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2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Mazda MX-5 Miata OEM Exterior Primary Photo
OEM Interior Primary
OEM Exterior
OEM Exterior
OEM Interior
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Expert Rating
Unavailable

Our expert ratings are based on seven comprehensive criteria: quality, safety, comfort, performance, fuel economy, reliability history and value.

You can interpret our ratings in the following way:

: Outstanding vehicle. Only the most exceptional vehicles achieve this rating.

: Very Good vehicle. Very good and close to being the best vehicle in its class.

: Good vehicle. Decent, but not quite the best. Often affordable, but lacking key features found in vehicles of the same class.

: Below average vehicle. Not recommended, and lacking attributes a car buyer would come to expect for the price.

: Poor vehicle. Simply does not deserve to be on the road.

Select a Trim
Select a Trim
2019 Sport 2dr Convertible
most popular
Price:   -  From $25,730
2019 Club 2dr Convertible Price:   -  From $29,590
2019 Grand Touring 2dr Convertible Price:   -  From $30,780
2019 RF Club 2dr Coupe Price:   -  From $32,345
2019 RF Grand Touring 2dr Coupe Price:   -  From $33,335
2019 30th Anniversary 2dr Convertible Price:   -  From $34,995
2019 RF 30th Anniversary 2dr Convertible Price:   -  From $37,595

Overview

If you were to distill driving pleasure down to a small package, you'd find the 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata as the evaporated product ready for bottling. While it isn't packing the most horsepower in the segment, the Miata is incredibly nimble, capable of maintaining insane amounts of speed through the corners, and a joy to drive. These factors combine to make it quite possibly the best sports car you can buy with a price tag south of the Porsche Boxster.

What's New for 2019

The 2019 Mazda Miata may look very similar, but there's a big difference over the last year: the engine's power has been increased from 155 horsepower to 181. While 26 hp may not seem like a lot, it makes a huge difference in a car that weighs less than 2,400 pounds. The Miata also offers more packages, options, and features over the previous model year.

Mazda MX-5 Miata

Choosing Your Mazda MX-5 Miata

The Mazda Miata is powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that puts out 181 hp and 151 pound-feet of torque. While this doesn't seem like a lot in a world where you can get a Toyota Camry with over 300 hp, it's perfect for the chassis. While you can get a Miata with a competent six-speed automatic transmission for an additional $1,350, the excellent six-speed manual is the transmission to get. Not only does it connect you to the driving experience better, manual models in some trims are also equipped with a Bilstein sport suspension, a limited-slip differential, and shock tower bracing for better handling. If you get the automatic, you get a softer and less fun Miata in all aspects.

The Miata comes with one of two roof types: a classic soft top or the folding metal roof found in the Miata RF. The soft top is available at all trim levels, but the RF can only be had with the Club and Grand Touring trim levels at a $2,755 premium over the soft top model. This price includes the addition of not only the roof, but also an additional multifunction display in the gauge cluster.

While the Miata eschews many features found in similarly priced vehicles for the sake of driving pleasure, the most basic models still get keyless entry, LED headlights, a six-speaker stereo, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel, parking brake, and shift knob. Higher trims are offered with heated seats, leather upholstery, traffic sign recognition, and rain-sensing windshield wipers.

Mazda MX-5 Miata

Sport

At $26,625 (all prices include an $895 destination charge), the cheapest way to get into a new Miata is with the base Sport trim. For this price, you don't get much outside of the standard features previously listed. Black cloth seats are standard fare, but you get a choice of four paint colors to go with the contrasting black soft roof. It may not be much, but you don't really buy a Miata to be coddled in luxury; you buy it to drive it and the Sport works just fine for that purpose.

The only option package available outside of dealer accessories is the $850 I-Activsense Sport Package, which offers a modest grouping of driver assistance features like low-speed automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert. There are also accessory packages that verge on the border of an option package like the $425 Interior Package that adds aluminum pedals, door sills, and an oil cap, the $350 Interior Lighting Kit for some interior lighting, and the $1,550 Appearance Package that adds some exterior styling upgrades like a spoiler, front air dam, and side-sill extensions.

