What do the Mazda Miata NA and MotorWeek have in common? Both often imitated but never duplicated. Find us on your TV @ www.motorweek.org/about/statio...
It is arguable that the Porsche Boxster wouldn't have even been made if it wasn't for the success of the MX5. I'm with Carcaine, it revived the roadster. The fact it is the highest selling 2 seat convertible of all time helps back that up.
I had a 1974 Triumph Spitfire in 1978. What a fun car for a teenager! Still can't believe my Dad didn't try and talk me out of it. I had a Pontiac Solstice for a time. Great looking and handling roadster but very inconvenient to put the top up and down and zero trunk space with the top down. I hope to own a Miata one day.
@@Dave-sw2dm Nobody seems to understand that the Solstice's trunk space was practically the same with the top down. All it did was fold down over the top of the trunk space. The trunk space was still there. I also owned a Solstice which I kick myself to this day for selling....
It's really interesting hearing him compare it to MGs and Triumphs and all, seeing as how this has now become the absolute standard for all small sports cars.
The Miata is a special car. They’re silly until you drive one. Not ride in one, DRIVE one. Then you will either like it or love it. I owned a 95 for 9 years and regretted selling it every day for 5 years after that. So I bought one of the first ND Clubs with wheel and brake package available. But something wasn’t right. So a few months later, I bought a 1990. And there it was. The automotive world will never build another small, simple, light roadster that feels like the NA6. I’ve fully restored that little 90 and then I bought a 93 and gave it a turbo. So now I’ve got 3 miatas and they’re all fantastic in different ways. If you think they’re girl cars, or slow, or dumb, drive one. Just for 30 minutes. You’ll understand. Nothing matters except the smile you won’t be able to wipe from your face.
No true automotive fan would consider them silly, Miatas are staples in auto racing; lightweight, perfect balance, you'll always find them competing well in the various series they participate in.
@@jimmygrant3212 What exactly did I say that isn't true? Miatas are staples in auto racing; it is the most raced production car to date, it is lightweight, it has 50/50 balance, and they compete well in the series they participate in. It fits the classic definition of a sports car. Nowhere in my post did mention price or whether there are better cars for the same price.
travisp11 A guy driving a Miata may or may not be gay...but if someone dismisses this car because it's a "gay man's vehicle" then I for sure know they're a homophobe who doesn't know that much about cars. If that's who they wanna be, fine with me.
There is a reason that you get automatic "penalty laps" if you bring on to a Lemons race. All their "not gay" cars are posing in some parking lot. Miatas are being raced. (Including mine)
A voltmeter was essential before the introduction of the alternator and 12V battery. British sports cars from the '60s would run down their batteries if they used their headlights in slow city night-time driving,
Nearly 30 years later and most of us still ask for more power out of our Miatas. What a car, so nimble, great brakes, and rides reasonably well. Our recently purchased 2001 has 58,000 miles. My wife finally caved in and wanted to learn to drive a stick just so she could drive it. She is in love with it and named it Lil Blu.
The first generation Miata is a great example why the Japanese succeeded and blew away the American auto makes in the 80's an 90's. They gave a damn and made better cars.
The Miata was a Japanese revival of a classic British/Euro roadster (MG, Triumph, Fiat etc) -- Most American auto manufacturers stopped making mass production roadsters by the 1960's.
Roman Val the closest American competitor to this I can think of is the Pontiac Fiero, which was a neat car, but an absolute turd in comparison to the original Miata. Poorly built and unreliable. Goes back to my original point.
The Fiero was never laid out like a classic roadster -- which are light weight (under 2500lbs), 2 seat, open top, front engine+rear wheel drive. The US hasn't built one since the first gen Corvette; later Corvettes were too heavy. Other roadsters such as the AC Cobra weren't mass production cars. The closest one being built in the US today is probably the Polaris Slingshot... which technically isn't even a car.
Yes, there's body roll but as many experts attest, on bumpy corners the softer compliance will aid in tracking compared with stiffly sprung coil-overs where a wheel will come off the ground.
Miatas are so dreamy. When I was looking to buy my first new car in 1991 I had interest in a Miata, but the price was just out of scale. That's how I became a Celica man, but I always smile when I see a Miata, because I know the driver is having a good time for sure.
