2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata Test Drive

Hard Top to Beat

Mazda reinvigorates its enduring roadster with an ingenious folding hardtop that doesn't eat trunk space.

The Mazda Miata has become the best-selling roadster of all time since its debut in the early 1990s. It’s also the car that helped rekindle a waning interest in convertibles among American drivers.

History aside, sports-car fans are always looking for the latest toy. Keeping the Mazda fresh hasn’t been easy — especially when those latest toys include the newer, flashier Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

To hold folks’ interest, the Miata — now officially called the MX-5 — received a complete redesign for the 2006 model year. That update was successful; it boosted power, style and handling for this ever-delightful machine.

For 2007, Mazda literally caps the new car off with a groundbreaking new option: A retractable hardtop.

What’s so groundbreaking about that? While every other model with a retractable hardtop loses significant luggage space when the top is stowed, the Miata’s ingenious roof doesn’t steal one inch of cargo area.

Top up or down, the hard-top Miata has the same 5.3 cubic feet of trunk space as the standard soft-top model — not huge, but enough to swallow a full cart of groceries, or weekend luggage for driver and passenger. Its reasonable $1,700 premium over the soft-top model also gives it the distinction of being the lowest-cost retractable hardtop convertible on the market.

Add the zesty, fun-to-drive spirit the Miata is justly known for, and the retractable hardtop gives roadster fans a great reason to revisit this little Mazda.