Last fall, a 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata beat a Pontiac Solstice in a comparison test. In all of a week, the roadsters breezed down the California coast, sprinted through inland canyons and sweated it out on a steamy Central Valley road course. And the redesigned Miata came away with an easy win. Now we're going to find out how it would have gone down if the test had lasted a year.

We've added an '06 MX-5 Sport to our long-term fleet, and it's equipped just like the Miata from the test, except it's painted Winning Blue instead of True Red. Power comes from a 170-horsepower, 2.0-liter inline four, with a six-speed manual gearbox routing it all to the rear wheels. Standard equipment includes 17-inch alloy wheels with 205/45R17 all-season rubber, four-wheel antilock disc brakes, side airbags, cloth upholstery, full power accessories, cruise control and a four-speaker CD stereo.

The only option on our roadster is the $500 Suspension Package, which provides Bilstein shocks, firmer tuning overall and a limited-slip rear differential. Total MSRP is a comfortable $23,995. Conveniently, we already have a Solstice in the long-term fleet, priced comparably at $24,425.

Shopping for our MX-5 wasn't difficult — once we found a dealer that actually had one in stock.

"Based on Edmunds TMV, the MX-5 Sport was selling for about $500 under sticker on the showroom floor," said Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor. "I knew I could do better through fleet and Internet. I called one dealer and the Internet salesman's first words were, 'I'll give it to you for invoice.' Only problem was, we made a deal on a car that wasn't there! He called me back and said he had made a 'faux pas.' The car had been sold earlier. Back to the phones.

"I checked inventory on Mazda's consumer site and found a blue Sport with the Suspension Package at Hoehn Mazda in Carlsbad, California. The Internet manager, Brian Veitch, said he would verify the car was still in the inventory. Moments later he reported, 'The car is here. I physically touched it.' I asked him what his price was. 'We're flexible,' he said. 'I've been shopping around,' I said, 'and I keep getting offered the car at invoice.' He thought about it a moment. 'Well, then, I guess our price is invoice,' he said. Invoice price on our MX-5 Sport was $22,327 including destination.

"After making sure there were no bogus fees, alarms or Lojack on the car, I agreed to the deal. The delivery process was smooth, although it took some time to pull the car off the showroom floor. Apparently, the sales manager was afraid the deal would fall through and didn't want to go to the trouble of moving all those cars unless we really showed up with cash in hand. The F&I process was particularly efficient thanks to the business manager, Sean Redward."

Once the MX-5 was in our possession, staffers squeezed in as many open-air driving days as the weather allowed.

"This is a fantastic little car!" Director of Automotive Testing Dan Edmunds penned in the logbook. "Much nicer than the original in detail execution and features but just as much fun, if not more so, due to the more powerful 2.0-liter engine and improved suspension. It's clear Mazda wants to improve the Miata while resisting the temptation to 'grow' the car and pork it out like the company did with the original RX-7."

Senior Content Editor Erin Riches shared many of Dan's sentiments. "The Miata allows me to live the California lifestyle I feel I've always deserved. I spent most of the weekend running errands, but it was sunny and I was driving a bright blue MX-5 with the top down, so I was happy. The climate control system's heater has about a dozen fan settings, which really offsets the lack of heated seats in our car."

Already the comparisons to our long-term Solstice have begun. "I'm 6-foot-2 and I fit so much better in the Miata than the Solstice," said Dan. "I can work the pedals without snagging my knees on anything. How can an Asian marque design a car to fit Americans better than an American company?"

It's questions like these we'll be mulling over during the next year. Assuming we have time for mulling, that is. Top priority is to maximize top-down time in our MX-5 and fill you in on everything that happens along the way.

Current Odometer: 1,713
Best Fuel Economy: 25.9 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 21.4 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 23.8 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: None.