Greg Your Car Angel explains why the Mazda Miata is the best little sports car. From the early days of development when all the other manufacturers had discontinued their sports cars, including the MGB, Fiat Spider, Lotus Elan, Triumph Spitfire and the Alpha Romeo Spider. The original Miata introduced in 1990. It was a front engine, rear wheel drive. Japanese quality together with reliability and easy maintenance requirements is what separated the MX5 from all the other less reliable cars.

1994 was when the major improvements occurred including the 1.8 liter engine as well as chassis strengthening and the new limited slip differential. The dual airbags were also introduced. The pop up headlight otherwise known as the barnyard doors was borrowed from the RX-7. They were not pedestrian safe so the 2nd generation it was changed. The convertible top was easy to open and close.
The speakers in the headrest was an awesome option. a lack of a dome light made it hard to see around at night.
The 5 speed transmission was great but the automatic transmission and is not good. The models were the A package, B package and C packages.
The one weakness was the stitching on the seats. Its difficult to fix.
The 50/50 ratio of the weight distribution makes the Miata balanced through the curves.