I really enjoyed the 2026 Mazda MX5 GT and I didn’t want to let this one go; even despite the difficulty I had climbing in and out of it on the daily.
Formally known as the Miata, Mazda’s sexy little sports coupe was so tiny and compact. This felt especially so, coming out of the Lincoln Navigator, the week before, that required a step in order for me to climb into. This by comparison was a tight cockpit, only seating for two. I had to position myself carefully as to not pull anything. I felt my hips squeezed in the narrow seats, and the walls of the cabin surround me in a hug. Honestly, this ride is most comfortable solo given its limited space and air.
I felt tiny, precious like driving within a jelly bean. It was also an interesting perspective to be so close to the ground, one of the few vehicles that enables such a vantage point. Up to this point I didn’t think I would be able to ever handle a Mazda MX5 GT, given my shoddy manual driving skills. However this model was automatic, with the option to shift into manual. Here I got the sport feeling without the work that goes into having to change gears on my daily commute.
Handling was a breeze, I had plenty of clearance around me to be able to fit in between any narrow lanes or parking stalls. However with only one side camera, I had to relearn how to look out the back of the rear view window when reversing. Although given how short the distance my driver’s seat was from said window, and then to the end of the MX5, it did make it easier to figure out.
I just found it hard to side street park with poor visibility. I couldn’t see the distance of the tire to the sidewalk, and there was no overhead camera. There was only just a side view with lines telling me approximately how close I was to the curb. It would’ve been nice for the mirrors to automatically tilt so that I could see where my tires were going in real time.
I didn’t want to chance it, so left plenty of margin, which I still kept within, thanks to the MX5’s overall size. The two door coupe is small and this wasn’t a problem. I still came in smaller than the rest of the cars parked around me.
Speaking of small inconveniences, I am use to keeping a lot of supplies and my belongings in the backseat, but didn’t have that luxury here, so had to resort to the trunk; which in itself was a small container. There was no button to open it from the exterior, I had to press release within the car or on the key fob to unlatch.
Similarly, there was no top down button. Nothing to push down to have the soft top retracting. Instead, there is a manual latch you unclasp, and two handles on either side of it that, that you can pull down and tuck into the back with a hard push down to secure it into place. To unhook and pull back up you have to unlatch the pin lock. This is not visible, so you have to fondle around to find it, and even then I was afraid to break a nail on it.
Sadly, the weather wasn’t as sunny as I had hoped, and I was unable to really utilize the top down feature until the end of the week.
This being a low to the ground sports car, I felt everything underneath me. I felt the power of the vehicle, its petite size matching my own frame, making me feel one with it.
There was no surrounding barrier warning, no cautionary beeps, but maybe that was just because I never got close enough to anything, or that the car was just so small that it fit into everything.
The seats are pretty much fixed, you can only move up it up a touch. Majority of the customization is rotating a dial or pumping to adjust the seat more downwards at an angle. There is no lumbar support and no electronic wheel adjustment either.
I definitely drove a little bit bolder this week, knowing that I could make turns quicker, given my compact size and its sport driving mode. Ever fast, easy to drive, this was a fun and carefree daily driving experience. Everything felt personal within the 2026 Mazda MX5. The mirrors are so close to you, the car is as small as it can be, it feels like it’s an extension of your body. This is driving and in its purest form, I was sad to have to leave it after growing to fully appreciate it.