Thank you for posting this 1989 review of the then-new 1990 MX-5. Just read this in November 2020. Loved it! So wonderfully nostalgic for us. Our 1990 MX-5 was a May 1989 manufacture. We drove that little red roadster for 20 joyous years. All the fun and none of the repair problems we had on the British 1967 Sunbeam Alpine in which I first taught my wife to drive a manual transmission. And what has this led to all these years later? Still driving sports cars. In fact, my wife secretly saved up our Social Security checks so she could surprise me with a 2019 ND2. We traded in our 2003 BMW Z4 on that and never looked back. And, yes, I married well.
I was an MG fan, owned several of them. I had a personalized plate on my '74 MGB that read "NOMIATA". I had no idea until years later just how much better the Miatas were than my MGs...
I got very good at rebuilding SU carbs. On the side of the interstate, in the rain, on back roads, at 2 a.m... No place or time was too inconvenient for one of them to fail.
To be honest, the MGB was a top selling sports car, but was not the best at being a sports car. There is really nothing besides the Miata to compare to its spiritual inspiration, the Lotus Elan.
Holy crap! I was 17 back in 90' then and I also remember the greedy dealers almost doubling the price on these in LA. And people were paying the money for em'
Praetorian when talking about this car you are clearly surrounded by idiots. And you know the rule, if you met an idiot, you met an idiot. But if you keep meeting idiots, then it's quite possible you are the idiot.
Praetorian if you only need horsepower to have fun in a car, you don't know how to drive. I'm not saying high hp cars aren't fun, but you should know to make the most out of a low hp car to truly appreciate something with 400hp.
Praetorian how so? And if it didn't deserve the praise, why is it one of the most popular cars in motorsports? I doubt you've ever been at a track or autocross event that didn't have a miata at it. I seen those even at Lotus/Corvette/Porsche type events.
My 5th grade summer school teacher in Boca had one of the first Mazda Miatas ever sold. It was white end I'll never forget the time she took before a ride in it on the way back from a field trip. It was the first convertible I had ever written in and even though I was only 10 I never let on how freaked out I was it how tiny the car was. She told me that she had only had the car for about 2 weeks and she was terrified to drive it in the rain because it flu all over the road. I didn't know what that meant at the time but I was still feeling cool as f*** riding shotgun in the little Miata that Miss Smith had just bought with her divorce settlement LOL
My favorite roadster. I had the chance to drive one of this and I loved it. I don´t care about the trunk capacity, it´s enough for me. This is not a car you take to the groceries store. Another feature I like is the roof operation, It's manual, yes, but very easy and simple to operate
Say what you will, but I think the NA is the coolest looking of all Miata generations! Whenever I see an NA on the road, it truly makes my day! Still dreaming of an NA with the wooden Nardi steering wheel!
marc I agree, all Miatas look cool, but I have to say that some details of the NA make it special, for me! The pop-ups, the wheels shown here, the mirrors, the Nardi wheel, the overall lightness and simplicity of the car...!
just wanted to add my 2 cents worth... i have a 1971 chevy monte carlo (over 30 years now & it will never be sold) its being built for short fast quarter mile runs, ive got a 1998 ls1 formula firebird with a full tilt boogie autocross ready suspension... but my wife wanted a "girls car" (as i called it then) a while back so i begrudgingly conceded to the purchase of her a bone stock 1999 mazda miata, a very well cared for one from a fella in a local miata club, & i only test drove it around the block because i couldnt be bothered to actually take it for a "drive" ...afterall, only 140 horses in a "cute lil hairdressers car" (& btw im a master barber of 30+ years exp haha) & i couldnt let my car guy buddies see me in this thang... then it happened... a trip thru the smokey mountains, & it was, as she put it, "my turn to drive" ...so i climbed behind the wheel, cool october day, flannel shirt weather, leaves turning, perfect conditions... & a wife that, unlike some ladies out there, will climb in the shotgun seat of whatever im driving & say "give it hell!" (yes i know im blessed!) ...sooo ...i put it thru those twisty mountain roads, gaining a better feel for the car with every turn, untill i actually made my adrenaline-junkie-wife actually say "ease up, its bone STOCK" ...& it happened, on those twisty mountain roads, i finally "Got It!" ...i finally understood what all the fuss was about... i fell in love with mazda miata! (i feel like i should be giving this speach at a "roadsters anonymous" meeting haha) thanx & god bless
I am grateful to have been blessed with a clean 90 Mariner Blue Miata. Had an adventure driving her home 2.5 hours after it sat for 2 years with the previous owner. They are pretty rare on the Big Island and even rarer in decent shape. Glad I made the decision to rescue one :)
My 01 Miata is now twenty years old and it's still an absolute hoot to drive. There is a lot of carryover from the first NA Miata and it just shows how well designed it really was. My NB is nimble, stylish and doesn't look nearly as old as it really is. The NA is a certifiable classic, and it deserves to be, but any Miata is a great driver. I just miss the pop-ups.
I was actually in Elementary School when this car came out and it's really good too see these very old school car Reviews all over again from whenever I saw them on TV and I just actually enjoyed them then and I will definitely always continue to enjoy them every time I watch these older videos of old school car Reviews keep them definitely comin
My wife has a red 91 Miata in mint cont with 39k original miles that only comes out in sunny summer weather here in the north east which is currently in winter storage. They are very reliable bullet proof cars that are fun to drive and relatively easy to maintain/repair yourself too!
Having just recently gone through several dealerships over the past few months only to leave due to outrageous price markups, it’s interesting to see that even back in the late 80’s/early 90’s the same thing was happening, albeit under different circumstances. Luckily, I was to find a dealership that did zero markup and couldn’t be happier with my ND2 Miata! 😁
My love affair began with a red NA MX5 ❤️ 5 MX5 ‘s later in our garage we are fortunate to have a GT Soul Red and a Machine Grey RF . Love them both every drive brings smiles to our dials 😊
My former occupational therapist had a '90 NA Miata MX5 in Elmo red since I was in the second grade back in the 2002-03 school year! It had an aftermarket translucent bumper protector when she'd brought in new in '89!
Third Star everyone and their mom has a miata. Ae86's are much more valuable. And the miata is only slightly better in all honesty. Only thing that puts the miata ahead of the 86 is the independent rear suspension. The engine is duller despite having better peak hp. The 4age with vvti and tvis.
Jake from State Farm i know lots of people who used to own them. They were cheap beater cars back in the day. My uncle collects them now, but he makes 40/hr so money isn't an issue. Now days a stock gts is like 10k+.
Braddah E -- They still pop-up from time to time in stock condition, albeit with horribly faded paint and enormous rust holes. Most of them are hatches while my dad's was a coupe. He sold it to my uncle who had it stored in his barn one winter. Well, the barn roof collapsed and it basically destroyed the car. I'm not sure which was more crushed: the car or my feelings hahaha
Probably the best roadster ever made. It can be modified and tweaked to fit almost any racing you wanna do. Time attack and autocross legend. Wheel to wheel too!
@@spirit_green I had it from Sept 2017 - April 2021. Some guy came up to me while I was parked at work and out in it eating my lunch. He told me he was looking for one just like mine and I jokingly said I'd sell it to him. He paid me so much for it that I figured I'd sell and find another someday.
@@TheAdventureAuto Dang. Hopefully you're able to find another one. Not sure how much he paid you but I imagine it was really hard to say no and you probably needed the money. I wouldn't blame ya.
No men ever called these 'girls cars'. Only INSECURE BOYS called them that... this car doesn't help the owner over compensate for any biological shortcomings... and that's exactly why I love it.
around ten years ago, I bought a rust free white 91 miata from a wholesaler for $1000. It was a great car, I don't know why I sold it, but I need to replace it
I bought a 2006 Miata NC GT 6 speed a year ago and it is the best car I have ever driven. There is no other car on the road that embodies the spirit of driving more than a Miata, every time I shift gears, turn into a corner, ring out the engine to 7k RPM or simply start the car, I'm reminded of what it means to be a car person. It is the perfect drivers car and anyone with even a small passion for cars needs to drive one, for some it will be a life changing experience.
Miss my NA. I bought a beat up NA as my first weekend toy car and loved it so much, but eventually I upgraded to an NC when my NA started getting too troublesome to repair. I feel safer and more comfortable on longer trips in the NC but I definitely miss that little NA :)
One thing I noticed is that when you're putting the top up or down I believe you're supposed to zip or unzip the back window only while the top is unlatched, otherwise the zipper can get all blown out and won't work anymore LIKE THE PREVIOUS OWNER DID TO MINE >:(
An LSD doesn't help at an initial acceleration in a straight line. It's mostly for cornering under load. So there may be no differences in acceleration times between the versions with and w/o LSD.
A little piece of history being made right here...... While I love all Miatas, no other Miata will ever melt my heart like the original NA. Mariner Blue has to be one of the coolest colors, too.... At least of the early NAs. Well, that and BRG.
Right? I never liked having my horn at the center of the steering wheel. It would be much faster and safer for me to have it right on the thumbs on standby, especially since I drive 9 and 3, not 10 and 2.
I was working out a port in Florida moving cars of all makes around the parking lot says they came off the boats. I'm a big guy and I remember being amazed at how much room there was inside these. I also remember being terrified because there were Japanese engineer's on this island flogging the Miatas through their paces and nearly hitting us on several occasions.
I use to work at a dealership in CT in the early to mid 2000's. I honestly have to say out of all the cars I use to enjoy before the dealership opened early morning were Corvette, Camaro, Mazda wagon think it was the Mazda turbo 260HP one and this little Miata. This was actually a fun little car and it was the first car I learned standard in. Worst cars would be the sluggish no torque RX8, and Honda s2000.
I remember 1989 as a great year for Japanese sports cars. The miata, z32 300zx and 240sx. All were brilliant and have aged so gracefully. Good examples of these cars still turn heads.
I’m resurrecting one right now, my winter project. Pkg “A” car optioned with limited slip and A/C. 72k miles on the clock. Hard to believe it’s 34 years old. It just doesn’t feel that antique to me. A 34 year old car in 1990 would have been a 1956, and that seemed legit OLD at that time, as it does now. These days, “old” cars hit different
Mazda didn't knew how successful the MX-5 Miata will eventually be. 4 generations later and the Miata formula is still the same while other competitors left or grew in weight.
New Zealand was for a long time the largest buyer of second-hand JDM cars. Not just per capita, but in terms of raw numbers. I think they still make up around half the cars on the road here. So, as a kid, I mostly saw these called Eunos Roadsters (sometimes Mazda MX-5s if they were bought new in NZ). I always thought "Eunos Roadster" was a damn cool name.
Just got my first one three weeks ago, a 1993 that's red, of course. Talk about a love/hate relationship. The first day I ever really drove it other than a mile or so it was pouring down rain. The brand new top and weatherstripping the previous owner put in leaked on both sides. All four windows stayed fogged up, and the tail would step out with little provocation. The next day no rain, but I had to take it on a 100 mile interstate trip. At 70mph the thing is at 4k, way too high. The wind blew it all over the road and the pop up headlights didn't help the aero any. So after two days of that (my other car was down so I had no choice but to drive it in conditions I never wanted to drive it in) I had decided I despised the car and had made a huge mistake in buying it. The next time I drove it though it was sunny and warm, so for the first time in my life, I put the top down and drove a convertible. There are quite a few good twisty roads with less traffic within five miles of my house, so that's where I took it. It was then I found out why these are so loved. Yeah the thing is slow. Really really slow, but give it some decent curves to navigate and wow! Everything on the car is stock. A few of the bushings likely need to be replaced and while the previous owner put new tires on it right before it became mine, they were "budget" tires and not at all what you'd call grippy. Still the car is effortless when given twisted roads. I've had two 1995 Honda Preludes with highly modified suspensions, a 1994 BMW 325IS with the "M tech" suspension from factory, and a 2003 BMW E46 330i with the factory sports setup and even a 1700 lb 1993 Suzuki Swift GTi. All great handling cars. I like the Miata more than the rest by far when it comes to handling. When I go through and replace all the bushings and put a decent set of tires on the thing I bet I'll love it even more. Only two gripes with the car when driven in the conditions it should be driven in. It needs a sixth gear, badly. Got it up to a bit over 100 and I could almost feel the motor getting worried something would break inside of it. The other is, of course, the lack of power. Yeah yeah I know "go buy a Mustang or a Camaro if you want power dumbass, that's not what the Miata is about." I don't want the thing to run 11s or 12s, I just think the chassis deserves an engine with around 160 to 200 horsepower. I'd hate to do an engine swap and take out a perfectly good, if underpowered motor, and I'm a big fan of keeping things as original as possible while making improvements, so I guess my only option is supercharger or a turbo. I think an extra 50hp is a pretty reasonable goal that won't stress out the car or my bank account too much.
James, you bought a 30 year old car that appeared to be maintained on a budget and your complaints seem to focus on the level of maintenance and the basic nature of the car which is how it was advertised from day one. The Miata is an extremely light, great handling but underpowered car even for its day. This was stated in the original MotorWeek review and every review since. The trick to driving a Miata fast is to build up speed and maintain the speed through the curves. It sounds like you bought the wrong car. You would likely be better off selling it and buying something that matches your expectations. Doing an engine swap would likely result in a new set of frustrations.
"... it has better curves than anything we're used to seeing on a car" And that, dear friends, is the closest we ever got to having an innuendo on the Public Broadcasting Station.
I love Mazda a shit ton, but I mean, with an SLK, you have a German sports car. Sure, the Miata is a better value, but the SLK is a Mercedes, and that's a full tier above Mazda.
The actual mechanical parts (engine, transmission, etc) seem bombproof. The electronics? Hoo, boy, what a Pandora's box... the security system failed on me twice, keeping me from starting the car... there's a pump in the trunk that controls the exterior lights (???), that failed twice. The drive-by-wire accelerator pedal had to be replaced... the shift lever had to be replaced... I love the car, don't get me wrong... but man, there are some days where I'd wished I'd gone with the simplicity of a Miata. I don't even wanna know how hit I'll be when the top fails.
Dan McCarthy that type of reliability is very typical of Mercedes. Mine was no different. They're designed to be reliable for the original owner who trades in every 2-4yrs. They're garbabe after that.
I regret the day I sold mine. 93' Black/ Tan interior and had less than 52K original miles on it. Fully loaded but with no hard top. Quite possibly the best car I ever will own.
Modern Car done right at the time. I hate what modern cars are now. As for the pop up headlights, honestly they really added character. I wish those could be back in style with today's car but because of a stupid safety issue... nope. its why the NB had standard headlights.
Bought a 92 Miata in 1998. Loved it but sold it 3 years later. My older neighbor shook his head at me and said I'd regret selling it. I did! In 2005 I bought a 94 with 60k miles. I still own it and now it has 145k on it. Still fun to drive and extremely reliable. I still get admiring looks from people. I keep telling myself I don't need this car but it's hard to part with a classic.
What I love about the Miata(all gens) is its a riot to drive just puttering around at the speed limit, its comfortable, relaxed, easy to drive(even ones without power steering) Cain it, its an even bigger riot, especially since you can actually drive past 5/10ths of the limit on a public road and still be going slow enough to where you can catch a mistake. Any sports car made in the last 20 years, you push it hard you are at going to jail speeds or are in a world of sh!t/in the ditch going way too fast if you do make a mistake
pls do me a favor.....dont lower it till its scraping on the ground like i see these degenrates doing and pls leave it to where it can become stock again for some of us who might want to buy one someday scumbag fuckers should be shot lol
John Davis was prescient in his long-running show's first look at the Miata. Unlike the " purists" who dismissed this car as a soulless Japanese rip-off of the real thing, Davis credited the car's advanced engineering and ruggedness with saving the sports car platform. The purist magazines are long gone, but Motorweek survives, and so does their favorite sports car.
My sister got a 1991 Miata in 2001 for her 15th birthday she would cruise around the neighborhood with her 4 friend's in it she had it till she was 19 not a bad lil car I used to do the tune ups and stuff on it
Now up to 181hp, but always so slow. But it never mattered and never will matter. Because that is not what is it about. If you don't like the Miata, you don't know how to drive and just want horsepower. The Miata is like the small point guard in basketball who weaves his way through the monsters for the lay up.
Although Motorweek has historically reported very conservative acceleration figures, when Motor Trend conducted this same battery of tests for the 1990 Miata back in the day, this is what they measured: "Though this engine’s 116-hp peak is not particularly awesome, it has a light load to pull. The result is a 0-60 mph time of 8.86 sec and a quarter-mile time of 16.78 sec with a terminal speed of 81.9 mph."
