Trust us, the razor-sharp shifts of the manual gearbox are a Miata hallmark – i.e. that’s the gearbox you REALLY want. Then again, the automatic does hold a slight edge in highway fuel economy ...

As proof of concept, Mazda recently drove a bone stock MX-5 roadster 1,000 miles around the U.K., visiting famous race tracks and setting record laps for alternative fuel cars. The Miata was ...