For all the ways in which the Miata slaughters the Solstice -- steering, handling, balance, acceleration, fuel economy, shift quality, clutch feel, exhaust note, seat comfort, storage space, cupholders, top operation, reliability (just to name thirteen) -- the Pontiac trumps Mazda in at least one department: sound quality. Even with the top dropped, a Solstice shod with that 225-watt Monsoon option seems to pack enough punch to blow the tops off the cars around you. By contrast, the system in the Miata, Bose or otherwise (ours was otherwise), lacks the will to win the war with the outside world. After 50 MPH, notes just kind of get lost in the shuffle and fade away. While we're on it, it's a little repulsive of Mazda to require buying the 6-disc changer to get MP3 playback, and those looking for an iPod plug are completely SOL.
Call it one small but sure victory in Pontiac's favor. Aside from that 17% annual sales lead, of course.
Brian Sy, Automotive Editor, 21,150 miles
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
My buddy Ken saw my since-retracted "dibs" post about our 2006 Mazda Miata and gave me a call.
"You don't even like blue cars. You hated my blue CRX. Why would you buy that?" he groused.
"Umm Errr," mumbled I. Then I retorted with some unkind comment about the lameness of his CRX's particular shade of baby blue. But basically, he had me dead to rights.
Continue reading 2006 Mazda Miata: Feeling Blue.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
I hereby retract my decelaration of "Dibs" vis-Ã -vis the 2006 Mazda Miata...
Continue reading 2006 Mazda Miata: Dibs retraction.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
On Saturday morning, the Miata's odometer was 750 miles short of the 20,000-mile mark. On Sunday night, it was 67 miles beyond it. In-between, the MX-5 went on an 800-mile tour of central California, because, well, this is the kind of car that gives meaning to otherwise arbitrary milestones and makes you want to celebrate them. So I found a bunch of empty, twisty roads -- CA Hwy 146, CA Hwy 25 and Panoche Rd...
Continue reading Mazda MX-5 Miata: One Last Road Trip.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
This is our Mazda MX-5's last week in the long-term test fleet. Next week it goes to the body shop and after it's back, we'll put it up for sale, unless of course Dan calls in his dibs. So here's your opportunity to offer parting comments on the roadster -- good, bad, friendly, mean or otherwise.
I'll start: I'll miss the Miata's insistent, sportbike-like exhaust note, super straight tracking on the freeway, and near infinite U-turnability...
Continue reading 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata: Say your goodbyes.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Poor Miata :( Getting rear-ended once back in October (while minding its own biz stopped at a red light) wasn't enough. Sunday, while I was waiting to pull into a rotary, it got nailed again.
I was waiting to enter the rotary, moved up closer to the circle entry and stopped (there was a minivan coming 'round the circle so I wanted to wait for it to go by) and Bam!, got rear-ended. I'm guessing that the girl in the TrailBlazer behind me expected me to just blast out there and hug the circle's right lane. But as you can't predict that someone in the circle (who has the right-of-way) isn't going to change lanes without warning, I wasn't going to chance it.
After the jolt and subsequent head-snap I received, I expected the rear of the Miata to be crumpled yet at a glance it looks almost unharmed. The give-aways are the larger than normal gap between the trunk lid and rear filler panel as well as the scuff and slight waviness in the bumper. The other driver was all apologies and we quickly exchanged information after we found a safe place to pull over. Now it's off to the body shop...
Continue reading Mazda Miata: Rear-ended..
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Since I joined Edmunds.com, I haven't driven my own car very much. For the record, it's a 1991 Mazda Miata with 175,000 miles on the clock. The soft top is rotted out, so I keep the hard top on most of the time. The red paint on the bumpers and mirrors has faded to a grody patina and the moldings are looking powdery...
Continue reading 2006 Mazda Miata: Dibs!.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Tired of hearing how much useful storage space our long-term Miata has? Well, then, you should probably skip over this post. However, in my rush to get to the airport on Saturday morning (while running late... as usual), I can't tell you how grateful I was when my 20" rollaboard carry-on bag, even in "expanded" form, dropped right into the the Miata's trunk and allowed the lid to close...
Continue reading Mazda MX-5: Trunk Space is Useful, Part Ad Nauseum.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
One area in which I can't give our long-term MX-5 a bye is interior plastics quality. The questionable pebble-grain stuff on the Miata's pillars and dash was easier to overlook when the cheaply outfitted Solstice was in the fleet. Now almost 19,000 miles on, reality is showing through in the form of ugly scratches on the driver-side A-pillar and glovebox.
Maybe an interior detail would help mask the blemishes, but there's no getting rid of them entirely.
Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor, 18,723 miles
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
We'll admit it. This is not the sort of tire wear that you see in normal use. We've abused these tires. When you've got a few minutes after the testing schedule has been completed and there's all this empty asphalt, you just can't help yourself (or so one of our test crew reports).
No wonder. Since production began in April 1989, the Miata has become the most popular two-passenger sports car of all time by a large margin. It's become a standard of reference, a car that has taught an entire generation how to drive...
Continue reading Mazda MX-5, Tire Abuse and Spec Miata.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
After 18,000 miles in just 11 months our Miata is in desperate need of a detailing. Nothing major mind you, but the carpet looks like it was last vacuumed when the Iraq war was popular and there's enough beverage spillage on the console to keep a CSI team buzzing for a week. The paint could use a little wax too.
So we're slobs...
Continue reading Mazda MX-5 Miata: This thing's a real car.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
OK at the risk of angering Solstice fans (a-gain) I have to make this comparison. I had the Solstice GXP all weekend and then got into our MX-5 last night so I couldn't help but notice how much nicer the gauges are in the Miata. Sure, the Solstice's gauges (on the right) are pretty and retro and all that...it's like you're in a cockpit, but in the Miata (left) there's something about its layout that's soothingly clear. The GXP's are deeply recessed and made me feel like I was looking at the numbers from the other end of a tunnel while the MX-5's just sat there right in front of my face...
Continue reading 2006 Mazda MX-5 vs. Solstice Gauges.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
I'd noticed several times that the Miata's wipers weren't doing much more than moving water around the windshield, and the washer function was useless. Inspecting the blades, I could see they were dried out.
So a couple nights ago, I broke down and bought a new pair of 18-inch blades, assembly and all, for $7.99 apiece at the auto parts store. They snapped right on to the wiper arms.
The store clerk had suggested the more expensive Bosch blades, but given the lack of significant weather in LA, I decided the generic set would be adequate. Total bill was $17.30 with tax...
Continue reading Mazda MX-5: New Wiper Blades.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Our long-term Mazda Miata has a "smart" oil pressure gauge. This basically means it gives immediate oil pressure readings as rapidly as the pressure changes. A cool trait that is very "performance car" oriented. But -- it also means that when the Miata is idling the gauge accurately represents the associated drop in oil pressure that occurs...
Continue reading Mazda Miata: Gauging Oil Pressure.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Stop me, stop me
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is still the standard of reference for people who care about driving. It's the best car with which to learn about driving, and nearly everybody you know has driven one or wants to drive one.
So our current long-term MX-5 surprised me a little. At 17,000 miles, our MX-5's brake pedal doesn't feel quite right. The pedal action is initially very light and lacks any feedback, and then the brake pads really bite. The overall braking action is not abrupt exactly, but it's not smooth, either.
It's not an issue when you're braking hard, but it can be difficult to brake lightly and smoothly in traffic situations. It's probably only something I'd notice, since I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like to stand the car on its nose under braking...
Continue reading 2006 Mazda MX-5: Stop me, stop me.
Categories: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata