2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata: Handling Tweaks, Fewer Automatic Transmissions

Mazda has also restructured MX-5 trims a bit, effectively making Miatas with automatic transmissions harder to find and more expensive.

The new technology is something Mazda calls Kinematic Posture Control – perhaps a new peak in automakers inventing creative descriptions for new technologies. KPC doesn’t straighten your spine. But it might quicken your pulse.

We’ll let Mazda explain:

KPC “applies a very slight brake to the inner rear wheel during high-g cornering. This pulls down on that corner, suppressing body roll, and making steering response feel more linear through tight or rough corners. Slightly stronger braking is used when accelerating through a corner, enhancing the limited-slip effect.”

That may not be a dramatic change, but the Miata is already one of the best affordable cars ever built when it comes to tight corners, and, well, no one notices when The Rock adds half an inch to his pecs.

The MX-5 has a reputation as a driving enthusiast’s car, and Mazda is leaning hard into that by restricting the availability of the optional 6-speed automatic transmission. For 2022, it’s found only on the top-of-the-line Grand Touring trim.

Prices haven’t changed much for stick-shift MX-5s. But the restricted availability of the automatic means that, functionally, the price has gone way up for buyers who don’t want to change their own gears. The least-expensive automatic-equipped Miata will cost an eye-popping $4,140 more in 2022 than in 2021 – because, last year, you could still get the automatic gearbox on any trim level.

The move is surprising. Surveys have shown that most Americans claim they know how to drive a manual transmission car. But sales figures show that fewer of us choose to every year.

There’s just one other change of significance. The mid-priced Club and top-end Grand Touring models now ship with wireless Apple CarPlay. The budget Sport edition also has CarPlay, but it only works with a wired connection.

Class of 2022: All the New and Redesigned Cars, Trucks, and SUVs