Mazda MX-5 Miata RF vs Nissan Z
A 2,467-lb two-seater with a power retractable hardtop and an EPA-rated 29 mpg combined, rear-wheel drive on both trims. This page sets the MX-5 Miata RF’s sourced specifications beside a rear-wheel-drive sports car it is cross-shopped with, one row at a time, with the source and the model year named on every row.
Mazda MX-5 Miata RF vs Nissan Z
These two cars answer the question differently, and the table shows the size of the difference rather than only its direction: the MX-5 Miata RF opens its roof where the Nissan Z is fixed-roof, and it is more than a thousand pounds lighter and materially more economical. It is also much the less powerful of the two — that row is in our research and not on this page, and a reader weighing these three rows should know it. Each row below names its source and the model year that source describes.
Every row above names its source and the model year that source describes; verification of a comparison is the dealer’s responsibility. Competitor figures are that manufacturer’s own published specifications for the model year shown. Rows the MX-5 Miata RF does not lead are recorded in our research and are not published here, and no price row appears at all — competitor MSRPs are published excluding destination while Mazda’s include it, so no like-for-like price comparison exists.
The Mazda MX-5 Miata RF in Mobile, AL
A Different Answer to the Same Question
The 2026 MX-5 Miata RF weighs 2,467 lbs, makes 181 hp and 151 lb-ft from a 2.0-liter on regular fuel, is EPA-rated at 29 mpg combined, and stows a metal roof in about 13 seconds. It is a car built around being light rather than around being fast, which is a real engineering position and not a ranking claim — a heavier, more powerful sports car is a legitimate thing to want, and if that is what you want the rows above will point you away from this one rather than toward it.
How to Read This Comparison
Every figure in the table above carries a source and the model year that source describes. Mazda’s guidelines put verification of a comparison on the dealer, so a row that could not be sourced to a manufacturer publication is left out rather than estimated, and a row the MX-5 Miata RF does not lead is recorded in our research and not published here. Ask us for the documentation behind any row and we will show it to you.
MX-5 Miata RF Comparison Questions
How much horsepower does the Mazda MX-5 Miata RF make?⌄
181 hp at 7,000 rpm and 151 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm, on regular fuel, on both 2026 trims. Horsepower is not a row in the comparison above, because the RF does not lead it here and we do not publish rows the research says we lose.
Is the Mazda MX-5 Miata RF really that much lighter?⌄
Yes — the margin on the curb-weight row above is more than a thousand pounds even with the retractable hardtop fitted, and both figures come from the manufacturers’ own published specifications for the 2026 model year.
Where can I compare the Mazda MX-5 Miata RF near Mobile, AL?⌄
Dean McCrary Mazda is at 1739 E I-65 Service Rd S in Mobile, serving Daphne, Spanish Fort, Saraland and Theodore. Drive a MX-5 Miata RF and judge the comparison for yourself.
How are the figures on this page sourced?⌄
Each row names the publication it came from and the model year that publication describes. Verification of a comparison is the dealer’s responsibility, so no row appears here without a citation, and a row nobody could source is left off the page rather than estimated.
