If It Ain't Broke... - 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata Convertible Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

If It Ain't Broke... - 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata Convertible Long-Term Road Test

The 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata features a quick and easy manual-folding convertible top.

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kirkhilles1

I used to own a '93 Del Sol and I NEVER took the top off. Why? Because it was such a commitment. The top was in the trunk, but there was no trunk latch, so you literally had to pull over, put the car in park, turn off the engine (since you needed your keys), walk over to the trunk, open it, take out the very large, awkward top, put it on, close the trunk, get in, do both latches and then start the car back up. Not exactly something that could be done at a stoplight.

The Miata changed ALL of that for me. Now, I have the top down unless its raining or below 30 degrees (although I'll still do that sometimes). Even if its cloudy, I know its a 10 second process to put the top up, so it can be done in traffic or whenever speed drops down (you don't get wet when driving fast). I like the fact that there is no motor to fail and I'll continue to use my existing top until I can't patch it up anymore.

throwback

The beauty of a simple efficient design. that's the Miata in a nut shell.

bankerdanny

Nice to see Mazda keeping it simple.

As an aside, what is up with the '97 project Miata? It has been over 2 years since the new engine was completed (per an October 2013 post) and 19 months since the last post. It's listed in the 'past long-term' section now. Was it sold? Did it depart with J Kav (I don't recall seeing his name on any posts in a while)? Did you decide it should go to someone that would finish it? Is it going to live in the Edmunds office, unused like the Corvette? I would love to see a comparison of that car, new long stroke engine in place, to the 2016 Miata, particularly in a track situation since the suspension mods on the '97 aren't exactly street oriented.

kirkhilles1

bankerdanny said:

Nice to see Mazda keeping it simple.

As an aside, what is up with the '97 project Miata? It has been over 2 years since the new engine was completed (per an October 2013 post) and 19 months since the last post. It's listed in the 'past long-term' section now. Was it sold? Did it depart with J Kav (I don't recall seeing his name on any posts in a while)? Did you decide it should go to someone that would finish it? Is it going to live in the Edmunds office, unused like the Corvette? I would love to see a comparison of that car, new long stroke engine in place, to the 2016 Miata, particularly in a track situation since the suspension mods on the '97 aren't exactly street oriented.

Good point, I had forgotten about it. A performance comparison would be pretty cool if it were still around.

daryleason

I was asking about the '97 a while back. There was a post for one of the pickups as an update where they dragged a Miata out to a field and left it. Everyone was wondering if that was the fate of the '97 Miata. Edmunds never clarified. We never got a wrap up on the '97 either.

As for the simplicity of the folding top, I like that Mazda tries not to over-complicate things on the Miata. Function over form, I guess, as opposed to form over function. A small two-seater shouldn't need a power-folding top, so good job, Mazda.

g_k1

My Toyota MR2 was almost as good - I believe it had two header latches. I much preferred it to my '01 and '06 M Roadsters - the tops worked fine, but every time I raised or lower them I expected something to go wrong, leading to a very expensive repair.

schen72

Mazda's solution is very nice. Back when I briefly owned a convertible New Beetle (inherited into fleet via marriage) with a power top, every time it went up or down I would have the feeling something was going to break. Given VW's reliability record, after the top would sometimes fail to operate, I sold that car ASAP. All my reliability suspicions about VW were confirmed during my tenure with the New Beetle.