When the Mazda MX-5 Miata debuted for 1990, this arrant little convertible was an burning hit. Inspired by British roadsters of the 1950s and 1960s, the MX-5 Miata accumulated open-top sports-car thrills with avant-garde engineering and Japanese quality. Buyers queued up alfresco Mazda dealerships and acquiescently paid able-bodied over sticker amount for the attractive new Miata.
That antecedent fizz has connected back faded, but the Miata continues to set the accepted for what an affordable auto should and can be. The latest Miata still changes administration like a go-kart, communicates the appearance of the alley acutely to the disciplinarian and accelerates with an alarming bark from its inline-four engine. If you're in the bazaar for an affordable sports car that provides affluence of top-down, open-road thrills, we awful acclaim putting a new or acclimated Mazda Miata on your list.
Current Mazda MX-5 MiataThe Mazda MX-5 Miata is a two-seat auto with either a bolt convertible top or a metal retractable hardtop. All variants are powered by a 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder agent acquainted for 155 application and 148 pound-feet of torque; it drives the rear auto through either a six-speed chiral or six-speed automated transmission. The bendable top is manually operated, but it's baby and ablaze abundant to be opened and bankrupt one-handed while sitting in the car.
The Miata is accessible in three trims, Sport, Club and Grand Touring. The Sport is adequately basic, with air-conditioning, ability accessories, and a Bluetooth-compatible stereo with six speakers (including speakers in the driver's headrest) advancing as standard. The Club archetypal gets a Bose audio system, added assurance appearance and, on models with the chiral transmission, a sport-tuned suspension, a shock belfry brace, an consecration complete enhancer and a limited-slip differential. The Grand Touring archetypal does after the stiffer abeyance and the limited-slip animosity but adds acrimonious covering seats, a aeronautics arrangement and automated altitude control.
Because of its baby size, the Miata isn't for everyone: The actual alpine and the very-well-fed will acquisition the berth cramped, and the tiny block provides amplitude for a few grocery accoutrements or a baby attache at best. But what do you apprehend from a baby auto that weighs about 2,350 pounds? Driving the Miata is a abstract experience. It's quick and abundantly agile, and the four-cylinder agent provides affluence of midrange power. Whether you buy one as a weekend toy or a circadian driver, the Mazda MX-5 Miata charcoal one of the purest forms of automotive fun.
Used Mazda MX-5 Miata ModelsThe accepted Miata represents the fourth-generation MX-5 Miata, which Mazda alien for the 2016 archetypal year. Compared to the previous-generation car, this Miata has sleeker and added advancing styling, a lighter barrier weight (about 200 pounds), quicker acceleration, and new technology and assurance features.
The third-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata was produced from 2006 to 2015. The administration was added angled than that of the first- and second-gen Miatas. It additionally had a stiffer, added adult chassis, a added able engine, a roomier autogenous and greater autogenous refinement. Ability came from a 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder engine. The ability ratings assorted a bit through the years, but, in general, apprehend 167 hp (158 on automatic-equipped cars). Chiral choices were a five- or six-speed chiral chiral (depending on trim level) or a six-speed automatic.
Customers who like the abstraction of accumulation amphitheater exhilaration with fixed-roof clarification could additionally adjustment a Miata with a power-operated retractable auto (PRHT). The PRHT ability assume to run adverse to the Miata's less-is-more philosophy, but its simple architecture added aloof 70 pounds to the car's barrier weight and adapted top-up motoring into a abundant quieter, added weatherproof experience.
A lot of incremental changes were fabricated throughout this Miata's run, so it ability be a acceptable abstraction to get accustomed with them if you're arcade for one. Initially, the calendar consisted of six trim levels: Club Spec, Base, Touring, Sport, Grand Touring and Third-Generation Limited Edition. For 2007, accessories was reshuffled into four trims — SV, Sport, Touring and Grand Touring — and the PRHT additionally accustomed that year.
A Appropriate Edition archetypal in Icy Dejected acrylic was offered for 2008. That year additionally saw a 5-hp bead for cars with the automated transmission. The afterward year the Miata accustomed a balmy brace with tweaked exoteric styling, agent revisions for a bit added ability and ammunition economy, a added advancing abeyance and some new accessibility features. For '10, the PRHT was discontinued in Sport trim, and the value-oriented SV trim (available from 2007 to '09) was dropped. Appropriate editions connected to be offered and were about loaded Grand Touring PRHT models antic different colors and trim.
Right up through 2011, adherence ascendancy was alone accessible on the Grand Touring and again alone as an option. For 2012, that assurance technology became accepted accessories beyond the board. For 2013, the Miata got a slight administration brace and a Club archetypal to alter the Touring model. There were no cogent changes for 2014, but in 2015, the aftermost year of the third-gen car, the Sport switched from a vinyl to a bolt roof and a 25th Anniversary Edition archetypal was introduced.
In reviews, we begin this Miata was — surprise! — a bang to drive. It was accomplished abundant to fasten alike the best banal excursions with abounding doses of amusement and excitement. The council is aciculate and precise, communicating advice with an adjacency that never leaves the disciplinarian guessing. Handling is aloof as dialed-in, authoritative this Mazda an ideal accompaniment for wind-blown jaunts bottomward ambagious coulee roads.
The second-generation MX-5 Miata was in assembly from 1999 to 2005. This Miata was the aforementioned admeasurement as the aboriginal MX-5, so while the cockpit was added cramped, the car acquainted abundant livelier and added acknowledging to drive, admitting its cornering banned were abundant lower and its ride was abundant worse. The accession of a bottle rear window to the bolt convertible top fabricated afterimage better. (The antecedent artificial window would become blurred from sunlight, acute replacement.)
This second-generation Mazda Miata was powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder agent that produced 140 hp and 119 lb-ft of torque. A five-speed chiral chiral was standard, and a four-speed automated was optional. As before, abject models were sparsely equipped, but items such as covering upholstery and Bose audio were accessible on high trims. In its additional year, a automated archetypal calendar including the Miata and Miata LS with three simplified advantage bales was introduced, while a Miata Appropriate Edition with a six-speed chiral debuted. For 2001, the acceptance of capricious valve timing bumped achievement to 142 hp and 125 lb-ft of torque, while the Appropriate Edition's six-speed chiral became alternative on the Miata LS. For '04 a turbocharged Mazdaspeed archetypal arrived, featuring a 178-hp turbocharged engine, high-performance abeyance and different exoteric administration enhancements.
The original, first-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata of 1990 offered a 1.6-liter four-cylinder agent that delivered 116 hp and 100 lb-ft of torque. It was akin with a five-speed chiral transmission. Aloof three colors were initially available: red, white and blue. Detail improvements saw the Miata through its aboriginal several years, with revised advantage packages, added ability from a 128-hp 1.8-liter agent alien for '94, and ultimately alike luxuriously appointed M editions (special acrylic colors, a tan convertible top, tan covering autogenous and 15-inch BBS wheels). Competition-minded individuals ability appetite to focus on the Miata R amalgamation alien for 1994, which angry the Miata into a race-ready artery apparatus with drivetrain and abeyance modifications. The final year for this first-generation archetypal was 1997 (there was no 1998 MX-5 Miata).
