the styling of this year is one of my favorite as is the reliability. it has all the features of the older ones that made the Miata such a hit, they are usually lightly driven as mostly a 3rd car, and rarely driven in bad weather. also most of them are babied during their lives, Ive had 3 Miatas and all have been very reliable no matter what their age

tuned mazda mx5 that weighs 2200 lb with 204 hp, 187 ft/lb torque 6 speed short ratio transmission (with short shifter) rear wheel drive go-kart. fun factor... rated by consumer reports as the most fun car to drive 2006-2007. Excellent gas mileage.

In one word:pristine. Low mileage. Very clean interior and engine. Perfect paint. I only hope I can keep it as nice during the time I own it.

The third generation of the Miata is my favorite. It has a somewhat larger cockpit making it more comfortable to use as a daily driver. It really makes little difference wheather you choose the soft top or the Power Retractable Hard Top (PRHT). Having owned both I prefer the soft top over the hard top when in its closed position but both were generally driven that way as our motto has always been: Why go thru life with the top up!. The third gen has two models Gen 3 and Gen 3-1. 2006-2008 have a smaller opening for the air intake and maybe mimicks the first gen front end. 2009-2015 have a larger air intake as well as some other engine features but the performance is really the same. I must also say that driving the third gen gives me more pleasure than the following generation and I cant seem to put my finger on exactly why. It may be that the fourth gen cockpit seems more cramped than all previous generations. Having owned all three my wife and I rank them as follows. Gen 3 is our first pick. Generations one and two come in as second equally. Fourth gen has more power but our least favorite.

I bought my first MIata in 1991, the second year they were on the market and still had those flip up headlights. I drove it for 11 years, and sold it in 2002--and only because I was moving to Sydney, Australia and couldn't take it with me. It had 103k miles on it, and still drove like a dream. I never had a single problem with it mechanically. Mazdas, from my experience, are well-built, a great value for money, and I believe a quite underrated brand of cars. When I returned to the US in 2011, I was older (47), but yearned for the days before my 9-year stint overseas. While it was completely impractical (you can't really haul much of anything in it and there is only room for 2), I found myself in Mazda Oakland looking at this car--with just 19k miles on it, and even though it was 4 years old, still had that new car smell to it. I decided to take it for a test drive, instead of the Mazda 3 that I came to drive, and once I was behind the wheel, I was hooked. I've had many joyful experiences in this car in the 3 years that she's been mine. One of my first dates with my husband was driving through the Marin Headlands in my Miata, on a gorgeous, sunny day--with the top down, and holding his hand for the first time. Or up to Napa Valley for a weekend of wine tasting. Or to Yosemite in a freak October snowstorm. This car made my middle-aged life feel a little more frivolous, a little more fun. It was the one thing I owned that made no sense for the life I had and I didn't care because every time I got behind the wheel, I was transported back to 1991--a 27 year old driving his first convertible, and feeling young and with a life that was full of possibilities. I am only parting with it now because marriage has brought another car into my life, and with my parent's car (oddly enough--a Mazda 3)--we have one too many cars and my Miata is, well, the most dispensable. You will love this car. You will have fun times, romantic times, great memories. Just none of them about going to Home Depot.