THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS

THE MAZDA MX-5 MIATA RF CLUB AND THE SUBARU BRZ IS MAY BE SMALL IN STATURE, BUT THEIR PERSONALITIES ARE LARGER THAN MOST.

- ANDREW KROK

THEY BANNED MENTHOL CIGARETTES in California. Your author has already run through the supply he smuggled inside the regime’s borders. The closest approximation the gas station sells is “Crisps,” a nonmentholated ciggie that tastes less like a cough drop and more like rotting tree bark. It’s tough out here.

Homogeneous and sanitized for our protection, the car market offers fewer choices too. Sportscar addicts have to look to the past to get their fix of flavor. It’s tough out there.

But all hope is not yet lost—for car enthusiasts, at least. There aren’t many left, but some small, affordable rear-wheel-drive two-doors with manual transmissions and gasoline exploding in their beating hearts still exist. These micromachines may get lost in a sea of swollen SUVs and pickups with beltlines that rise past their roofs, but the feeling and fun they deliver far exceed their exterior dimensions.

The 2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata is fresh off a mild rejuvenation, featuring a few styling tweaks, a retuning of the steering rack and limited-slip rear differential, and an electrical-system upgrade that drags its tech into the 21st century. We asked for the hardest-edged variant of the hardtop RF, which also happened to be the most expensive. The RF Club starts at $41,395, but unlike the $33,670 soft-top, this one comes standard with the Brembo BBS Recaro package, which adds—as the name so clearly suggests—Brembo front brakes with fixed four-piston calipers, 17-inch forged-aluminum BBS wheels shod in 205/45R-17 Bridgestone Potenza S001 summer tires, and a pair of Recaro chairs that fit us perfectly. That automotive triumvirate is optional on the ragtop, where it adds a major $4800 to the bottom line. The slick Zircon Sand Metallic paint job tacks on another $450.