The Mazda MX-5 Turns 35 Today. Here’s How It Changed Over the Years
Let’s take a look where the venerable Mazda MX-5 is headed in the future, too.
On this day in 1989 according to Japanese Nostalgic Car, Mazda would change the course of automotive history. At the Chicago Auto Show, it whipped the cover off a bright-eyed little roadster that the world would come to call the MX-5, or Miata. It doesn't matter if you call it that or something meaner though, because the MX-5 is now one of the bestselling sports cars in history, and the most-raced car of all time. It's a legacy worth looking back on—and forward from, with the future looking dark for cars like the MX-5.
The first-generation (or NA) Miata arrived in 1989 as the synthesis of two of the greatest things in the automotive world. It was a marriage of the simple, cheap British roadster formula with newly proven Japanese reliability. The Miata was cute, easy to drive, and with modest 1.6- and 1.8-liter engines, well-suited for training a generation of drivers how to carry speed through corners. It was a smash hit even among the Japanese sport compact boom of its era, surviving the late-1990s decline that felled even titans like the Nissan Skyline GT-R.
In 1998, the NA Miata was succeeded by the second-gen NB that would carry on the torch. It saw the 1999 foundation of Spec Miata, which cemented the MX-5's status as the most-raced chassis on the planet. The NB also became the only factory-turbocharged Miata to date with the short-lived Mazdaspeed before its replacement by the third-gen NC in 2005.
The heavier NC with its puffy cheeks is remembered as a low point for the Miata, having the highest curb weight of them all. Still, it kept the MX-5's flag flying through a recession that killed plenty of automotive brands and their signature cars—including Mazda's own rotary. It endured, and in doing so paved the way for the MX-5 we know today, the ND.
Aside from shedding weight and adopting a scowly face, the ND refined the MX-5 formula and has improved drastically throughout its production run. 2019 models picked up a whole 23 horsepower, and 2022s onward feature torque vectoring. There was also an unusual companion model, the Fiat 124 Spider (or Fiata), which featured a 1.4-liter turbo engine and charming Italian looks. But it couldn't dethrone the Mazda, and it quietly bowed out in 2019.
The MX-5's history is a legacy of improvement, and that looks set to continue with the next generation, expected to called "NG." Mazda confirmed to us in 2021 that the next MX-5 will be electrified—don't freak out, that probably doesn't mean it'll become an EV. Our money's on the MX-5 gaining 48-volt mild hybrid tech and compatibility with synthetic fuels when it arrives in 2025. Mazda says it still plans to keep the MX-5 light and affordable too, so expectations are sky-high.
Or should we say, Skyactiv high?
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