No, not really. That’s not a fair comparison. But it is nevertheless the trade I made. My 2009 Mercedes Benz SL550 with 30,000 miles for a 2013 MX-5 PRHT with 500 miles. This was almost as surprising as the time I traded my C6 Vette for a 2007 MX-5 Touring. You could say I have a thing for Miatas. :)

The SL550 is a beast of a machine. With almost 400 horsepower, it is fast yet refined. Mercedes did an excellent job in insulating the driver from the road. The ride is smooth, the shifts are imperceptible, and the road feels like its not there. And there is precisely the problem. The SL550 is an automatic but does have paddle shifters. I could never tell when to shift as I could not feel the engine rev at all. It was almost redlining by the time I noticed it. And for some, that may be a good thing. For me, I need to feel the engine. I need to feel the road.

Call me old fashioned. To me a car is more than just something that takes you from point A to point B. It is an extension of who you are. And it can be a machine that connects you to the road, and makes it all about the journey and not the destination. And that is where the Miata excels that the SL550 falls short. The SL completely disconnects you from the road, the noise, the engine, everything. And some people may value that, and for them the SL is the perfect machine. But for others, they want to feel the vibration of the asphalt, the vibration of the engine - it connects them to the road and to the engine in a way that visuals alone can not. Yes, it sounds weird, but that is that. So I chose the Miata again over the beast of the machine. I don’t need 400 horsepower to feel connected to the road. What I need is a vehicle that responds to my every command, that is as capable or more than I, and that makes me feel like I am enjoying my ride. Like when we were kids running go-karts, only this time they are street legal.

I’m glad to be back in the saddle.