From what I understand, the 2025 Mazda Miata is going to be the end of the line and the last model year for having a gasoline engine. Rumor has it that the 2026 will be electric or some kind of hybrid. I honestly think that would ruin the character of the vehicle altogether. Anyway, my wife was considering getting a new car in the spring. We just built a new house and are putting our old one (about an hour away) on the market in February. It's likely to sell quickly (nice over-55 neighborhood, great location, gated community, etc.) and free up some cash for us. She wants something more "fun" than what we currently own.

She seeks something "fun" to drive to work every day, but is leery of having a rear-wheel-drive car. We live in Central Virginia and are "out in the sticks" a bit, so snow-plowing the roads is limited to the Interstates and major US highways. Still, it's not as if we're in Vermont or something. She had an Audi TT, which had all-wheel-drive and could go almost anywhere. She used to have a BMW that was terrible in the snow. We both used to have Corvettes, but they never went out in bad weather out all. She is thinking that all-wheel-drive or even front-drive is a necessity for her 40-minute commute each way. I never owned a Miata, but my brother had one 20 years ago and it was a pure blast to drive. They "feel" a lot faster than they really are and the "hardtop" of the RF model makes it suitable for colder weather and you can avoid being baked in the middle of summer. If we did buy one, I would enjoy driving it on weekends, of course. If we did have bad weather, she could take the all-wheel-drive CX-30 or the 4x4 F-150 and leave the Miata at home.

My wife has three years left until she retires for the second time, so it's likely we would keep the car beyond that time (especially if Mazda quits building them). I know that if she test-drove one, she might be smitten with it..............even though they are tiny inside. She's 5'8" and I am 5'11" - so it'd be cozy in there, but not unbearable. The idea of being able to drive a manual transmission again is a turn-on for me and my wife can drive a manual as well (although she doesn't enjoy it as much as I do).

We currently have a Soul Red 2021 Mazda CX-30 Premium AWD with 37,000 miles. We bought it new and have 11 or 12 more payments on it. We own a 2017 Honda CR-V (long since paid off) that is front-wheel-drive and has about 63,000 miles now. It's been in the family since it was new. We own a paid-off 2004 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 that is nice for its age and has low miles, but it has a V8 and drinks a lot of gasoline. It is our "standby" vehicle and is great for going to Lowe's, etc. The Mazda and Honda are both garaged every night, so they stay clean. The F-150 is a long bed with an extended cab and won't fit in the garage. Haha!!

If we got a Miata, we'd likely sell the CR-V. I love the Miata in the Soul Red, but that's the same color as our CX-30. I like the Miata in white, but my wife hates white cars. The blue is not bad, it just doesn't "pop" like the red and the other colors are almost dull. She also likes the new 2025 Toyota Camry - all of them are hybrids now - and you can get all-wheel-drive. The Camry is about 2k to 3k more than the Miata if it is fully-equipped. We have not gone to test-drive either one and we're holding off doing that until we get a contract on the other house (which goes on the market in February). They're really very different cars and are not "competitive" with each other - but to my wife, she'd be looking at a Miata or Camry as options. You don't think of a Camry as being 'sporty' - but they do zero to sixty faster than Corvettes from the early 1990s and the suspensions are quite good (I drove one as a rental car) on twisty roads. The hybrid drivetrain gives them extra power and the fuel economy is a lot better than that of the Miata.

Mazda is supposed to be coming out with an all-new "6" sedan with a straight-six DOHC engine - sort of a poor man's BMW - but I have yet to see one on the road. Next year, maybe? That would be rear-wheel-drive with independent rear suspension.........not unlike a poor man's BMW. I suppose that Mazda will offer an all-wheel-drive option.

How many of you on this forum bought a Miata (ragtop or RF) and found it to be too small or discovered it to be difficult to drive during inclement weather? Have you had any problems with it? Would you buy another one? I'm looking kind of far ahead here - five days before Christmas - but spring will be here before we realize it. The older we get, the faster time seems to go. I apologize for making such a long post and I thank all of you in advance for any advice or replies.

Zoom! Zoom!

