2026 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club Sport – Review by David Colman

The World's Best and Most Affordable Sports Car

David Colman

Story and Photos by David Colman
Special Correspondent
THE AUTO CHANNEL

Enthusiasts know the drill. You buy a brand new sports car, but you're not content to drive it as delivered. The racing fraternity demands "throwing a setup on a car." So you concoct a list of perceived improvements. Since most of these goodies are available only from aftermarket suppliers, you consign your wonder wagon to a tuning specialist. Or you void the warranty by undertaking the job yourself. But why get into a bind when Mazda has devised the perfect solution to your quandary. They will not only sell you the world's best and most affordable sports car - the $33,930 MX-5 Miata - but for an extra $5,050 they'll upgrade your basic Miata to "Club Sport" specifications. That's right, Mazda will throw a factory setup on your MX-5 that will not only make you a faster and better driver but also save you a lot of time, money and grief.

Apparently, Mazda's secret sauce for massaging the MX-5 is not as much of a speed secret as I thought. Top down, I was waiting patiently in the Club Sport Miata for the left turn signal to go green when a stentorian voice from somewhere up above asked: "So how do you like those Recaro seats?" I looked up in amazement to realize that this knowledgeable question had come from the driver of a 40-foot-long Golden Gate Transit bus, also waiting at the stoplight. Noting my surprise, he smiled and continued, "The BBS wheels are a dead giveaway!"

Talk about unexpected surprises. In two seconds he had taken stock of my Snowflake White Pearl ($595) MX-5, and identified the two most prominent components of its $5,050 "2BB Brembo BB RECARO PKG." Those black BBS alloys, along with bright Red Brembo brake calipers, are both dead giveaways. The heated Recaro seats carry barely legible black-on-black headrest imprints. Equally attractive are a bevy of aerodynamic tweaks including side sill extensions, plus front and rear lip spoilers all finished in shiny black. Unlike cast alloy rims, the BBS wheels are forged, and race proven. On the Club Sport, they're shod with near-competition level Bridgestone Potenza S001 track tires (TW 280) modestly sized 205/45R17. The lateral grip they afford is mind-boggling.

Keeping those BBS rims and Bridgestones in touch with the pavement is a sport-tuned suspension system, standard on the Club Sport model, consisting of Bilstein shock absorbers and an asymmetric limited slip differential which parcels out 181 hp to the rear wheels only. The DOHC 16-valve all-alloy inline 4-cylinder engine utilizes a 13:1 compression ratio to make 181hp and 151lb.-ft. of torque. Now granted, you can buy a number of superbikes that produce nearly as much horsepower as the MX-5, but 181hp in such a tightly wrapped package as the lightweight Miata is more than enough to pin you to your Recaro seat. At just 2,454lbs, the Miata boasts an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 13.55lb/hp. At the drag strip, the diminutive hustler sprints from zero to sixty in 5.5 seconds and posts a quarter mile time of 14.3 seconds at 96mph - on the way to a top speed of 139mph. You'll want to be sure and erect the canvas convertible top for those top end runs at Bonneville. Dropping or erecting the roof requires an easy one-handed swipe. Just pull (or push) and fasten - no weighty electric assists needed or wanted.

If you like to pack a lot of stuff for travel you'll have to rethink either your luggage requirement - or your car choice. The Miata is saddled with virtually no storage in the cockpit and just 4 cubic feet of space in the trunk. We were surprised to discover the trunk was big enough to tote home a pair of 12 x 14 x 6 acrylic boxes from The Container Store. The center console offers a cubby big enough to store your sunglasses, while the vertical storage in the panel dividing the seats is half filled with just the Owner's Manual.

The center console also offers a device (6MT) unfamiliar to most drivers today. It's called a stick shift (Hence '6 speed Manual Transmission) operated from gear slot to gear slot by hand, in close coordination with a pedal mounted on the floor for clutch actuation. The clutch and brake pedals are set close enough together to require careful choice of footwear lest you catch your left foot on the brake pedal when aiming to depress the clutch. Once you've got your heel and toe dance working, this gearbox is a joy to exercise, with crisply defined gates, and six perfectly calibrated gear ratios.

In today's "out of an abundance of caution" car culture, almost any vehicle you buy is fitted with Drive Modes labeled "Eco" and "Normal." While you might be justified in calling the Miata "Eco" - since it posts an overall rating of 29MPG - you won't find an Eco Mode available. Nor will you find a Normal Mode, since there's absolutely nothing about this car that's Normal. What you will find, however, is a button for Dynamic Stability Control-Track (DSC-T). Pushing it raises the stability intervention threshold of the traction control systems to allow race pace. Since "DSC-Track" is the antithesis of "Eco" or "Normal," Mazda does not endorse its use for street driving. You be the judge.

2026 MAZDA MIATA MX-5 CLUB SPORT 6MT

• ENGINE: 2.0 Liter inline-4, DOHC, 16-valve, aluminum block and head direct fuel injection
• HORSEPOWER: 181hp@ 7000rpm
• TORQUE: 151lb.-ft.@4000rpm
• FUEL CONSUMPTION: 26MPG City/34MPG Highway/29MPG Combined
• PRICE AS TESTED: $40,810

HYPES: Exemplifies the Art of Driving

GRIPES: Would Like a Thicker Rimmed Steering Wheel

STAR RATING: 10 Stars out of 10

©2026 David E Colman