This is the comfortable MX-5. The Club might be the one aimed at the hardcore brigade, but this is the deluxe version.
This is also the only way to get a new MX-5 from the factory with leather seats, a cloth liner for the top, and installed navigation. Other standard features for the GT include heated mirrors, rain-sensing wipers and several safety add-ons: blind spot monitoring system, cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning system and high beam control.
This is the one that Dean and I drove back from Tire Rack’s headquarters in South Bend, Indiana, to our home in Daytona Beach, Florida. We were supposed to make that trip in a Club, but honestly this might have been the better one for the trip.
How’s that? The GT suspension rides more comfortably than the Club. Yes, we all want to shoot for FTD, but for soaking up those miles the GT was perfect—like, totally perfect.
The GT’s suspension doesn’t wander, crash or do anything weird. It turns our favorite roadster into something that can gobble up mile after mile.
This isn’t the one for the Tire Rack Solo Nationals. And, I admit, at $30,065 I’m likely not a customer when the Club goes for $28,600 and the Sport starts at a very attractive $24,915.
For the last 20 years Mazda has offered us comfortable, leather-trimmed versions of the Miata. If you have enjoyed those variants, then this one is for you. No question, no debate.
Is the LSD still not an option for the GT? Surely there are people that want to carve some canyons with a toasty tookus.
In my '15 GT, the top goes down until 40 degrees. The seat heaters are a big part of extending Miata season into the warmer winter days. Why not have an LSD for the total package?
The GT appears to have a LSD.
Frankly I don't understand why the overwhelming majority of cars (let alone sports cars) on the road don't contain an LSD. The cost increase is surely minimal. How many people buy AWD due to perceived adverse weather advantages? A LSD could be marketed the same way. I remember a decade ago it was a $150 upcharge item for the F150 and the dealer invoice was like $120 or something. I get on sports cars it might be used an a package upsell feature, but it seems excessively petty to me.
The GT does not come with an LSD in the US. Canada has different packages, I think the LSD is far more common there.
They can be retrofitted.
^ Sorry for the bad info. You correctly identified the country-related cause.
In reply to Snrub:
They add an element of servicability and with modern ABS and traction control, many companies use the brakes to provide some of the benefits of a LSD with nothing more than a programming change and the wear items have not increased.
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