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The deep dark clouds up ahead shadowing Highway 19 (Kawaihae Road) west of Waimea threaten to soak us and squeeze most of the joy out of driving this new version of the car that Mazda's outgoing head of product development, Joe Bakaj, says is "at the heart of Mazda's zoom-zoom."

Rain and roadsters just don't mix.

So when the skies open up, we're reluctant to yank up the top of this 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata. True, MX-5 program manager Takao Kijima had earlier shown us the easy way to pull up the car's lid with one hand from the driver's seat, and then secure the new centre-mounted, single-latch mechanism. But we don't want to button up.

So we try driving in the rain, hoping the slippery aerodynamics of the '06 Miata will send the downpour rearwards, out of the snazzy new cockpit with its silver-ringed gauges and tatami mat-like plastic textures on the centre console. It works for a while, but eventually there just isn't enough zoom-zoom here to keep us dry.

So we close up and almost immediately the rain stops.

That's got to be a sign of some sort. Mazda is hoping it's not a bad one. The Japanese affiliate of Ford has a lot riding on this new Miata. Of all the cars and trucks Mazda makes, the Miata is the one the public most identifies with. Having the most popular roadster in history (720,000 sales worldwide and counting) will do that for you.

"When we went through some difficult times in the 1990s, the Miata was the vehicle that helped us grow the brand in Canada," says Mazda Canada president Mike Benchimol, adding that in remaking the car for the third time, "the one thing we did not want to do was change the car drastically."

Mazda's engineers and designers didn't. And that wasn't a difficult decision, says the British-born Bakaj, who is now leaving Mazda, after 3½ years, to return to Ford of Europe.

"It's been a great experience," he says. "A lot of engineers spend their whole lives in the industry and don't get a chance to launch even one sports car. I've had two [the other being the RX-8]."

Odd, isn't it. Mazda is a tiny car company by global standards, selling slightly more than one million units a year. Yet, this decade alone, the Hiroshima-based auto maker has, indeed, introduced two new sports cars and there are persistent rumours of a return of a high-performance RX-7, too.

Bakaj scoffs at that one. His engineering staff is far too busy launching this Miata, the new MX-5 wagon, the high-performance MazdaSpeed6 sedan, as well as doing updates of the Tribute SUV, the B-series pickup, remaking the MPV minivan and creating the all-new CX-7 crossover utility vehicle due to go into production in 2006.

In all that, the one new car that arguably matters most is the Miata, which over the course of the next year will switch globally to the MX-5 name. The name "Miata" is being phased out.

"You have to realize that back in 1989 when the first one was launched it was a brave move," Bakaj says of the Miata roadster. "The segment had more or less dried up. We decided to buck the trend."

And keep bucking. In 1998, Mazda launched the second-generation Miata, followed by a significant update in 2000. Through it all, one constant has been Kijima, the program manager for this third-gen model and the second gen as well He was also the chassis and steering engineer on the original car. He says that for this '06 Miata, as for the others, zoom-zoom is not all about going fast.

"The value of a car should not be measured just by performance and horsepower," he says through a translator. "We are trying to achieve two-way communication between the car and the driver."

The working reference for this within Mazda's engineering corps is jinba ittai (pronounced gin-buy ee-tie), which roughly translates into "rider and horse as one." The term comes from a traditional Japanese archery competition called Yabusame or arrow shoot. In it, a rider astride a galloping horse attempts to hit a target with a bow and arrow. A successful bull's eye portends a healthy harvest.

Mazda hopes to harvest healthy Miata sales even as the roadster segment expands. Shortly after the '06 Miata hits dealerships in late August or early September, Pontiac will put its Solstice on sale, to be followed by the Saturn Sky roadster, due to arrive next spring.

Mazda's ace in the hole is a large and loyal owner base, 15 years of expertise building roadsters and perhaps most important of all, a competitive price: $27,995 for the base car, $30,995 for the sporty GS, $33,995 for the more luxurious GT and $34,495 for the limited edition model (of which there will be only 3,500 built for the world, 150 for Canada). Notice that the base price in 2006 is exactly the same as 2005's.

Stylistically, the newest Miata looks quite a bit like the 2003 Ibuki concept car shown at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show that itself bore a strong family resemblance to the first two generations of the Miata.

That is, the '06 MX-5 remains a small, lightweight two-seater with a curvy nose, big oval air scoop, sweeping tail and muscular wheel arches. There is no hint of the original's Coke-bottle shape and that, in turn, has helped improve interior space. Mazda will also offer a new removable hardtop.

New is really the operative world. Not a single part on the Miata to be sold in Canada and the United States is carried over from the '05 car, Bakaj says. In Europe, the only parts shared from '05 to '06 are the side indicator lights. Everything from the wider (205 mm versus 195 mm), larger 16-inch wheels (versus 15-inch in '05) to the sweeping glass rear window is different, and Bakaj argues better.

What hasn't changed is the basic layout: engine up front, mounted slight behind the front wheels, and driving the rear wheels. Except in the '06 model, the engine has been pushed back 135 mm, improving the weight balance to almost a perfect 50:50. Weight is up about 10 kg, as is engine size (2.0-litre four-cylinder, from 1.8-litre) and horsepower, to 170 from 142 in '05.

The power boost is welcome, but this roadster is no road-thumping muscle car. It is quick enough, and the short-throw six-speed manual gearbox is delightful. A six-speed automatic with steering-wheel-mounted paddles will follow, and it's surprising satisfying.

But in all this, what absolutely screams at you from behind the wheel is how solid and thus responsive the new car is. By using various reinforcements and ultra-high-strength steels, Kijima's team has boosted torsional or twisting stiffness by 47 per cent. The car feels solid and it is.

Then there is the exhaust note, carefully tuned based on a deep study of the noises made by about 100 classic roadsters. It burbles just as you'd expect. Great stuff.

Bigger front rotors have improved braking and the double wishbone front suspension and multilink rear suspension system have been tightened for quicker handling, without creating a brutally harsh ride.

As for the rest, the cockpit has a now-standard tilt steering wheel in which audio controls are mounted, there are three storage compartments attached to the rear wall and waist-level vents are located to keep you warm on a fall day during a top-down run. The trunk is slightly bigger, too.

Cruise control with steering wheel controls is standard, as is a leather-wrapped shift knob and a better audio system with six speakers compared to two in the outgoing base car.

Driving topless has always been a priority with this car, so we were thrilled to see the skies clear before the end of a one-day preview test drive. We liked that, just as we liked the car very much.

jcato@globeandmail.ca

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Specifications

2006 MX-5 Miata

Price range: $27,995-$33,995

Engine: 2.0-litre inline four DOHC

Output: 170 hp/140 lb-ft of torque

Transmission: Six-speed manual or six-speed automatic

Alternatives: BMW Z4, Porsche Boxster, Pontiac Solstice (2006 model), Saturn Sky (2006 or 2007 model), Honda S2000, Nissan 350Z

Like: Nimble handling and precise steering; still a roadster; more comfortable cockpit

Don't like: New red paint job isn't terribly vibrant