2016 Yahoo Autos Fresh Ride of the Year: Mazda MX-5 Miata

Through Wednesday, Yahoo Autos will unveil the 2016 Ride of the Year awards, our picks for the best of the best among new cars and SUVs. We unveiled our Tech and Epic rides last week; here’s our third choice, the Fresh Ride of the Year.

The car that brings a smile to your face; the one that’s different from everything else on your block, and can turn heads even when it’s sitting still. When we tested 22 of the most important new models of 2016, searching for our Yahoo Autos Fresh Ride of the Year, these were the traits we were looking for.

There are cars where numbers tell the whole story—like the 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which won our Enthusiast Car of the Year title last year. Then there are cars that can’t be quantified by mere statistics, whose specs betray just how fun they are to drive. And while several models tugged at our hearts, the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata stood out as our 2016 Fresh Ride of the Year.

The competition for this category included the new Audi TT, the venti-sized Fiat 500X and the off-road-ready Jeep Renegade. The TT makes the most of its small footprint with elegant design and high-tech features—watching the Google Earth view of your navigation route through the instrument panel never gets old—although it comes a hefty price. Both the 500X and the Renegade offer a sense of fun that’s increasingly rare among mainstream vehicles; the pop-off dual roof panels in the Renegade are as close as you get to old-school T-tops, and the usable 500X is easily the best Fiat for sale in this country.

It’s tempting to dismiss the Miata as something only hardcore autocrossers and hairdressers would love because of its 155-horsepower engine. After all, that’s about as much as a base-model Honda Civic, and 12 ponies less than last year’s roadster. Yet even when driven back to back with the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 or Cadillac ATS-V, everybody lept from the Miata as if the air vents were pumping laughing gas.