Early Miatas came with a zingy 1.6-liter four-cylinder making 116 hp starting in 1994, the engine was a 1.8-liter with 128 hp. Drive it in all weather, modify it, take it autocrossing and lapping, and put your dog in the passenger seat. Having said that, part of the joy and delight about a Miata is that you don't have to be precious about it. Finding a clean first-generation Miata, especially an unmodified example, can take a bit of hunting. It's not like it's a secret that Miatas are great fun on the cheap, which means that they're often snapped up as a second car and flogged to death. That makes the NA the most popular of all four generations of MX-5, and the one that remains the cheapest on the used market.īut not forever. From the outset, it was an unqualified sales smash, with some 400,000 of them sold between 1989 (as a 1990 model year) and 1998. This is the car that brought back the essence of the lightweight British sports car, with some much-needed reliability baked in. Everyone needs that.” - Sam Smith, R&T 2017 “ Miatas foster goofy they take the air out of serious moments. It might not be as well-coordinated and grown-up as the rest of the bunch, but it's absolutely the most fun to fling around on a backroad.

Later MX-5s became progressively more athletic, but the first-generation car is a bit like a puppy. Mazda Is Bringing Miata Resto Parts to U.S.Driving a Factory-Restored Miata In Its Home City.

Here's a breakdown of 30-plus years of Mazda's roadster. For others, the joy of Miata ownership never fades. The financial barrier to owning a Miata is a low gate, easily hopped, and there's a lot of fun to be had on the other side.įor some, Miata ownership is a stepping stone, a sort of sports-car training wheels on the way to picking up a used Corvette. You can find them everywhere, from Florida to Alaska, with battered Craigslist specials available in every state and province. In part, some of that credit isn't so much about a tried-and-tested recipe of light weight and rear-wheel-drive, but because of the Miata's sheer ubiquity: Mazda has sold more than a million MX-5s. But in terms of driving delight, the Miata has always punched above its weight. Through more than three decades, there have been sports cars that are lighter, more agile, and certainly more powerful. When it debuted at the 1989 Chicago Motor Show, few could have foreseen what a huge impact the little Mazda MX-5 Miata was going to have.

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