The little roadster from Hiroshima keeps doing what it does best, even when the competition gets bigger, faster, and pricier. Edmunds recently rounded up four sporty two-doors for an instrumented track session, and the Mazda came out swinging against rivals that had every reason to walk away with the win.
- Edmunds pitted the MX-5 Miata RF Club against the Honda Prelude, Subaru BRZ tS, and Ford Mustang EcoBoost
- The Mustang took straight-line bragging rights, but the Miata punched above its weight where it counts
- Edmunds picked the Miata and BRZ as the better fun-per-dollar buys in the group
The Cars That Showed Up
For this test, Edmunds lined up the Prelude against the Ford Mustang EcoBoost, Mazda MX-5 Miata RF Club and Subaru BRZ tS. Each car represents a slightly different idea of what a sporty coupe should be. The Prelude starts at $43,650, putting it at the top of the price range, while the Miata, BRZ, and Mustang EcoBoost all undercut it by a noticeable margin.
The Mazda showed up in its folding-hardtop RF Club configuration, which adds chassis upgrades like Bilstein dampers and a limited-slip differential. The BRZ tS also brings track-focused tweaks. The Mustang relied on its turbocharged four-cylinder muscle, and the Prelude leaned on its hybrid drivetrain and Civic Type R suspension bits.
How the Numbers Shook Out
If you only judge by stopwatch, the Mustang wins the dragstrip portion. It’s the most powerful car in the test, posting a 0-to-60-mph time around a second quicker than both the Mazda and the Subaru. The Miata, for its part, is no slouch. At Edmunds’ test track, the manual-equipped Miata accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds, which is respectable but a bit off the pace of the Subaru BRZ at 6.1 seconds.
The Prelude fell behind on acceleration. Edmunds clocked it at 7.2 seconds to 60 mph, slower than the Volkswagen GTI, the Mazda MX-5 Miata, and the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GR86 twins. The Honda did claw back ground in the corners, though. It put up the best skidpad number of the group, a nod to its handling prowess.
Braking is where the Miata flexes its featherweight build. Braking performance is solid, and Edmunds measured a stop from 60 mph in just 113 feet. That kind of pedal response is hard to match when you weigh several hundred pounds less than every other car in the comparison.
Why the Miata Still Steals the Show
Track numbers only tell part of the story. The Miata is a light, nimble, precise and easy-to-drive sports car even when you’re pushing its limits. That description nails why people keep coming back to this car decade after decade. You feel everything through the steering, the chassis rotates exactly when you ask it to, and the manual gearbox stays one of the best on sale at any price.
The RF Club trim sweetens the deal with a power-folding hardtop that gives you coupe-like quiet on the highway and open-air motoring at the push of a button. Yes, the Miata is small. A two-seat roadster is short on cargo room, and storage in the Miata is particularly sparse, with 4.6 cubic feet of trunk space enough to fit two small carry-on bags. But you don’t buy this car for the groceries.
Value Is the Tiebreaker
Edmunds came down on a side that Miata fans will love. The reviewers said they’d take all three of the Mustang’s competitors over it. The Prelude is the one they’d drive every day, but the Miata and BRZ offer more fun for the money.
That last bit is the sentence Mazda buyers should circle. The Prelude wins on interior polish and fuel economy. The Mustang wins on grunt. The BRZ matches the Miata’s purist credentials. But when you tally up grin factor per dollar, the Mazda is the one that keeps making the case for itself, just like it has for more than 35 years.
Why the Roadster Keeps Winning Hearts
The 2026 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF Club isn’t trying to be the fastest. It’s trying to be the most fun, and Edmunds’ real-world track test proves it still pulls that off against tougher, newer competition. If you’re shopping a sporty two-door and you care more about smiles than spec sheets, the Miata earns a long, hard look. Pair it with a winding back road and the case writes itself.