Thinking of buying a mid-engine convertible roadster this summer? Here is a quick comparison of the two best cars on the market.
The new 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata is now on sale near you. The new Miata can sprint form 0-60mph in under six seconds, has its engine mounted in between the axles, and has a soft-top you can raise or lower while seated with one hand. The Miata also has a state of the art infotainment system including Nav and Bluetooth connectivity so you can stream Pandora or tunes from your smart-phone while you meander the back-roads. For those that want their Miata to be a track star the Club edition features Bilstein shocks and there is an available Brembo brake package to keep your brakes fade-free while you carve up Lime Rock, or Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. You can have all the goodies for $32K, or you can take home the $26K version that is just as quick around town as the boy-racer Miata.
The 2015 Porsche Boxster presently on sale is also quite a special car. It has looks that are familiar to any fan of the Porsche 918 supercar and has an interior that is Spartan, but at the same time done with a level of quality befitting its $53K starting price tag. The sky is the limit with Boxster. It comes in a version with performance very close to the Miata, or one can opt to go racing and spend up to, and beyond $90K on go-fast bits like the optional 375 hp engine, torque-vectoring rear differential, and dual-clutch transmission.
The above infographic is supplied by MazdaPartsUSA.com so don’t be surprised that the Miata compares favorably to the Boxster. Biased charts aside, the Miata is a quick car these days and those drivers that have not been in one since the 1990 Miata that did the 0-60 sprint in about nine seconds will be amazed how much faster the modern Miata has become. Only about 0.3 seconds separate the base Boxster from the Miata in the 0-60 mph sprint.
The Porsche Boxster offers a unique look, Porsche cachet and exclusivity, and one of the best pre-owned vehicle programs in the market due to its transferability form owner to owner. The 2016 Miata offers a new car warranty with the performance and modern conveniences Porsche was offering just a few years ago in its legendary Boxster.
