It's all about less being more. I like the Miata because it's the only sports car in which they haven't used horsepower to solve all the problems. With almost every other car, when they have trouble with it, or it just isn't selling, they just add gobs of horsepower to it.
'You've got the Mercedes Coupe moving a little slow? You come out with CL65 with 604 HP. Bad handling? Put a Hemi in it.'
With the Miata, that doesn't really seem to be an issue. Although the horsepower's gone up a little bit over the years, it's one of the few cars you drive where horsepower really doesn't seem to be the issue.
It's one of balance.
Because cars are so powerful now, there aren't many cars that need to use all the power all the time, to keep it in boil. When you drive a new Porsche or Corvette, or any of those cars, anything past a third throttle to a half throttle, you're in jail already. With the Miata, you can whip the gear box around, bring the ass end around and slide it a little bit and have a great deal of fun with it.
Both the RX-8 and the Miata are the best-balanced car in the world. They just seem to fit exactly right.
I think may experts will tell you, and I think this is something not many super car owners will admit, but I will admit, I think the Mazda's got the best gearbox of almost any car produced.
It's extremely short, you never miss a gear. It's extremely predictable. Click click click, Click click click. And the fact that you use it a lot makes it enjoyable. You feel connected to the car.
http://www.miataclubphilippines.com/mcp-home.htm
