The New Miata Is a Proper Featherweight

The secret to the Miata’s – and the whole British roadster genre’s – awesomeness has nothing to do with power and everything to do with lightness. By being light, it takes way less force to change a car’s momentum. That’s good for everything that involves coaxing said car into doing something cool. Just sitting there isn’t cool.

That’s why I’m thrilled to tell you that the new Mazda MX-5 Miata weighs only 2,332 lbs. That’s somehow even less than the all carbon fiber Alfa Romeo 4C, which starts at about double the Miata’s price and is 133 lbs heavier. Not only does this mean that the new Miata is going to be awesome, but it also means that tuned Miatas are going to be mind-blowingly terrifying/fun. Yeah, 155 horsepower will be fun, but I can’t wait to see someone put something like one of those 280 HP Cosworth Duratecs in that engine bay. Who doesn’t want a 280 HP cars that weighs basically nothing and revs to 10,000 RPMs. I’m going to start saving now.