The first Miata revived the small roadster by stripping out almost every luxury
When Mazda showed the MX-5 in Chicago in February 1989, the cheapest version had no power steering, no power windows, no stereo and no air conditioning. That spartan approach kept it light and affordable, and it brought back a kind of open two-seater that British and Italian makers had let die.
Mazda's designers drew on post-war British sports cars, filling the gap left when the Fiat 124 Spider, Triumph Spitfire and MG B had gone. The car listed at US$14,000 and reached North American buyers in May 1989 as a 1990 model, Japan that September and Europe in 1990. Early demand outran supply. In Japan it did not wear a Mazda badge at all, being sold as the Eunos Roadster under a new upmarket brand, much as Toyota used Lexus.
Lightness was the guiding idea, borrowed from the Lotus habit of adding lightness. Without options it weighed 980 kg, with an aluminium bonnet on a steel body and double-wishbone suspension at every corner. Its 1.6-litre twin-cam engine, designed specifically for the car, made 115 bhp. Engineers were told to keep the gear lever's throw as short and effortless as possible. Mazda quoted 0 to 60 mph in 8.6 seconds, though magazine tests came in a little slower.
For 1994 a 1.8-litre engine arrived with 129 bhp, rising to 133 bhp two years later, along with dual airbags and extra bracing for side-impact rules. The extra weight was only 10 kg, more than offset by the added power. Collectors still prize the Laguna Blue Mica paint offered only in 1994 and 1995, and the stripped-down R package, of which 1841 went to American buyers.
Special editions multiplied, from British Racing Green cars to the yellow J Limited, named after the French word jaune. In 1993 Mazda and a Japanese utility even built an electric prototype with a range of 180 km. The generation ended after 1997, apart from 400 Berkeley cars sold in Britain in 1998, and the MX-5 went on to become the best-selling sports car in the world.
Source: Mazda MX-5 (NA)
