Mazda MX-5 Miata Forum : “want to get daughter a miata”

Well, pretty much any year Miata is an excellent choice for reliability :) I know that the 1989-early 1991 models had an issue with the
nose of the crankshaft that left unattended could lead to crankshaft failure. You can check if a car is affected by the VIN#, if it's 209447,
the car is fine, less, and it has the problem. However, besides this small run of early cars, every Miata from late 1991 to today is a nearly
bulletproof automobile. And you shouldn't have any problem at all finding a good car with what you want for under $15k :)

6-10k will get you a pretty nice NB. If you're getting an NA (1990-1997), the crank issue is one thing to look out for (1990 and part of 1991 only), and you may as well spring for the '94-'97 with the 1.8L engine, vs. the '90-93 1.6L. I would probably recommend the NB, though, '99 - '05. They have fixed headlights (although the pop-ups on the NA are pretty reliable), variable valve timing was added to the motor in 2001. Their values also aren't particularly high right now, just a little higher than NAs, which appear to have stabilized in value. Miatas are very good cars, and will last forever, but you should still be able to find an NB with under 100k miles for under $7k on the used market. 15k is borderline NC territory (2006 and up), but I really don't like how they look.

Great choice!  I would find an NB if I had 15k!  98+ very nice cars!  There is also always parts on craigslist for those years too.  However, a good 94+ Miata for a couple grand will be very nice too!