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The globe's iconic sports car, the Mazda MX-five Miata, grows more desirable for 2022, with 26 more horsepower from a higher-revving engine and as much lovable top-downwardly fun as ever. Inbound its 30th year, the Miata has a smattering of driver assist engineering — non as well much, non too picayune — to assistance drivers when they want or demand it.

Of the 300 car models currently sold in America, it is the 2022 Mazda Miata that spot-on nails its called mission: sporty driving for two total-size adults in a car tuned to excel on twisty public roads, not the racetrack. The Miata is a car you deserve to own at once in your lifetime and feel automotive perfection. The 2022 MX-5 is the i y'all should get.

For the MX-5, there are now seven variants, four for the soft-superlative convertible, iii for the hardtop convertible. Mazda previously offered an entry trim (MX-5 Sport, convertible merely), so for soft-top and hardtop a sporty trim for enthusiasts and racers (MX-v Club), and a more comfortable cruising trim (MX-5 Grand Touring). Only and so, the GT oversupply wanted the boy racer parts (Bilstein shocks, limited slip differential), so at present there'southward an MX-v GT-S too. No automaker turns downward customers who want more options boxes to check.

The Motorcar That Doesn't Need Every Final Driver Help

At Extreme Tech, nosotros're business firm believers that driver assists, more often than not, are a Skillful Thing. They make skilled drivers better in their off moments, and they keep stupid drivers out of accidents. Honda and Toyota atomic number 82 the way with branded rubber packages. Mazda has about of them, as well, under the umbrella i-ActivSense, though the prophylactic gear varies from vehicle to vehicle.

The Mazda MX-5 cockpit is a affair of simplicity and beauty. Information technology'south well-nigh like beingness in a 1950s sports car, minus the oil leaks, short circuits, wind dissonance, harsh ride, and absence of prophylactic features. (Mazda photo)

So: What you get new this year is a rear camera, standard in all trim lines, "a first for a N American MX-5 model," Mazda says. (It's also here because information technology's required on all cars now.) The Grand Touring models (GT, GT-S) come standard with lane difference warning, blind spot detection with rear cross-traffic warning (also standard on Club models), traffic sign recognition (cease signs, speed limits), automated loftier beams, steering headlamps, and rain-sensing wipers. The Sport and Guild trims offer, as options, smart city brake support, blind spot monitoring, and lane departure warning.

The one key omission is adaptive prowl control, which is helpful both on long trips and in stop-and-go commuting, both of which MX-v owners might practice, and the trunk is big enough for a couple with 3-iv duffel bags. The MX-5 besides lacks environs view cameras, simply then the car is pretty small at 154 inches long (8 less than a Honda Fit).

Mazda fans (read: fanatics) fretted over the redline of the new ND2 engine (red line) vs. the predecessor ND1 engine (orange) and earlier NC engine (grey). Mazda says: It's 7,500 rpm for transients such equally 0-60 mph runs (no demand for two-3 upshift now) and apparently for back route twisties. For longer stretches, the engine won't rev beyond 7,200. (Mazda graphic)

7,500 RPM Redline for Mazda Faithful (Or Is It 7,200?)

The 2022 MX-five is the midlife refresh of the fourth-generation Miata line that first shipped in 2022. Gen 4 ushered in the RF — retractable fastback — hardtop conversion. From 2022 to 2022 the MX-5 used a 155-hp, ii.0-liter Skyactiv engine from the Mazda3, chosen the ND1. The 2022 ND2 variant ups horsepower 17 percent; torque improves marginally, by 3 pound-anxiety to 151; and the redline (max rpm) jumps from 6,800 to 7,500 rpm. It ways you can reach threescore mph in 2d gear (in near half dozen seconds) without a 2-3 upshift. And on back-road twisties, y'all may be able to stay in third gear without an upshift to fourth then a downshift to third for a corner.

The Mazda club faithful got their hands on the accelerate press briefing PowerPoints and freaked out when they saw a performance curve (above) that appears to show a 7,200 rpm redline, not 7,500. Mazda explains: "[vii,500 rpm is a] low-gear, transient-condition redline … [when] driven aggressively," for instance when racing or running upwards the gears nether hard dispatch. That turns out to apply to twisty roads if y'all don't hold the throttle higher up vii,200 rpm for extended periods. A wider powerband also means the ability doesn't driblet off significantly before the redline, forcing an upshift. (Horsepower does non e'er go upwards with added RPMs.)

