Overall, interior quality and appearance are way up the charts. Fit and finish is tight and smooth. Expansive, seamless panels and accents bode well for a long life free of squeaks and rattles. Materials are mostly impressive grade. Even the base cloth upholstery is nice, with tightly woven, smooth-finish bolsters and waffle-weave insets. Depending on the weather, the cloth upholstery's waffle-like weave can be more comfortable than leather. Which is a good thing, as leather doesn't appear until the top-of-the-line Grand Touring model. The standard urethane steering wheel and shift knob wrappings are obviously not leather, but they're not offensive, either. Likewise, in ergonomics, the interior of the new Miata rates both pluses and minuses.

Seats are neither overly firm nor too plush, properly bolstered for the type of driving the Miata invites but with only acceptable thigh support. Be ready for noticeable lumbar, too, for which there's no adjustment. Nor is there a seat height adjustment. The tilt steering wheel helps with this, at least a little. The properly stubby shift lever is where it should be. The hand brake isn't, ratcheting up out of the passenger's side of the drive tunnel instead of next to the driver's right thigh.

A single set of power window buttons is located in the center console aft of the shift boot, behind which a retracting cover conceals two cupholders. The center stack hosts intuitively positioned stereo and air conditioning knobs, buttons and recessed toggles that are easy to grasp and manipulate. A power outlet conveniently placed at the base of the C-stack waits for a radar detector or cell phone. Four air registers are spaced across the dash in a hard, shiny accent panel that changes to brushed aluminum for the Limited Edition.

All gauges are analog, with a large, round tachometer and matching speedometer straddling the steering column and shaded from all but trailing sunlight by an arched hood. Fuel level is reported in a small circle to the lower left, coolant temperature by one to the lower right and, thank you very much, oil pressure by a matching triplet positioned top center between the tach and speedo. Running lights are managed by a stalk on the left side of the steering column, windshield wiper and washer by a stalk on the right side. On the Touring model and above, cruise and secondary audio controls utilize the horizontal spokes of the steering wheel. The on/off switch for the stability control system shares space with a pair of switch blanks in the lower dash by the driver's door.

The premium sound system has a function Bose calls Audiopilot that goes beyond simple speed-sensing volume control by actually re-mixing in real time the sound coming out of the speakers to help the stereo punch through the ambient wind and road noises that accompany open-air motoring.

Oversize speakers dominate the forward part of the door panels. Water bottle holders are molded into the space between the speakers and the door pulls/armrests. Inside door latches are mounted up high and forward. There are no map pockets; Mazda officials say this is to make room for strengthened side impact protective hardware. For the most part, only the map pockets ready accessibility is missed, as other storage compensates. There's a lockable glove box that's surprisingly roomy for such a compact interior, a lockable, CD-size bin between the seatbacks, the pouch on the backside of the driver's seat, the bins behind each of the seats and on the Touring model and higher, a small net pocket on the center tunnel in the passenger-side footwell.

Trunk capacity is limited, but semi-functional, as Mazda says the floor is deep enough for a case of tall, 1.5-liter beverage bottles.

Driving Impressions

Mazda's engineers worked overtime to keep the new Miata from gaining performance-dulling weight. Liberal and expanded use of lightweight and high tensile metals, along with fresh thinking in such basics as mounting accessories to the engine and even how much a rearview mirror weighs, held the '06's weight gain to a mere 22 pounds over the '05. Oh, yeah, dropping the spare tire no doubt helped. But the Miata's designated dieticians still faced added calories from the larger engine, the head-and-thorax side-impact airbags, more robust side-impact hardware, larger wheels and those stylish seatback hoops.

Just as significant from the driver's seat is how the car's mass is distributed. More obvious is that the lower the mass is in the car's chassis, the lower the car's center of gravity and the more stable its ride and handling. But especially important for a sports car, the closer weight is clustered around what engineers call the vertical yaw axis the better. Imagine a broomstick with two five-pound weights attached. It weighs about 10 pounds regardless of where the weights are positioned. Put the weights at the ends of the broomstick, and try to spin it like a baton. It's not so easy to get started, and once started it's difficult to stop. But move the weights next to each other at the center of the broomstick, and starting it spinning and stopping it requires much less effort. This is a simplification because concentrating too much of the mass around the yaw axis can make a car unstable, but you get the point. And so did the Miata's engineers. The engine in the '06 has been moved rearward more than five inches from its relative location in the '05. The gas tank has been moved forward and lowered in the chassis. Relocating the battery from the trunk to under the hood positioned it closer to the yaw axis.