Reading mickey's and Guth's posts, I admit to being torn on the subject. Guth is correct, in that the experience is every bit as visceral in a soft top, if not more so. mickey is correct, in that leaning the correct way just feels better. The explosive rush of speed a motorcycle can provide is also a difference maker. No real-world car can match the instant acceleration of something even as pedestrian as an $8K Z900, never mind something like a BMW S1000-RR. If you like to feel your hair on fire exiting a corner, or approaching one, cars can't match sportbikes.
That being said, cars are just as fast on public roads, to a point. If the bike rider is willing to use every last ounce of available acceleration, nope, the car can't hang. It'll cook its brakes, never mind the driver's skill and/or nerve, or lack thereof, bottling out. If the bike rider isn't pinning it between every corner, however, yes, the car is just as fast, maybe faster. He certainly can carry more corner speed, unless, again, the bike rider is willing to treat a public road like it's a racetrack.
I'm not, and I don't pin it between every corner, so for me and, I suspect, most other people, a good sportscar is just as fast on a public road. We all know how much faster race cars are on the track, vs race bikes.
I think the main issue is fear management vs thrillseeking. Which side of the spectrum does one fall on? If one is willing to go balls out on a bike, the bike is more thrilling and much more engaging. Below that very dangerous threshold, however, I think things even up quite a bit.
Conversely, if we go the other direction and compare casual riding to casual driving, I think the top-down sportscar experience is more visceral, more thrilling, and more satisfying. Riding a very fast bike slowly, being overtly cautious on it, is not very satisfying. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's a bit frustrating. That's why I would never want to drive a mega-horsepower supercar on a public road. It'd be worthless. It would be nothing but an exercise in impulse control. My GSX-R1000 was like that. 123 mph in second gear meant that I never got to use much of the motor, or any of the bike's capabilities, really.
The Miata is like an older 600 sportbike, say, a CBR600F2, or F4i. It's fast enough to be fun, fast enough to be thrilling, fast enough to be a terror in modded form at the track, yet not so powerful that you never get to twist the throttle hard. If you screw up a bit, it won't kill you, nor will it land you in the pokey. The ride and handling aren't racetrack sharp. It's just simple, undiluted, made-for-public-roads fun.
I do feel more of a sense of achievement following a great ride, however, or, especially, a good motorcycle roadie. It's just easier in the car, requiring less concentration, less constant attention.
Yeah, all in all, I still prefer the overall feeling from a great motorcycle. Like I said in the initial post, though, a Miata isn't a bad trade-off, if trading off ever becomes necessary. You're giving up something, but not everything.
