2012 mazda miata special edition specs

The six-speed manual transmission that our model was equipped with featured a shifter that was certainly good, but not the best that I've tested. Subjectively, the Honda Civic Si and Mini Cooper S have shifters that seem much snappier, with a slightly more positive, mechanical engagement than the Mazda's. The Miata's gears are tightly spaced, which means that you'll be doing a lot of shifting to stay in the sweet spot of the powerband.

Your revs will be at about 3. However, the Miata's lack of storage space already precludes it from being an optimal road trip car. With the optional suspension package in place, the Miata is upgraded with a limited-slip differential, Bilstein shocks, and sport-tuned Mazda springs. These upgrades join the hard-top Miata's standard front strut tower bar, front and rear stabilizer bars, disc brakes, and high-performance tires to create one of the purest driving experiences that I've ever had.

Few cars put as little between the driver and the road as the Miata does. There's never a question of where the vehicle's corners are -- you can easily see them from the driver's seat. The steering wheel is extremely communicative and responsive, giving you an almost telepathic connection with the front wheels. Disable the traction control and the MX-5 will happily do smoky doughnuts with a blip of the throttle.

True, the Miata may not be the best car for doing massive burnouts -- it's simply not powerful enough -- but the rear-drive configuration and its willingness to rotate about its center axis mean that you're just a tap of the traction control button and a blip of the throttle away from epic and smoky doughnuts. While sliding around an empty parking lot, I was pleased by how easy it was to power-slide the little roadster, controlling the radius of the bend with countersteering and modulation of the throttle, every input eliciting a nearly instantaneous response from the vehicle that was felt through the steering wheel and the seat.

I'm not saying that you should hoon your Miata around the local mall parking lot, just be sure to turn the traction control back on before you get back on the road. But it gets better. While the Miata shows great potential as a track and autocross car, the roadster's chassis truly shines when you're only driving at seven-tenths of its ability.

On my favorite back roads, with the top down and a good song on the radio, the Miata was a grin-inducer, but I was most impressed by the ease with which the Miata and I tackled those winding roads. I felt more relaxed and my inputs were smaller than usual.

Mazda calls this effortlessness Jinba ittai, which translates as "rider and horse as one. And since I wasn't constantly struggling for control of the car, I was free to look down the road, set up my next few corners, and, most importantly, enjoy the drive. Lightweight, low-power fun translates also into efficient driving. At the end of my week with the Miata, I'd averaged A driver with a lighter foot and more relaxed driving style could definitely do better.

Cabin tech? What cabin tech? The MX-5 Miata is pretty archaic by modern standards where dashboard tech is concerned. At its best, which the Grand Touring and Special Edition trim levels represent, you're looking at single-line monochromatic screen that displays data from a six-disc in-dash CD changer with MP3 decoding, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, AM and FM broadcast reception, and an auxiliary input located at the base of the dashboard.

Audio comes through a seven-speaker, Bose-branded premium stereo system with a feature called AudioPilot 2 that automatically adjust the volume to compensate for the vehicle's speed and whether the top is down or not. There's also Bluetooth hands-free calling, but it's only the most basic of systems. There is no phone book sync, so caller ID isn't supported, and neither is dial by name "Call Antuan Goodwin" without first manually setting a voice tag.

You can press the voice command button and speak a number "Call " but unless you've memorized the numbers of your contacts, you'll want to take a minute or 10 to set up a few speed-dial voice tags before you embark on a trip. Additionally, any trip that lasts longer than your phone's battery will require that you plug in not only that aux-audio cable, but also a volt charger.

And since the only place you can comfortably stow your phone in the Miata is either in a cupholder or in a cell phone slot near the back of the center console, you'll be draping both of those cables awkwardly across your shifter.

The Miata is in desperate need of a tech upgrade -- these days, even an entry-level Hyundai Accent comes better equipped -- but in the interim, there are stopgap solutions available now. By day 2 with the Miata, I found myself turning to an aftermarket product to address my issues with tech.

By simply plugging a Scosche MotorMouth II into the MX-5's auxiliary input, I was able to add Bluetooth audio streaming, which eliminated the need for one of the two cables, and use my smartphone's own voice dialer at the touch of a button, making it easier to place calls. Since then, the Miata has become one of the most popular roadsters in the world, selling over a million models since it made its debut 23 years ago. The model is equipped with both the Premium and Suspension packages as standard.

I agree with you Spencer. The soft-top you mentioned is commonly used in this roadster. I think only Ferrari is doing hard-top mechanism on their vehicles. It has very-friendly appearance. Mazda MX-5 Miata looks like Ferrari. It is so attractive! Its bumper makes it seem that it is smiling. The debut of this Miata was great. This will be their ace to Ferrari. It has the same majestic exterior and bodywork. It was available on different cool colors without reducing its elegance.

I think this car would have a serious potential if it was redesigned. I like this car but I think if it gets an update it would seriously be a big competitor! What a lovely color combination! The front bumper is angst with great platform design. The exterior looks luxurious even though this is a sports car.