 

Mazda Miata's. from a service stand point... I typed our service records while reading your well written post and drinking my coffee and gave a casual look as well my own personal experience with them. They are a pretty easy vehicle to service and most all that I can see in a 5 year span servicing various years and 375 coming through the shop. Most are serviced regarding the usual things and the other is from owners lack of keeping up on issues and things needing addressing. But I guess that pretty normal for any platform and model. In short nothing stood out as as major. I even tried to type in $2000 4000+ and nothing came up on record. So basically in 5 years nothing was over $1999.99 in service.
You should keep in mind that we have 3 retirement communities 55+ so a large percentage of our customers are retired individuals that garage their vehicles.
I see as many PT Cruiser daily as Miata's' ...well more PT Cruisers lol

 

I have heard that the Miata is a rather "rugged" platform. It's a simple design - engine in the front with rear-wheel-drive. No turbocharger and still equipped with a manual transmission, something that is quite uncommon these days.

After we sell the other house, my wife just might end up with a new Miata - but that would mean selling the CR-V first. No way are we going to trade it in and get hosed. It is aggravating when you see the games that so many dealerships around here seem to enjoy playing. On the web site of one, they have a "$1,000 discount" on a Miata in stock..............but then they charge a $799 administrative fee. What the hell? Do they think everybody is made of money? I wish I could tell them that I might want to buy a car, but am not interested in making the yacht payment for the owner of the dealership. LOL!!

P.S. A Chrysler P/T Cruiser? Wow! That's not a car that you see very often these days.

 

Dealerships are still as I often p[ost independent businesses. And like any other business need to make money. The unfortunate things are the long-time history they have starting from about thew 1960's maybe older? Anyone that has owned a business can understand that from a standpoint of the scale size and overhead a dealership has they have to make money, or they won't be around to long. On the flip side there are places all over the US that many must travel 50 or more miles just to get to a dealership that service the platform they drive. I am not trying to say anything except to just make some that don't know they are in it as any other business to make a profit.

I read what you say and many on forums all talking about cost and resale and such when it comes to buying a new vehicle but then there are those like me that buy for what we want and or need. I don't really and can't say as I have ever participated in the pricing threads having to d with a vehicle. I get it or more understand it it's just not me. A lot is the facts that there are very vehicles that interest me so much that I would spend that amount and the few that can are so far out of my price range I just buy a model of them. LOL
The Mazda I own was not the first choice and in fact what sold me was the color. LOL Otherwise it would have been a Ford .
Its also very hard for me to get interested or excited about any platform or model within those platforms. Once you have owned a AC Cobra its hard to look at or want any other vehcle? And I personally have owned 3.
I also owned a couple of MINIs. One was the first 2002 MCS. I thought when I purchased it what a useless little car. But the GF at the time wanted my to get one for us. It was so bad that when I picked it up at the automotive vehcle docks fresh off the ship (yes said that correctly) even before it was inspected (had to go through vehcle customs) I hated it. So much so that when I drove the almost 2-hour drive home with h interior and exterior panels still having the plastic wrapping protecting it, and several parts in the interior that still needed to be attached to the car. oh and it had less then 1/2 mile on the odometer all I could think about was getting home and out of it. And that exact what I did. I drove up to the GF house and parted it in her cover driveway tossed her the key o y new car and got back into my car and drove home. I never touched it again for almost 2 months and then the GF called me and said to come move the car because she was having a birthday party for the preschoolers and needed that space. I picked it up and asked when I could bring it back and she said about 2 hours. I drove off and decided just to drive down the coast and up into the mountains on a road that I frequented my motorcycles more the sportbike or what most would call "crouch rockets". To shorten the story and jump to the end, by the time I returned 4 hours later I was a changed man. LOL I called my marketer up and said I have a new vehcle of interest. So after the and for almost a full decade I engineered and developed performance and upgrade parts for it and to this day I still get a income from sales worldwide of those parts. And the funny thing they only fit 2002-2006 base MINI and MCS. I guess the story goes .... you can judge a car necessarily by it price or what it is but you should buy for what you want or in some cases what the person you're a with wife, GF etc., wants you to get .

Oh as for PT Cruzer's go owned one of them. Completely debagged Turbocharged model. It was our Dailey driver before the Mazda and we frequented going on micro vacations 3 or 4 days get aways in it. It also would "spank" or give reason to pause and consider the possible embarrassment challenging and badly losing a stop light drag race. LOL

The N2o was not used.

