Taken from 12/18 Jalopnick News:
The 2019 Mazda Miata was, of course, one of the best cars we drove this year. To
celebrate this illustrious win, Mazda showed off a new carbon fiber removable hardtop
at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon.
Just kidding, Mazda doesn’t care about us. But they do care about choices, and by
showing off a removable hardtop for the standard Miata, I’m guessing they’re testing the
waters on how big of an impact a hard top option would have on the sleek Miata RF’s
sales.
There’s no clear indication of whether or not the hard top will actually be an option anytime soon,but it was shown off alongside a new sportier appearance package for the new Mazda 3 hatchback, which will likely be an option when it goes on sale. Of course, the hardtop could always just end up an option outside of North America. That would be sad!
I have nothing against the Miata RF, despite one time writing that if you buy it, you should keep the roof up permanently for aesthetic purposes. But I think enough people wouldn’t hate a removable hardtop for the normal convertible, and there’s plenty of people who already bought one that may be interested.
Miata Tire Tech Column
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Tech Column – by Ken Schiess
I spent a few minutes chatting with Mike at National Speed today. I was wondering if they do Miatas and what one might do to improve performance without forsaking drivability (quiet, fuel mileage etc). He was amazingly patient explaining to me that tuning, while not cheap, was one answer to my question. For models NC…