transmission smoothness

[transmission smoothness]

i am looking at first generation miats. I drove my first one for the first time yesterday, and it was perfect (perfect body, low miles, clean, hard top too, it was only used when they were in this area once a year.) but the transmission is not as smooth as other cars. It didn't like it had any problems, just that it required more thought than most cars,
Am i looking at a car with a bad clutch/transmission
or do miatas take more thought than others to shift

[update]

i drove a 96 vs the 92 i drove before, the clutch seemed much crisper, even though the transmission still felt the same. Is there a known differnce between transmission?