Firstly, why do we have the MX-5 in parenthesis in the title above?  This is because in the United States this sports car is known as a Miata, whereas in most of the rest of the world it is known as an MX-5.  Since the Internet is international, I decided to use both names in the title.

For the 13 months before purchasing the Miata, we owned a 2013 Corvette.  A number of people have asked why we would swap this magnificent sports car for a Miata.  Here's our reasoning:

Good things about the Corvette:
     - It was beautiful.
     - It was fast.
     - It was luxurious.
     - It was extremely comfortable on long trips ~ actually it was the most comfortable car we've ever owned!

Bad things about the Corvette:
     - It was extremely powerful (436 HP), so much so that at any speed when stepping hard on the accelerator I found it difficult to control the car.
     - It sat only 4" off the ground.  This was so low that it was virtually impossible to drive without hitting low obstructions, including the curb at the end of our driveway!
     - It was the longest sports car I've ever driven, which substantially reduced its maneuverability, especially on switchback roads. 
     - It was a very expensive car, both to purchase and to maintain.
     - It had extremely sensitive steering, so much so that oversteering, especially when accelerating could cause the driver to lose control, sending the car into a spin.
     - Between the expense, the sensitive steering and the fear of dinging the car, my wife would not drive it!

Also, we'd rather drive fast in a slow car vs. slow in a fast car!  :)

As you can see from the above, the Corvette was largely a disappointment for us, thereby making the decision to sell an easy one.

My wife and I had owned four other Miatas in the past:  a 1990 "A" package, a 1993 Limited Edition, a 1997 M-Edition and a 2005 Mazdaspeed.  We both had put many happy miles on all these Miatas, so it was a no-brainer to get another.

We started off by selling the Corvette for only $2,500 less than we had paid a year ago.  The car sold quickly, which isn't too unusual for a sports car during the spring months.  :)  During the sale process we also did our homework to determine which of the three models we wanted, finally deciding on the Grand Touring (GT) model.  We then went to the nearest Mazda dealership where we told the salesman precisely what we wanted in a Miata (model, color, transmission, RF or convertible, etc.).  The salesman found our car in another city and had it trucked to Tucson.  With the money from selling the Corvette, we were able to pay cash for the Miata and bank an additional $9K . . . we were happy campers!  :)

The only difficult part of deciding which Miata to purchase was whether or not to get the Retractable Fastback (RF) model as shown below: