It’s not hard to find something that annoys (or could be improved) with any of the mx5 generations, or any make/model of car for that matter. We all have our favourite mx5 and specific reasons for choosing a particular model. I’m on my second ND and in my experience they are great fun to own and drive. I have no issue with the gearbox, lack of a glovebox, cabin storage or wind deflector. The main positives for me are the way it drives, the way it looks and the pleasure it gives me. If I couldn’t afford an ND I’m sure I would be happy with any of the previous generations. I have no reason to change to the ND3, but I’m sure I could live with it and enjoy it if I had one.
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Couldn’t agree more. With a few tweaks (lowered springs, geo, remap , rustproofing and better tyres)my ND1 is almost completely fit for my purposes . 'Almost ’ because the steering isn’t talkative.
Glovebox ? Who cares ? I only put tat I never use in gloveboxes. Cabin space ? What for - I’m a 5-11 fat git and the car is comfy and roomy enough for 300 mile plus days. Gearbox ? I’d be pissed off if mine wasn’t any good - but it is , and I don’t lie awake nights because some bloke on the internet has a duff one. Storage ? It’s got a boot big enough for my fly fishing gear and waders but I agree it won’t take a month’s shopping or a Christmas tree . Because - it’s a little sports car and not an SUV.
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I wish Mazda all the luck in the world with the ND3. It would be nice if for the NE Mazda took a long hard look at what made the MX5 a runaway success and concluded it was not oodles of technology in the cockpit. I still have not found a midi disc to play in my NBFL 
In 1991, Popular Mechanics did a survey of 1990 Miata owners, to see how they were getting on. 17% were 29 years old or younger. 66% were 30-49. Most of those 30-49 year olds are now on pensions, and fixed income.
Now, the average of a new MX5 owner is 62 years old. The market for this type of car is dying. It existed because 50-60 years ago there were MGBs, Midgets, Sprites, Elans, Triumph Spitfires (at the time of the Miata arriving, these hadn’t been sold for 10+ years).
30-49 year olds were eith not born or still at school when the MX5 came out. They don’t have the nostalgia, and thus pent up demand to repeat the 1990-1992 sales volumes.
The market now is for about 20-30,000 cars. I don’t see that expanding. 10 years ago or so, VW considered entering the market, but concluded they needed to sell at least 40,000 a year to turn a profit. I don’t see Mazda numbers being much different.
The ND likely would have never happened was it not for Alfa Romeo/FCA. The upfront cost of developing the ND has been paid for, which is why Mazda are saying they will keep making the ND until they can’t (legislation stopping them). The legislation is well signposted.
The crunch will be with the EV MX5. Development wise, its going to be the most expensive MX5 yet (100% and a new drivertrain Mazda has little experience in). How do they make back their costs? Expanding the franchise, ie MX5 SUV.
Interesting thoughts. How to predict the future. Can’t argue that the small sports car market is dwindling for the reasons given. Do unexpected things happen? I would say they do. Another vision of the future could be one in which recreational vehicles (like the mx-5) thrive as an alternative to the daily workhorse. The market conditions would need to be right of course, with many factors coming into play both economic and social. Take the SUV as an example, a few years ago they were in a minority and now they’re everywhere. But like the dinosaurs a horrible accident could happen and they could be wiped out. How awful. The fortunes of the small sports car have waxed and waned over time. Certainly the golden age has probably gone for good, but mazda and others may still offer something small, fun and exciting in the future. I would like to think so.
Long term maybe,
The alternative is that the EV MX5 is moved upmarket; add another £20k to todays price, and competes against Porsche etc.
I also wouldn’t be surprised that Mazda does not survive the shift; its one of Japan’s smaller car makers. EV is going to see many new entrants to the market, but also exits (Jaguar is top of the pile to go) in companies who failed to read the tea leaves correctly (Jaguar lost a huge amount investing in new diesel engines and plants, just as diesel demand crashed). So far, Mazda’s EV efforts have been less than impressive.
I’m turning 40 next week and this is my first mx5. I’ve had everything from hot hatches to Japanese perfomance to American muscle. I think this little car is great, not practical with the 2 seats but no less than most of my other cars with their tokenistic rear seats.
I am done with continually buying newer and more powerful cars, it’s out of hand. Most of the modern flash cars around now are expensive junk that will be reliable for about the length of the warranty.
I’ve bonded with this car in a way I haven’t with cars for years, I mainly put that down to the engagement factor from driving it and friendly, simple engineering that’s a pleasure to work on. I’ve had more fun messing with this car and owning it in the past few months than I have in a long time, so in my opinion people are missing out 
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I think some potential MX5 owners might be attracted by the MG Cyberster. This is the best review I have found; its not completely fawning like the others. The reviewer makes some interesting comments.
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It does look impressive but at almost twice the weight and twice the price of an MX5 it’s going to ba a hard sell to someone that could easily step into fun, open top motoring for a fraction of the cost. It’s even 200kg heavier, less powerful and more expensive than the equivalent 5.0 V8 ford mustang!
Also it’s a modern MG, residuals are bound to be poor indeed unless it’s a one and done model.
There’s a broader issue here working against small sports cars which is that car ownership is getting more expensive in net terms - electrification is driving up initial purchase, depreciation and insurance costs beyond the saving on the fuel, plus higher interest rates make financing and leasing harder. This means that the car budget increasingly ends up spent on one single sensible car (a small or medium sized SUV - sigh) that can do everything and the ‘hobby’ allocation is inevitably crowded out. Add to which fewer young people learning to drive and when they do, learning on an automatic. And there you have a neat set of drivers (pun sorry) behind the secular decline in open top sports cars even if they do have an electric future.
My gut instinct is that the ND3 will be the last of a kind and if you can afford one, grab one and hold onto it for at least 10 years or more.
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That’s a good watch.
I agree.
But I have another take. As is with everything, if left to be an organic progression through the merits of the product then there would be no issue. I think the car market has put itself in a very awkward position by going all in on what remains quite prohibitively expensive and still relatively new technology that has flaws of its own. Consumer choice is essential but in the modern world you are no longer deemed responsible enough to decide for yourself as a consumer, and must be ushered towards making the ‘right’ decision according to the many powers that be, whether through making it harder to buy or own certain things or outlawing them altogether.
I for one don’t like this, and I’m sure many other people feel the same.
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I hear you, it’s the libertarian v. collective argument playing out in cars. Without making this political, the argument on the Left is that the challenges we face (including climate change) demand centralised decision-making because the market left to its own devices can’t deal with something as existential like climate change. I am not disparaging this view, it has merits. But my own personal take - and others may well think differently - is that forcing a change in the powertrains of cars in medium sized economies like the UK is not going to make any difference at all to global temperature change outcomes, but it will impoverish consumers and restrict choice because said change is very expensive and demands a huge investment from manufacturers. Enthusiast vehicles like the MX5 (and let’s face it the Z4, SLK, Boxster etc.) end up being the victims of this. Again, some will describe it as collateral damage for the greater good, others will see it as an unnecessary deprivation of something that gives joy and pleasure in life. I’m in the latter camp, but other views are available!
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Well, most new MX5 owners now are pensioners. For many, this might be their last car. Residuals might not matter so much to them
The UK pricing is not confirmed; likely to start at £45-50k, for a RWD version (China price; £35k. Typical MX5 pricing is around £30k. Interestingly, the MX5 is priced at £44,000 in China. The MG will be well equipped.
90% of sales are PCP, so the differences will be in deposit and monthly payment. I expect MG to underwrite future values. The MG4 apparently has very good residuals; its a genuinely good product. I expect the UK to be the second largest market for this car, but numbers won’t be huge. And increasingly EV manufacturers will control the sale of used EV cars
One of the reasons why the MX5 has good residuals, and why there are Eunos Roadsters in the UK, is that MCL tried to monopolise the MX5 market. In 1996, if you wanted a used NA MX5, the only place to get one was from a Mazda dealer. In 1996, I wanted a red 1990 UK car. The asking price was £10,995, no negotiation. So instead I brought a 1992 Eunos Roadster, fresh off the boat for £8000. And they gave me £2000 for the 309 Gti.
The Chinese car makers do seem to be putting a premium on quality. My brother recently came back from deployment in Norway (aka the Northern Front), and the Navy gave him a rental petrol MG SUV to get back home. It was a little underpowered, but he was shocked at the quality inside. Felt more solid than his E-Class. The BYDs coming out seem great. Proof is in the pudding when it comes to warranty support. The Cyberster makes a great halo car. MG won’t car it losing money if every one sitting on the showroom floor drives 4-5 additional MG4 sales. And the recent MG4 XPower is confounding skeptics.
Does weight matter to that many buyers? I doubt it, Most owners won’t know the kerbweight of their car, nor does the number mean that much to them. And its relative. The MX5 is billed as a “lightweight car”. Its not. Its lighter than most cars built in 2023, but is lardy compared to cars of the distant past (its no Lotus). Owners will probably say it “feels” light, and that’s really down to the cleverness of the sensors (and a few engineers).
The Mustang is irrelevant. Its very very expensive to run, with poor fuel consumption and high emissions taxes. Its not a forward looking car, its an anachronism. After 2024, it will be gone.
Proper reviews of European spec Cybersters are obviously needed; MG’s UK engineers have stated they are still tuning the chassis, plus they have parachuted Marco Fainello into the project (in the Youtube vide, you seem him with a deck giving a hint of what they are doing, which is fairly predictable (bushes, ARB tuning, shock tuning). Reviews have confirmed some expectations (“its more of a GT”) and produced surprises (“its fun to drive”).
Yes, and also its a MG. That’s also a strong positive for some (the brand) and shouldn’t be underestimated. There are some MX5 owners who brought a new MX5 because it was a MX5, and they had MX5s before.
Ultimately, these are heart over head purchases. Who buys a soft top in the UK for sensible reasons?
On the otherhand, I can get a new electric Maxxus (MG) pickup for £2k down and £100 a month. Cheap motoring if I like enormous chrome grills.
That is a little bit ‘ageist’ and perhaps rude and unkind as well. How long do you think us ‘pensioners’ are going to last?
We have had 4 new cars since we became pensioners, 2 of which have been MX5 NDs and we are both reasonably certain there will be a few more before we give in and die.
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I have to respectfully disagree on the classification of lightweight cars, the mx5 absolutely is a lightweight in today’s market considering many that weigh less or the same are powered by 1.0 engines.
I only mention the mustang because it’s similar money, bought primarily by older people and it’s the world’s best selling sports car and has been since it’s release, it defied many expectations. I had mine for 5 years and it returned an average of 20-25mpg in mixed driving, was 140 a year to tax (admittedly now that’s unobtainable) and retained over 75% of its value after 5 years. Sure it could return less than that (or more on a run) but having now owned and driven the mx5 and experienced how it has to be driven to get it’s best, I’d wager the mpg returns driving this to be in the mustang ballpark. I haven’t bothered to calculate as it doesn’t have a trip computer and I personally don’t care for that as I would in a daily driver.
I get c. 40mpg out of my modified ND1 with mixed driving, which includes regularly running through the entire rev range.
There’s no way I’m getting that from a 2.0 NC
I can believe that, having seen others post what I thought were surprisingly low mpg figures from NCs. The main thread is about the ND3, though, so ND fuel economy seems more relevant.
I’m regularly surprised by how little fuel my ND uses relative to the performance it offers.