Just to be clear, this is the car your BETTER half advises you not to get.  

It’s small: there are only two seats, and they are cramped.  There is barely enough room for your thoughts; just look at that trunk, or whatever that cubbyhole is. And while doing the daily tasks that come along every day for that one time you said, “I do”, the bumps and dips of everyday sinkholes will be felt as you go slow through those construction zones of married life.

But who cares? This classic Miata is fun! Starting at ‘just’ $25,730, this year’s Miata is a blast for anyone who can afford it and lives in a climate where the weather is only occasionally adverse.  Well, yeah, there are two more important considerations:

One: Make sure you have another car.  Don’t make the Miata your primary car, even if you are a carefree kid with nowhere to go, no bills to pay and no future.  Trust me, one day you will need to transport something, and that may include all the crap your new boyfriend says really is important to him.  Make sure this is at least your second or third car.  And….

Two: Make sure you really are able to get in and out of the car.  Okay, at one-eighth a ton, I am not the target market for this car.  I got in and out okay, but I sense that even people who are smaller than me might have difficulty.  So unless you really do eat a lot of kale and quinoa and lead an active lifestyle that involves a revolving line of credit at REI, you’ll want to think carefully about having a Miata as a weekly play toy.  Just because you can get in it now doesn’t mean that in three years, two breakups and several job-changes later you will still be as skinny as Barack Obama during his first term.

My go-to source for car news (other than gaywheels.com, of course) is U.S. News and World Report, and based on their research of every professional reviewer who squawks on the World Wide Web, they have determined that the 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata ranks No. 1 in Sportscars and No. 1 in Convertibles. That right there tells you all you need to know, but here’s the website so you can read further about all the research I was too lazy to do myself.

This car has all the pep and pony you want in a sportscar for the non-racecar life that you dream of leading.  The handling is incredible, the speed is exhilarating – and as noted everywhere, especially in the picture here, there really is next to no trunk space. No kidding.  

For a sportscar, this is indeed a great little roadster, getting an average mpg of 29. Keep in mind, it is Rear Wheel Drive, so yeah, you are so screwed in ice and snow and you really should have a garage if you are going to own one.

Which begs the question that your spouse keeps asking: Do WE really need one?  Hey, I ain’t licensed to practice counseling in whatever state or locality you reside. All I know is that you really should have that discussion with your dearly beloved before you hop in the driver’s seat of this year’s Miata and come under its spell, just as if you ate a 10 mg edible and started hearing “Picture yourself in a boat on a river…”

Only with this trip, you will enjoy it, you will remember it, and you just may have driven off many, many miles away where your spouse can’t find you until sunrise. 

Not a good way to say, “I still love you”, even if you have finished paying off your student loans. 

But in the 2019 Mazda MX-5, the trip will always be enjoyable.