The Best Car I Drove in 2022: Mazda MX-5 Miata Club

I fell in appreciate with the Mazda MX-5 Miata in 1994 when I rented just one for what began as a 4-working day interval that turned into three months. By the close of 1997, I owned a single of the final illustrations manufactured of the initially-generation car or truck, and I’ve constantly had a Miata parked in my garage given that then. At the moment, a 2004 Mazdaspeed lives there, with much less than 35,000 primary miles on the clock.

When the fourth-generation MX-5 Miata arrived for the 2016 design year, I was smitten with the new design and style and engineering package deal. It eradicated the delicate styling and bloat of the third-gen auto, reacquainting the 2016 Miata with the “much less is far more” philosophy that built the initial so common with driving fans. Mazda more perfected the fourth-gen Miata in 2019 with an infusion of energy, but my preferred sports motor vehicle even now experienced a somewhat wild facet. At the limit of adhesion, no matter whether trail-braking really hard into a corner or getting back again on the gasoline following clipping an apex, the most up-to-date Miata could sense a minimal squirrelly — especially if the pavement was considerably less than excellent.

Enter the 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata, now with regular Kinematic Posture Control (KPC), a brake-based software option that aims to tame the Miata’s rear conclude when you are hustling the vehicle difficult. In accordance to Mazda, KPC applies a tiny total of braking to the car’s inside of rear wheel at higher g-power entry into a corner or curve. The final result, claims the automaker, is much less overall body roll and a more linear steering response sense at the steering wheel, especially on imperfect highway surfaces. Accelerate difficult past the apex of the convert, and KPC provides a lot more within rear-wheel braking to enrich the Miata’s constrained-slip impact.

Obviously, I could not hold out to sample KPC, so at the 1st possibility, I booked a take a look at generate in a 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF. It arrived in Club specification with Soul Pink Crystal paint with the fantastic Brembo/BBS/ Recaro solution offer (typical from 2022 on), which equips the auto with light-weight cast aluminum wheels, performance brakes and functionality-bolstered seats. It wasn’t cheap, donning a window sticker of $40,160, including the vacation spot charge.

Forty grand for a Miata? Yep, but if you know what this vehicle is (street-legal go-kart) and what it can do (spank far more strong devices in all but a straight line), then that price tag continue to looks like a deal.

Just as I did with that 1994 rental auto approximately 30 yrs in the past, I took the 2022 MX-5 Miata RF Club for a day-long generate on all of my favored Southern California roads stretching from Calabasas to Santa Barbara.

The higher rev restrict and extra ability from the 2019 design 12 months update, mixed with the lightweight BBS wheels and stout Brembo brake choices, make any ND2 a sheer, unbridled pleasure to push tough and quick. Insert the precise, fluid change motion, the close to-telepathic steering, and the car’s diminutive size that enables you to use as much of your lane on a slim mountain highway to sustain ahead momentum as is achievable, and the 2019, 2020 and 2021 examples of Mazda’s roadster assure enthusiast drivers a fantastically fantastic time.

But the 2022 and 2023 designs of the MX-5 Miata are the ones to get. That new KPC computer software is effective as marketed, adding steadiness at the limit and instilling a lot more assurance in the driver. I just cannot communicate for KPC’s impact on the car’s on-keep track of character, but out in the authentic environment, on slinky mountain and canyon streets that are occasionally indifferently taken care of or improperly repaired (hunting at you, Mulholland Highway down in close proximity to the beach front), this system’s refined braking inputs provide clear dealing with added benefits.

Given that purchasing my individual Mazdaspeed MX-5 new, I have not desperately needed a new Miata. But many thanks to KPC, it’s tough to resist even however Mazda discontinued my most loved color — Polymetal Grey — for 2023. Absolutely sure, I’m a minor biased, but in seeking back again at the 88 new autos, vans and SUVs I test-drove and reviewed in 2022, the most up-to-date Mazda MX-5 Miata was my beloved.