 

Nonsense.
My guess is that Mazda will continue producing Miata's w/internal combustion engine for at least 4 or 5 more years.

 

Where are you getting this bad information?
The Mazda 6 was not a good seller. Sedans do not sell well because consumers want SUV-type vehicles.

 

As far as Mazda not making the ICE-powered Miata anymore, it was mentioned in several car-related web sites and by some automotive magazines. So many car makers are looking into making EVs - especially with the mandates & subsidies, although that could change with the incoming administration. I think that making the Miata and EV or even a hybrid would ruin the basic character of the car. To me, it would be like making the Corvette into a four-door sedan. But maybe I am just old-school in my thinking. I still enjoy driving a manual transmission when I get the chance - even in a car that's not considered high-performance.

As far as the "new" Mazda 6 sedan goes, it is still in the works. The old "6" wasn't a bad car, but it didn't seem to have a right niche to fill. The 6 sold in the USA was better looking than the ones sold in Germany, though. I can definitely tell you that. The 6 over there was also available as a station wagon. The all-new model, from what I have read, will be a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sedan with AWD optional. It will have independent rear suspension (like a BMW) and the engine is slated to be the inline-six from the Mazda CX-90 SUV. I believe it was rated at over 300 horsepower without a turbocharger. Sadly, though, Mazda doesn't plan to make it available with a manual gearbox. Still, it would be a viable competitor to a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Acura TLX or even lower-trim Lexus and BMW models.

As for dealers being a business? Yeah - I get that. I am not against the profit motive per se and certainly am not a neo-Marxist in my thinking. I suppose it is the whole shady way they do things that irritates me. Why can't buying a car be like purchasing a refrigerator or a TV set? If I go to Best Buy and a TV set is $600, the only extra I have to pay is the state sales tax (at least in my state). They don't have a 'stockroom fee' or a surcharge for 'sanitizing the restroom' or what not. They also don't put chrome ***** on the TV set and then add fifty bucks - saying that it is part of what they do for all customers. Nor do they add a "processing fee" or a "documentation charge" to the final cost when I take the TV set out the front door. They don't try to insist on up charging me for a refrigerator model that might have an icemaker inside of it. THAT'S the kind of **** that gets my knickers in a knot. We need to have total transparency in pricing. Just give me the bottom line - and the ONLY thing extra should be the state sales tax (if required, but that varies from state to state).

More than one dealer in VA used to put prices in the newspaper and the fine print had a $750 destination charge (Yeah, it was years ago.), $495 acquisition fee and a $399 "processing fee" added to all vehicles. That was an ad for a $14,995 new vehicle that was really $16,639 the minute you arrived at the showroom! I definitely don't want the government anywhere near wage or price controls, but it's hard to argue against a law that requires some degree of price transparency. These shenanigans are not really tolerated in many other trades. Is the auto dealer lobby that powerful? Maybe they are.

I don't know when it will happen, but I honestly believe that the old brick & mortar franchised dealership model is soon going to be a thing of the past. Maybe not in my lifetime, but the die has been cast by Tesla. The 1950s way of doing business is archaic, costly, cumbersome, frustrating and not really very necessary anymore. Why not be able to buy a car directly from the manufacturer? I understand the whole thing about parts, service and warranty work - but there are probably viable work-arounds that will crop up in the future.

Look at how Tesla does things. You order a car, they build it and then bring it to your home or office. If you need service, they send a tech out with a big van and the work is done where you live or work - no hassle of going to a dealership and having to get a loaner car, a shuttle to work or rely on friends to tote you around. I understand that an EV is different in that regard - but it's clear that we need a new way of doing things and a paradigm shift. Going from here to there will not be an easy process and the vultures in the business will do all they can to fight any change - but changing consumer dynamics and market forces will make it almost inevitable.

Some dealerships are like Internet scammers. As consumers become more educated and better informed, they have to muddy the waters and try to stay one step ahead of us. They become more creative about hiding their greed. The dealerships hold the upper hand because you might buy a car every five or six years, but they sell hundreds every month. Caveat Emptor!!

P.S. On YouTube, there's a guy named Kevin Hunter - aka The Homework Guy - who gives great insights about the tricks used by car dealers and how to avoid being snookered by the them. I have learned that some states allow a lot more rip-off stuff than others.