The 2022 Mazda RF (retractable fastback), or hardtop convertible. It'southward a viable culling peculiarly in areas where the height is closed more than than open up. (Nib Howard photo)

Living the Dream Forth the Pacific Declension

If there'due south a perfect match, it's a well-behaved sports tin can and California Route one, the 655-mile Pacific Declension highway that stretches from San Diego almost to Oregon. Mazda turned loose a group of journalists in San Luis Obispo, California, with instructions only to show upward in Monterey a day later and in downtown San Francisco the day after that. It was possible to feel and smell the common salt air of the body of water, and then zippo up and down roads to the inland and temperatures every bit high equally 110 degrees, then return to the coast and a summer rainstorm.

Both Mazdas are smashing fun to drive, the soft-top and the RF retractable fastback, or convertible hardtop. The RF is quieter with the power top closed and is preferable if you're doing a lot of long-distance driving. The half dozen-speed manual is equally slick as a gearbox can be, although the automatic is pretty good, we hear — no one really wanted the lone automatic in the armada. (Subsequently we collection, Mazda brought in bloggers and lifestyle journalists, and replaced most of the manuals with automatics.)

According to Dave Coleman, managing engineer for Mazda North America, the MX-5 is designed for roads people can bulldoze without going to the track. Information technology'southward disappointing, he says, to have a 450 hp BMW coupe that loafs on public roads. Tromp the throttle and y'all're in speeding-ticket territory a second or two later. What'south the point, Coleman asks, for all the owners who never do BMW club runway day events: "[They're] driving a fast car ho-hum."

There are many improvements, however the 2022 Mazdas weigh only about xx pounds more. The soft-top weighs 2,339 pounds, 42 more for the automatic. The hardtop RF six-speed weighs 2,453 pounds, 122 pounds more than the soft-summit, and the automatic adds 46 pounds.

Improvements beyond the engine? Customers asked for a telescope steering wheel. Mazda made it happen while adding just a one-half-pound of weight. To boost power without going to a turbo, Coleman says Mazda used archetype hot-rodding solutions, improving airflow into and out of the engine. Minor weight savings helped the engine rev higher: Each piston is 27 grams lighter (1.0 ounce); connecting rods are 41 grams lighter (1.4 ounces). Mazda rates the soft-top half dozen-speed at 26 mpg metropolis, 34 mpg highway, 29 mpg combined; the automatic is 26/25/29. The RF 26/34/29 manual, 26/35/29 automatic. My co-driver and I got about thirty mpg in both the manual soft-top and hardtop in spirited driving.

Mazda speaks often about "Jinba Ittai," or the feeling of equus caballus and radar as one. The Mazda MX-5 and this rider show a perfect fifty-50 weight rest. Just don't gain weight. (Mazda photo)

Should Yous Buy?

The 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata — that's Mazda's identifier for cars sold in the US — is the best Mazda sports car always, with due respect to the rotary-engine RX-vii. Last year Mazda sold 11,294 MX-5s, a 19 percent increment, attributable in no minor part to the appearance of the hardtop convertible. Fiat sells the MX-five as the Fiat 123 Spider and sold iv,478 final yr; Fiat sells meliorate (relative to the MX-5) in other parts of the world, Mazda says, and it's the joint relationship that convinced Mazda to go on the MX-five into its fourth decade. While sales seem small compared with the Ford Mustang (82,000 sales final year) or Chevrolet Corvette (45,000 sales last twelvemonth), it still outsells 100 other cars in the United states of america including every Porsche offered as a convertible.

If yous want open-air driving, the MX-5 and companion 124 Spider are pretty much in a form of their own. Also in an affordability class of their own for serious operation. The MX-5 RF (Society) will get-go at $33,240, including $895 shipping. The GT is $34,230 and the GT-S comfort options add $750. The equivalent MX-v Club soft-top was virtually $2,200 less for the 2022 RF hardtop.

Buying an MX-5 may exist more of a personal decision than other cars. If you have a spouse or partner, make sure both of y'all drive both soft-top and RF. The hardtop convertible makes a lot of sense to an increasing number of buyers. Besides, there's no shame in buying the automatic over the stick (also no performance options); information technology's besides a tick better in highway fuel economic system. Our one recommendation is getting the i-ActivSense driver assists package, a bargain at $450. Conversely, a Club packet of Brembo brakes, Bilstein daze absorbers, and Recaro seats is $4,670. At that betoken, you're closing in on the likely base price of the resurrected BMW Z4, which returns every bit a 2022 model, forth with the similar Supra.

It bears repeating: If you love cars, you should own a Miata at to the lowest degree one time.

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