Mazda MX-5 Miata

Club

The Club trim starts at $30,485, and steps up the features a notch. The Club receives some performance upgrades like the Bilstein sport suspension, limited-slip differential, and front shock tower bracing (on the manual models only), while also adding a nine-speaker Bose audio system with speakers in the headrests so you can hear music with the top down, heated seats, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert.

The Club is the lowest trim offered in the Miata RF configuration with the folding metal roof as previously mentioned, and is also available with quite a few more packages over the Sport model. The most extensive package is the $4,470 Brembo/BBS Recaro Package that replaces the standard cloth seats with leather and alcantara-trimmed Recaro sport seats, Brembo front brakes, BBS forged 17-inch wheels, and some aero upgrades. If you'd rather have just have leather seats instead of the tight Recaros, Mazda offers the Brembo/BBS Package for $3,770 that includes everything from the previous package but with black leather seats instead. The I-Activesense Club Package is cheaper than its equivalent in the Sport package at $450, but it only adds automatic emergency braking and lane departure warning as the other two features come standard. Color selection is also increased slightly with the addition of a metallic gray exterior paint for an extra $300.

Mazda MX-5 Miata

Grand Touring

The highest trim level for the Miata is the $31,675 Grand Touring, which flirts with the idea of being a luxury car. The Grand Touring gets niceties like adaptive headlights with an automatic on/off feature, rain-sensing wipers, automatic climate control, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and side mirrors, leather-trimmed seats, and navigation, while all driver assistance features like lane departure warning, low-speed automatic emergency braking, and traffic sign recognition are standard features. Also of note, the Grand Touring is offered in a metallic blue, offering a bit more color variety to the palette of white, black, grey, and red that other trims offer.

Interestingly, the Grand Touring Package doesn't come standard with the performance upgrades of the Club trim like the Bilstein suspension, limited-slip differential, and shock tower bracing. Mazda sees the Club as the trim more focused toward performance while the Grand Touring is more oriented for overall driver enjoyment, and is therefore a bit softer. To this end, the Grand Touring doesn't get the option of either of the Brembo/BBS packages, but it's offered with the $550 GT-S Package that adds the suspension, differential, and bracing from the Club model to the Grand Touring.

CarsDirect Tip

If you're buying a 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata, get one with a manual transmission. If you don't know how to drive a manual but still want a Miata, find a friend who'll teach you the basics, then buy the manual Miata and hone your skills on it. The manual transmission is a cornerstone of the overall Miata experience, creating one more point of connection between the driver and the machine.

Get your price on a Mazda MX-5 Miata »

author image
Automotive Editor
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Expert Review

Expert Rating
Unavailable

Our expert ratings are based on seven comprehensive criteria: quality, safety, comfort, performance, fuel economy, reliability history and value.

You can interpret our ratings in the following way:

: Outstanding vehicle. Only the most exceptional vehicles achieve this rating.

: Very Good vehicle. Very good and close to being the best vehicle in its class.

: Good vehicle. Decent, but not quite the best. Often affordable, but lacking key features found in vehicles of the same class.

: Below average vehicle. Not recommended, and lacking attributes a car buyer would come to expect for the price.

: Poor vehicle. Simply does not deserve to be on the road.

author image
Contributing Writer

More power. Although displacement remains the same for the 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata, the automaker has done some serious tweaking of the 2.0-liter Skyactiv-G engine's vitals (pistons, connecting rods, crankshaft, flywheel, exhaust manifold), and upped injector pressure for more power, and swapped in a new muffler. The engine happily revs to 7,500 (up from 6,800), while horsepower stands at 181 (up from 155).

The result is an upping of the already high engagement factor between driver and machine with higher revs, greater speed, and a more robust sound.

