Mazda MX-5 Miata NA–ND vs Honda S2000 AP1–AP2
“A roadster you build the day around versus one that just slips into it.
The S2000 lives at the top of the tach — the F20C/F22C climb to a screaming payoff and a shifter the rest of the class is still measured against — and it rewards commitment because it demands it.
The ND Miata wants nothing from you: the same lightweight, open-top idea made effortless, with real-world grip, usable torque, and a cabin you'd happily commute in — joy at seven-tenths, every day.
The S2000 is the occasion; the Miata is the habit.
you want most of the thrills with real daily usability — more low-end torque, more grip, better economy, and the stronger value buy.
you live for the high-rpm VTEC climb and the benchmark shifter, and you'll forgive the rattles and low-20s mpg to get them.
Buy the S2000 if your favourite part of any drive is the last 3,000 rpm and the throw between gears. Buy the Miata if you want the car that's quicker to lean on, easier to live with, and cheaper to run — the one reviewers admit can give a modified S2000 a fright on the right road.
Handling is where the reviewers genuinely divide: the S2000 earns praise for feeling more planted at speed with heavier, more communicative steering, yet the same voices hand the ND more outright grip, a steering rack that "easily out-does" the Honda's, and a more progressive, less twitchy limit. Track-feel loyalists lean S2000; the stopwatch and the back road lean Miata.
Performance
Handling
“The steering is by far the most natural has the best feedback the best waiting it doesn't have that artificial fast ratio of the BRZ either.”
“the on center feel of this steering is quite a bit better than the S2000. The S2000 had a dead spot on Center that this does not have”
“it's not like a miata where it kind of feels a little flimsy like there's just this thing around you this feels like such a rigid real expensive kind of chassis”
“the shorter wheelbase means it's a little bit more twitchy at the limit... when it does snap it does that snap kind of quickly”
Fun to drive
Daily drivability
“It's just a little bit more weight over that rear axle and you really feel it in this S2000 compared to a Miata, a Camaro, a BRZ, which are a little bit more front heavy.”
Value
“There's a place in this world where the NC Miata is probably one of the best value sports cars you can buy.”
“It's accessible to absolutely everyone, young, old, zero driving skill. Somebody that loves to drive is going to have a lot of fun with this thing.”
