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Good article! The Miata is shaping up to be a strong competitor to the Twins. Its weight is impressive, and its acceleration advantage until ~94 mph makes sense given its lighter weight (i.e. torque to weight advantage) and aero/horsepower disadvantage at higher speeds. It's also generating higher grip levels, although I suspect that's due to wearing MP summer tires.
Two let-downs with the Miata:
1) Body roll, even with factory suspension package - not sure why Mazda always includes body roll in every generation Miata. If it's rolling that much on MP summer tires, it may need suspension upgrades to run sticky EP summer tires at the track.
2) Less handling flexibility - Lago's comment that the body roll and lack of power means you have less mid-corner adjustability than in the BRZ. This is one of the things I love about tracking my FR-S.
Still seems like amazing fun. For me, the Miata's lack of a coupe option eliminates it though as I don't want add a roll bar just to bring it to the track. I do hope the new Miata lights a fire under Toyota/Subaru's rears to keep improving the Twins.
Lastly the comparison with the MK7 GTI was sad. As an owner of a MK6, I was hoping the new MK7 with PP would be a bit closer in terms of driving fun to cars like the Twins and Miata, but it sounds like VW hasn't closed the gap at all. MT would have been better off comparing a hot hatch like the FoST.
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