Ride and handling. The Miata is the perfect small sports car. Handling is sharp, and throttle response is immediate. Feedback through the steering wheel (which now tilts and telescopes) and brake pedal is spectacular, and the slick six-speed manual transmission and firm-but-not-stiff clutch (our choice) make the MX-5 drivable in stop-and-go traffic, while back roads corners are carved with the precision of a surgeon.

You can firm up the double wishbone front and multilink rear suspension by choosing a manually-equipped Club or Grand Touring model – the latter equipped with the optional GT-S package. But consider both with caution, unless track days are the highlight of your calendar.

Good fuel economy. Despite the increase in power, fuel economy remains the same as last year. Manually-equipped models score an EPA-estimated 26 miles per gallon in the city, 34 mpg on the highway, and 29 combined for either the convertible or RF hardtop. Drop in the slightly-less-entertaining automatic, and those figures rise slightly to 26/35/30 mpg (city/highway/combined). For comparison, the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ are rated at 24 mpg combined with manual transmissions and 27 combined with automatics.

Lovely to look at. Perfectly proportioned from its beginnings with a long hood and short trunk, the newest generation, unveiled three years ago, adds a number of expressive touches with sharper creases, slim, rakish headlights, bulging fenders, and a flat trunk that accentuates the concave upper rear fascia.

Likewise, the cozy interior is restrained without looking spartan. The shifter falls easily to hand, the pedals are perfectly placed for heel-and-toe shifting, while the highly-sculpted body-colored door sills bring some of the outside inside.

At the same time, the touchscreen looks out of place, the infotainment software is kludgy, the cup holders are hilariously out of reach, the 12-volt outlet is located in the passenger's footwell, while the infotainment controller is placed directly under the driver's forearm – more than once we unintentionally changed radio stations and the audio source.


Mazda MX-5 Miata

Final thoughts. A modern interpretation of the classic British roadster, the fun and affordable 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata is the perfect second vehicle, even in winter (a fact we can attest to, provided you install a good set of winter tires). But aside from the obvious size and practicality constraints, the awkward placement of the infotainment controls and the oddly-placed cupholders detract from what is otherwise a spectacular driving experience.

Looking at the short list of competitors, the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ have more horsepower, more interior room and, with the rear seat folded, more cargo space. The Nissan 370Z Roadster brings 332 horsepower to the table, while the Mini Cooper Convertible (the Roadster is no longer produced) offers better fuel economy.

Check prices for the 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata »

