While I'll admit I've never met a horsepower (or kilowatt for our metric audience) I didn't like, I also believe that the concept of all good things in moderation is important. This balance between economy and excess is something we all have to deal with on a daily basis.

So do the people developing cars, with the next-generation NC Series Miata no exception. Program Manager Takao Kijima and his team have to balance the idealism as to what the car should be with the reality of making it an economically viable proposition, quite a feat of juggling. In some respects the Miata's first Program Manager, Toshihiko Hirai, had it easier. He was able to develop a car which would make its own place in the market, and that was a place with no direct competitors. Kijima-san has to deal with market which is crowded and confused. Not as crowded as the Santa Monica Freeway at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, but almost as confused as some of the viewpoints owners hold on what the NC should be.

With new two-seaters showing up on the market like the Honda S2000 and BMW Z4, there's been a comment that the Miata is 'losing it' to this new crop of sports cars. If paper specification, to the exclusion of all else ,is the criteria one goes by, this is a compelling argument. But basing viewpoints solely on the spec sheet is an exercise in futility, since most car buyers (and all enthusiasts who have a clue) don't think that way.

Thank God.

The only segmentation or spec of any importance to the majority of the market is not horsepower or 0 to 60 times or fuel economy, it's price. Additionally, one of the quirks of human nature which is key in the majority of car purchases (new and used) is that folks tend to buy the most expensive car they can afford. If somebody can afford a $40,000 car, they seldom give serious consideration to one costing $25,000.

Sure, there are exceptions to this rule, but in general it's as inviolate as the one which says when prices go up, volume goes down. Take a look at global volume for the over-hyped S2000 vis-à-vis today's 'uncompetitive' NB series Miata to see how this manifests itself.

"But", insist some armchair product planners, "the S2000 has 200hp so the Miata needs 200hp". 'Needs'? The car 'needs' 200hp? Why? To ensure the production figures drop to S2000 levels? I'll accept that some Miata owners may need 200hp, but that doesn't mean the car needs that kind of power output. Mazda certainly doesn't need a 200hp Miata any more than it needs a $36,000 Miata. And that's about what a 200hp Miata would cost.

Car companies are supposed to be profit-making concerns. While Mazda tried its hand at being a nonprofit corporation (unintentionally, I can assure you though it was quite successful at it), car companies which make money tend to stay in business and improve their products along the way, investing some of those profits back in the firm. This is a basic precept of the exciting, fast-paced, anything for a buck capitalist system which most Miata owners live in. And in that system, values of all sorts are attached to all manner of things. Even horsepower.

A key part of the pricing structure of the Miata (or any other car) is the value buyers place upon features. Ford was a pioneer of this idea (dubbed 'Market Basket Pricing') which attaches a dollar figure to things as disparate as leather above cloth, steel versus alloy wheels, tire width and even power output. The figures are not absolute, but vary from one type of car to another. So the formulae may determine that the buyer of a full-sized pickup will accept that an increase of 75hp is worth, say, $600, in the world of sports car owners that dollar amount may not even buy 10hp.

And it's not just the power increase which would have strings (and dollars) attached. If Mazda raises the power output to something around 200, the company's internal guidelines would require upgrades in the area of brakes, suspension and tires. And guess what, each of those would come with a dollar amount to be added to the package.

I'll pause here so the bolt-on horsepower mob can start screaming that the Miata chassis can take 20, 40 or 50 additional horsepower with no problem whatsoever.

Okeh, now that they're done, let's take a look what's different between someone buying an aftermarket power increase of 50hp and an automaker deciding to offer a similar increase.

Unlike an owner modifying his own car, the manufacturer will have to take into account the possibility that some nimrod will get in over their head with more power than they can safely handle and take a course deviation into the countryside. If this individual feels so inclined, he could call any attorney running ads between infomercials at 3:30 in the morning and decide to go after the deep pockets car maker. The guy who bolted on the instant 50hp forced induction kit doesn't have to worry about suing himself unless he's completely schizophrenic.

There's also the emissions minefield manufacturers get to walk through which individuals can evade. A user may have to go through the agonies of unbolting everything when he has to run the car through an emissions test, but a car company wanting to actually certify something has to invest a lot of time (something between 150 and 200 days) and money to certify each powertrain combination. The costs of which get factored right into the car's price.

Would people like a 200hp Miata? I have no doubts that the car would have its fans and that it would be worthy of them. But the important question is whether those same people would pay for a 200hp Miata if it cost what a 200hp S2000 did? If the market was as large as the power proponents say it is, the S2000 would be selling far, far better than it is and Mazda would have already ponied up with a $36,000, 200hp Miata.

The main reason aftermarket support for the Miata is as good as it is stems from the fact that Mazda has built a ton of 'em. And the fact that Mazda has decided to stake out the affordable end of the sports car market is why the car has had such a success all over the world.

I've always said that the Miata is about balance, not power output or performance data. Perhaps the car's most important balance is between the fact it remains an utterly brilliant drive while staying affordable. That may be the sort of balance which is as critical - if not more so - as the one between power and chassis.