So I am here in the 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata and the rest of this video I'm
just gonna go ahead and call it Miata for short so I don't get tongue-tied
every time I try to say the name. Now for 2019 the Miata gets a pretty significant
refresh so we're gonna see changes to the features, changes to of the available
safety equipment but most importantly there are big changes under the hood. Now
we're going to give you a quick rundown of what to expect from the 2019 Miata on
the feature side before we get to the real meat of this which is those engine
changes. So first of all there is a brand new package for Grand Touring models and
that would be both the RF Grand Touring and the soft-top Grand Touring and it
would be called the GTS package and what it does is it takes the go-fast parts
from the club and adds them to the GT package so now you can get a luxurious
Miata, "luxurious Miata" as you would say, but also have the limited slip
differential the Bilstein shocks and the reinforced shock towers that you would
find on the club vehicles and you can also get those now on GT models if you
want your GT to be a little bit more sporty. Second big change is available
safety equipment. So Mazda will now offer smart city brake support which is a fancy
way of saying automatic forward emergency braking as well as traffic
sign recognition to the Miata. So add that on to blind spot warnings and Lane
Departure warnings and gives the Miata a bit more of a comprehensive safety
package. A backup camera is also now standard across all grade levels and
that's like a welcome addition because with the top-up it's kind of hard to see
out of the back of this car still. The final change that I want to call out is
one that I personally really like I am a Miata owner myself I own a 2001 Miata
out of the NB generation and this of course is the ND generation Miata and
the Miata has actually never offered before a telescoping steering wheel. It
would tilt up and down but it would never actually go forward and back so
now for the first time the Miata is offering one for 2019 and the reason
that they didn't want to do it before because because it added weight and
because if you add a joint that goes this way they say you lose some
stiffness in the steering column. They actually found a way to reinforce the
steering wheel and they were ok with adding half a pound
so now we get a telescoping steering wheel which makes it much easier to set
a comfortable driving position especially with someone like me
who likes to sit far back but I have these t-rex arms so I really need the
wheel to come towards me to feel comfortable. Now for the good part, the
engine changes and by changes I mean that in kind of a weird way. Mazda didn't
really change up the engine too much, they didn't really bolt on any new parts,
add a turbocharger or anything like that they just made a series of little
refinements that allow the engine to now take in more air output more air and run
a bit more efficiently and the total gain of that is an increase of 26
horsepower which is pretty impressive without making a big kind of change to
the engine. 26 horsepower might not seem like a lot that actually bumps the total
horsepower up to 181 and bumps torque up a little bit as well to 151 pounds feet.
Again that that increase doesn't really sound like a lot. 22 horsepower, you
know, doesn't seem like it's going to do much however when you're talking about a
car that's as light as the Miata it makes a big difference. So right now I'm
in the Miata RF and this is what you would call the heavy weight version of
the Miata and it comes in at a 2,450 pounds with a manual transmission. 26
horsepower on a car that's this light you're gonna feel a difference and on
the road you definitely feel it whether you're driving in a day to day
situation like I'm in here in San Francisco or if you're on a more curvy
fun road with hills and things like that. What I discovered over our two-day trip
from San Luis Obispo up here to San Francisco is that it makes it easier to
drive hills and it makes it easier to hold momentum when you're trying to have
fun. So for example in the old Miata you used to really have to dip down into
second anytime you hit an incline. That basically meant you know uphill I
have to downshift. Now you can actually take those hills in third gear. You can
actually if you have enough momentum kind of leaned into the car and it pulls
much better from like 2,000 4,000 rpm. Another engine change, Mazda has raised
the red line back up to 7,500 rpm and that lets you wind the engine out a
little bit more but to enhance that they've also made the exhaust sound
better. They redid some things on the muffler
that makes it sound more full and the Miata engine now sounds better than any
small displacement four-cylinder really has a right to. Put the top down
and it's really enjoyable to hear the engine sing.
Now what I like about the changes to the engine is that they don't actually
fundamentally change the car itself, it's still a Miata, it's still super fun to
drive, the balance is great. You have excellent steering and you just have now
more horsepower to have fun with and making the car faster without changing
its nature is I think more difficult than people give them credit for but
kudos to Mazda here for adding power and adding fun to the Miata without really
taking any out. Now there's one final elephant in the room that we have to
talk about the Miata and that is its title as an affordable sports car and I
think that actually may be falling a bit by the wayside. So right now I'm in the
RF Club model and this starts at around $32,000. But then you add on the
BBS wheel Brembo brake and Recaro seat package and then you add on the machine
gray paint that it has and all of a sudden the sticker price on this vehicle
is $38,210 including destination. Now at
about $30,000 the Miata is playing against different competition.
The sticker price on this car is higher than what you'd find on vehicles like
the Honda Civic Type R and the Volkswagen Golf R and those are cars
that offer significantly more power and more capability. Is the Miata as fun to
drive as them? Potentially, but it's definitely not as fast and it's
definitely not as practical. Me and my drive partner actually had to store our
luggage in a different vehicle and it kind of followed us up here on our drive
up. So I'm a big fan of this Miata but what I spend $38,000 on it? I'm not sure.
Now I'm a big fan of changes to the 2019 Miata. I think adding power is kind of
just what the car needed to make it really come alive. It'll be hard for me
to go back and drive a 2018 or 2017 version of the car now and enjoy it just
as much. Now the good news for those who are interested in the Miata if you want
an RF version of the car those will actually go on sale starting in August
while soft top versions haven't quite been announced yet but pricing and
availability for those should be available soon.