Remember back when you were a diapered enthusiast-to-be and you weren't allowed to venture beyond the end of your family's tree lawn? The sum total of your 'driving' experience was probably a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. If you were like us, your toddler self was all big dreams, bustling feet and arms akimbo, twirling around those front caster wheels, savoring your first taste of automotive freedom.
Mazda created a timeless masterwork upon minting the very first MX-5 Miata back in 1989.
Small wonder, then, that Little Tikes' now 30-year-old bauble of rotation-molded plastic was last year's best-selling car – it's timeless. Combine classic styling, unburstable robustness, an inexpensive sticker price and the fact that it remains just quick enough for its target audience, and you've got a recipe for lasting success. The CC's whimsical, animated face; rounded, friendly styling; unfussed interior; nimble handling and general affordability has meant that despite a decidedly casual model update schedule, the folks at Little Tikes still have the whole fun-to-drive thing knocked. Sound like anyone else we know?
Oh, it may have taken them a decade longer to cotton on to the idea, but Mazda's designers eventually stumbled upon the same secret sauce as those wondrous toymakers from Hudson, Ohio. Perhaps inadvertently, they, too, created a timeless masterwork upon minting the very first MX-5 Miata back in 1989. All these years later, just like the Cozy Coupe, you can't help but smile a little when you see one. Just like the Cozy Coupe, you have to adopt the same mildly vulnerable, elbows-out-the-window driving position because of the cabin's pronounced narrowness. Just like the Cozy Coupe, both cars have more than their fair share of plastic in their interior. Just like the Cozy Coupe, road imperfections are transmitted directly through the modestly sized wheels into the driver's hands and back pocket – and in both cases, it's part of the fun. Most importantly, just like that Cozy Coupe of your youth, Mazda's minimalist masterwork will help you rediscover your inner enthusiast's childlike heart.
Styling-wise, Mazda characterizes the 2009 Miata's newly retouched nose as "more aggressive," but the effect is very much like CARS' Lightning McQueen trying to puff up when Sally nuzzles up to his bumper in Radiator Springs. Even with its slightly larger five-pointed grille and marginally more intimidating headlamps, our Competition Yellow Miata still maintains a friendly googly-eyed countenance, only now its brows are wryly furrowed a bit. As a side bonus, the touched-up front graphic is easier for the wind to look at, too.
Critically, even in the $29,170 full-house spec of our Grand Touring premium package tester (complete with the bargain $500 suspension package that includes a more tightly drawn springs, Bilstein shocks and a limited-slip differential), you never feel overwhelmed by this Miata's kit, crushed by its creature comforts or unnecessarily addled by additional features. That's just not its way. Despite our tester being outfitted with everything from a keyless entry/start system to Bluetooth hands-free telephony, a six-disc CD stereo with MP3 input, heated leather seats and Xenon headlamps, the gauges remain simple, the controls uncluttered, and the general aesthetic of the interior is one of Zen-like minimalism.
That's important, because a Miata remains as readily defined by what it is as by what it isn't. It isn't a muscle car, it isn't a luxurious wafter – it isn't even particularly sophisticated – there are no sport modes, no active steering gewgaws, no THX-Certified surround sound systems, no pyrotechnic roll hoops, no baseball-stitched leather seats. Want a nav system? You'll have to revisit your old friends Messieurs Rand and McNally (remember them?) or suction one of those TomTom boxes to the glass. It's all gleefully elemental, this Mazda.
The Miata reminds us of the power and joy in momentum conservation.
Some cars take eons to figure out – you can put thousands of miles on the latest Shazam Gadzooks 5000, only to reach the end of a cross-country odyssey and not know what to make of it. The MX-5's simplicity means the familiarization process is rather brief. As in immediate. Release the single latch on the windshield header, throw the top back and let it accordion over your shoulder, and just a few miles down the road, you know exactly what this car is, what it is capable of, and what your role is in the whole thing.
Part of this is due to the fact that the Miata's limits are rather modest to begin with – a much greater percentage of its total performance envelope can be safely explored under normal motoring conditions than other performance cars. With a powerful vehicle that has bigger dimensions and loftier limits, it often takes huge stretches of open road and confetti'd license velocities in order to even begin to feel entertained. Not so with the Miata – an unscheduled squirt to the corner grocery can provoke more grins in a few minutes than roadsters with thrice its power might hope to exact in a week's worth of driving. If nothing else, a week's refresher in our roadster proved that Miata drivers still wave at each other – when was the last time a fellow motorist made you smile?
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