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Specs & Features

Highlights
Overall Crash Safety Rating
Not Available
Engine - Cylinders/Horsepower/Torque
2.0L I-4 / 181 HP / 151 ft.lbs.
Transmission
Standard: 6-spd man
Available: 6-spd sequential shift control auto w/OD
Drive Type
Rear-wheel
Fuel Economy - City/Highway/Combined
26 / 34 / 30 Mpg
Passenger Capacity
2
Bumper to Bumper Warranty
36 Months / 36,000 Miles
Mechanical Specs
Engine - Cylinders/Horsepower/Torque
2.0L I-4 / 181 HP / 151 ft.lbs.
Drive Type
Rear-wheel
Fuel Economy - City/Hwy/Combined
26 / 34 / 30 Mpg
Brakes
4-wheel Disc
Front Suspension
Double Wishbone
Rear Suspension
Independent Multi-link
Spare Tire And Wheel
Fuel Tank
11.9 Gal.
Recommended Fuel Type
Premium Unleaded
Average Cost To Fill Tank
$45
Dimensions & Capabilities
Maximum Cargo Volume
4.6 Cu.ft.
Passenger Volume
Exterior Length
154.1 "
Exterior Width
68.3 "
Exterior Height
48.6 "
Front Headroom
37.4 "
Rear Headroom
Front Legroom
43.1 "
Rear Legroom
Front Shoulder Room
52.2 "
Rear Shoulder Room
Front Hip Room
Rear Hip Room
Curb Weight
2,339 Lbs. / 2,388 Lbs.
Wheel Base
91 "
Turning Radius
15.4 '
Exterior Features
Door Count
2 Doors
Wheels
16.0 " Black Aluminum
Paint
Clearcoat Monotone / Metallic Monotone
Exterior Mirrors
Dual Power Remote
Bumpers
Body-colored / Front Body-colored
Grille Moldings
Black
Rear Spoiler
Lip
Exhaust
Stainless Steel With Chrome Tailpipe Finish
Interior Features
Seating
Passenger Capacity
2
Seat Trim
Cloth
Front Seat Type
Bucket
Heated Front Seats
Front Driver Seat Direction Controls
6-way
Front Passenger Seat Direction Controls
4-way
Front Armrests
6-way
Rear Armrests
Rear Seats
Radio & Infotainment
Radio
Am/fm/hd, Clock, Seek-scan
Speakers
6
Radio Steering Wheel Controls
Apple Car Play
Android Auto
Bluetooth w/ Hands-Free Connectivity
Convenience Features
Steering Wheel Type
Telescopic Tilt Style
Climate Control
Cruise Control
With Steering Wheel Controls
Sun Roof
Rearview Mirror
Day-night
One Touch Open Window
Driver And Passenger
Tinted Windows
Light
Vanity Mirrors
Remote Keyless Entry
Keyfob (all Doors)
Power Outlets
1
Safety Features
Overall Crash Safety Rating
Not Yet Available
Overall Front Crash Safety Rating
Not Yet Available
Overall Side Crash Safety Rating
Not Yet Available
Rollover Crash Safety Rating
Not Yet Available
Front Impact Airbags
Driver And Passenger
Driver Side Impact Airbags
Seat Mounted
Knee Airbag
Passenger Side Impact Airbag
Seat Mounted
Rear Side Airbag
Seatbelt Pretensioners
Front
Anti-Lock Brakes
4-wheel Anti-lock Brakes (abs)
Forward Collision Warning
Smart City Brake Support Forward Collision Mitigation
Blind Spot Sensor
Blind Spot Monitoring Blind Spot
Lane Departure Warning
Lane Departure Warning System (ldws) Lane Departure
Autonomous Cruise Control
Pedestrian Detection
Driver Attention Alert
Daytime Running Lights
Auto High Beams
Adaptive Headlights
Parking Sensors
Security Systems
Panic Alarm
Ignition Disable
Immobilizer
Warranty
Bumper To Bumper Months Miles
36 Months / 36,000 Miles
Major Components Months
60 Months / 60,000 Miles
Included Maintenance Months
Roadside Assistance Months
36 Months / 36,000 Miles
Corrosion Perforation
60 Months / Unlimited Miles
Accessories Months
36 Months / 36,000 Miles

Used 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata for Sale

3 vehicles found within 100 miles of your area
Mazda
Club
Color: Ceramic Metallic
Price

$23,139

Mileage

38,109 mi

Map location icon

California Motors Direct - Santa Ana (35 mi)

Phone: (714) 515-6100
Mazda
Club
Color: Machine Gray Metallic
Price

$25,500

Mileage

28,496 mi

Map location icon

Van Nuys CDJR (18 mi)

Phone: (818) 237-9715
Mazda
Grand Touring
Color: Red
Price

$25,998

Mileage

35,510 mi

Map location icon

CarMax Oceanside - Offering Express Pickup and Home Delivery (82 mi)

Phone: (833) 538-2915

Other Mazda MX-5 Miata Listings

We have expanded the search to include other Mazda MX-5 Miata years that you might be interested in.

Mazda
Grand Touring
Color: Platinum Quartz Metallic
Price

$28,491

Mileage

8,957 mi

Map location icon

Glenn E. Thomas Dodge Chrysler Jeep (16 mi)

Phone: (562) 426-5111
See All Used Car Listings

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