 I live in New York, a city where no one but cabbies and rich people drive their own cars. This is no place for a roadster. Roadsters are cars built for people who love driving. This year Mazda is introducing the fourth generation of the Miata, a car that's become something of a legend. The Miata is THE iconic two-seat roadster, a tiny, unapologetically impractical ragtop that worships the sun and makes even the worst commute tolerable. So Mazda wanted to build a car that brought the untarnished driving experience back to those of us. I don't know if you've heard of Porsche or BMW, but in this age of self-driving cars, hybrids, and Uber, are people still looking for an economy sports car? To find out, I took a trip to a city that loves its roadsters, Los Angeles. This is Los Angeles, all 500 beautiful, celebrity-filled square miles of it. And this is my friend Emily Helen. You may know Emily as Lindsay from Ground Floor, or from Bojack Horseman, or from her standup on Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers. Point being, Emily is the most LA person I know, which made her the perfect accomplice for my LA adventure. Thanks for picking me up. Absolutely. Are you excited to see my Los Angeles? I'm stoked. When the Miata debuted in 1989, nothing like it existed. An economy front-engine, rear-wheel drive roadster. The Miata was built using the approach of the company dubbed Jimba-i-Tai, Japanese for horse and rider. That sounds high-minded, but the idea is pretty simple. Luxury, comfort, and even performance all take a backseat to the connection between car and driver, the pure driving experience. Within a couple decades, the Miata became the best-selling roadster of all time. The 2016 Mazda MX-5 is shorter, lighter, and with only 155 horsepower, slightly less powerful than its predecessors. This is the leanest and definitely the meanest-looking Miata Mazda has produced in decades. Depending on the trim, the Miata goes from about $25,000 to around $33,000. So even if you spring for the GT option, there are still moments when you can't help but notice this is an economy car. Oh shit, I lost my cup holder. Where'd it go? Oh no! You're not paying for luxury with the Miata. You're paying for a reminder that when done right, the very act of driving, hands on the wheel, ass in the seat, pavement stretched out ahead, can be a blast. So Emily and I spent a whole day driving around LA, doing what Angelinos do. First we went to the hills. Alright Emily. Yes? What do you think about the car? The car is great! What's your first impression? First impression, this looks like the car I wanted as a kid. It almost feels like it's a practical car for Los Angeles. You think so? Yeah. Cause people will see you, it seems like you'll be safer in traffic. You mean cause it's bright red. And it's like, I always feel kind of stupid driving around with so many seats in my car cause it's usually just me. I just want to point out that we are in traffic on a mountain. This feels very LA. We're on a mountain and yet we're somehow still in traffic. We drove past the church of Scientology and I got to see some Scientologists in their natural environment. Wait, so all these people that look like flight attendants. Yeah, these are all Scientology people. Look at all of them, they're like adults. Why are they dressed like flight attendants? Where are they flying to? Where do you think man? Outer space. Get this, that guy on a bike wearing a uniform just saw that car with a camera on it and he radioed somebody. Oh shit! We're going to get totally... He's like identifying them. Oh man. This is all happening. This is all happening. We are setting off all kinds of alarms right now. We're in the belly of the LA beast. Yeah. Here's the thing about cars. More and more people I feel like are using cars in a very utilitarian fashion, right? They just want to get from point A to point B. They don't actually want to drive. As a result, we don't really care about driving. We just want, you know, you want... You want to be able to... Do you enjoy driving? I love driving. You do? I do, and that may be the single most important reason to move to Los Angeles. Oh, absolutely. All right. The honking though could do without. Oh, I love honking. I do it a lot. I'm always like... Have you honked the horn on this car yet? I have. How would it... It's a weak horn. Yeah. Are you ready for it? Yeah. Okay. Oh, I like that. That's not bad. Thank you. Ask anyone who's driven the latest Miata and they'll tell you Mazda did good on their promise. The Miata is as pure of a driving experience as you can get for under $30,000. It's a frivolous, impractical toy. Everything a roadster should be. It may not be right for New Yorkers, but Los Angeles, I think you may have just found your new ride. The Miata is like the perfect LA car because it's like a hot girl with a really annoying voice. And that's like LA in a nutshell. I think you just summed it up. I think you just summed up our entire story here. I think you just summed up our entire story here.