be.
On the other hand, putting it back up is guaranteed to earn you rotator cuff surgery, lucky for your orthopedic surgeon the power retractable hard top has been canceled.
Not a bunch of drive mode buttons or anything like that, you handle that through the clutch and the stick.
Active high tech driver assist is available at the Volvo dealer.
This is a Miata.
At the very most, we have some available passive driver assist.
A new two liter four in US Miatas uses their SkyActiv tech, which centers on high compression to get the most power and efficiency out of each droplet of fuel.
Horse power is actually down 7%, but torque is up 5% and peaks lower.
And MPG, it's hard to believe, it's up 25%.
Also helped by the 148 pounds of weight loss.
The 0 to 60 time, which is now down to six.
Rear wheel drive only, six-speed manual or six-speed automatic.
You know what to do.
It took me about six blocks to know this car was a winner.
You feel the improved torque quantity and quality overlaid on the reduced weight, all coming through the ungarnished direct handling.
This is still an engine you'll use all of, and occasionally wish you had more of.
But that's actually an engagement that brawnier cars just can't deliver.
And that new engine is lower and farther back in the body, making handling even better.
Someone at Mazda may have heard my constant gripe about a pillars.
While they remain massive on the Miata to meet rollover standards, they've been made more upright, and pushed back for better corner visibility.
Now our Miata is a club trim, it's right in the middle, it's 29 4 delivered.
A club has Infotainment head unit and some other niceties, but doesn't have the driver assist tech for example, that's a simple way to look at it.
We do have one option, 3,400 bucks for the Brembo brakes and BBS wheels.
For a car of this power and this weight That seems like gilding the lily.
I'd skip that all day and keep it under 30 grand.
That way the Miata still remains what it is, the very best value in the world for someone who just wants to get out and drive.
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