Mazda's affordable, plucky Miata launched a sports car renaissance - Chron.com
But to understand why that fourth-generation sports car is a huge deal in some circles – and glimpse at where the Miata's trajectory may be headed – it helps to look at the two-seater's quarter-century history. As your eyes take in any MX-5 Miata, you don't need to be a car geek to sense what you're looking at. You intuit how the two-seat roadster will drive and how it will make you feel as you're at the wheel, in control. The stage was set for sport cars after World War II. Some servicemen returned from overseas duty with an appreciation of light, agile cars bearing names like Austin Healy, MG, Triumph and Alfa Romeo. Championed by product planner and former journalist Bob Hall, Mazda started developing a light, reliable roadster in 1983. Known internally as Project 729, Mazda management signed off on the final Miata design in the fall of 1987. The MX-5 made... ) Mazda's 2,210-pound soft top not only had all the right stuff – a 116-horsepower 1. 6-liter four coupled with a five-speed manual transmission, a low center of gravity, rear wheel drive, four-wheel double wishbone suspension and disc brakes – it... Just as off-roading lets drivers soak in their surroundings at a leisurely pace, a pure sports car running top down is a mechanical expression of the driver's exuberance and, hopefully, skill. Source: www.chron.com
