So having spent four weeks looking at cars we probably weren’t going to want to buy, this week we decided to reward ourselves for our perseverance and look at a car that we thought we might.

And I will say, me like. Me like a lot.

First, the Miata is an attractive car. It’s cute. It’s sporty, but it isn’t mean-looking like the Mustang or stodgy like the BMW. It looks nice with a soft top, and the convertible hard-top is simply gorgeous whether the top is up or down. I’ve seen them out of the corner of my eye and thought, “Whoa, that’s a pretty car–what is it?”

But I knew all of that before we went shopping. The question has been, how is it to drive? How is it to sit in? What’s the trunk space like? Here are my impressions:

• The car is decidedly cosy. With the top up it has just barely enough headroom for me, and I wouldn’t want to be any wider. The salesman we worked with is both taller and wider than I am, and I’m amazed that he managed to get behind the wheel at all.
• On the other hand, I haven’t found any of the cars we’ve driven to be exceptionally comfortable. The best to date on the comfort scale was the Ford Mustang, and the Miata is at least as good. It’s cosy, but not otherwise unpleasant.
• I liked the interior. It worked for me.
• The trunk is small…but unlike the other cars we’ve looked at, the top doesn’t fold into the trunk but rather into a space right behind the seats. This is true for both the soft top and the hard top. You don’t lose any trunk space when the top comes down, and you don’t need to worry about what’s in the trunk before you put the top down. And my impression is that with the top down the trunks in the BMW 128i or Chrysler 200 are effectively smaller than the Miata’s.
• The headroom is pretty much the same with either top, but with the soft top there was a ridge right over my head. With the hard top there wasn’t.
• The gas mileage should be no worse than my PT Cruiser’s.
• There’s a nice choice of colors.
• The sticker price is $10K to $15k less than the Nissan and BMW.

OK; so much for the practical details. What’s it like to drive?

I drove a 2012 Miata with six-speed manual transmission and sport suspension, and I have to say it is very, very nice. It doesn’t glide along magically like the BMW, but it’s a smoother ride than my Cruiser’s, and much smoother than the Nissan 370Z. I couldn’t take it on the freeway, so I don’t have a good feel for its raw power–but on the other hand, I’m not worried about it either. It felt great on surface streets.

I wish the interior were just a little more roomy. That’s my only complaint, and I think I could live quite happily with the room there is.

In short, for the first time on the list we have a real contender. Here are the current rankings:

1. Mazda Miata
2. BMW 128i
3. Nissan 370 Z
4. Chrysler 200 Convertible
5. Ford Mustang

This is the car I test-drove; but I think I’d prefer it in red or blue with the beige interior. It’s pretty sweet in this color, too, though.