General Introduction

The Mazda MX-5, more popularly known in the United States as the Mazda Miata and the Mazda Roadster in Japan, was first built in 1989 and is said to be credited with reviving the popularity of the roadster type vehicle. With three generations of this car spanning the years from 1989 to the present, the Miata has undergone numerous changes both in styling and in the mechanical aspects of the car.

Generations

Built in Hiroshima, Japan, the Mazda Miata's first generation was produced between the years 1989 to 1997. It started off with a 1.6 liter straight-four engine which was later upgraded to a 1.8 liter variation in 1994. The first batch of Miatas, which was given the sub designation of NA, is recognizable for its pop-up headlights. These cars sold approximately 400,000 units during its time, comprising half of the total number of Miatas that have been purchased to date.

A combination of the traditional and the modern, the Miata was first conceptualized in 1981 by Journalist, Bob Hall, when he was given the position of product planning head for Mazda US by the chairman of Mazda Motors, Kenichi Yamamoto. Having met Yamamoto a few years back and with the Japanese Company head remembering an earlier conversation with Hall about a roadster type vehicle, the former journalist together with Project Head Masakatsu cooked up the idea of turning the development of the new car concept into a competition between their design teams in Japan and in the United States.

Layout

The Japanese team was considering to build the vehicle using the FF layout or Front Engine, Front Wheel Drive layout with some thought also put into making the vehicle a Mid Engine, Rear Wheel drive car. Those on the other side of the world were thinking of doing the car in the FR layout or Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive layout, fashioned after the traditional roadsters of the British. April 1984, the concepts were first judged as they were presented on paper. While some of the ideas seemed impressive, the decision for the final product wasn't made until the second round of judging in August of the same year. Full-scale models made of clay were produced by competing teams and the winner was the design built by the American team. Their design, which they named Duo 101, then became the forerunner of the Mazda MX-5 line.

After a few design innovations, prototype and market testing, Mazda's lightweight sports car was finally ready for release. The Mazda MX-5 name was actually coined to mean Mazda eXperimental vehicle, with the 5 denoting the project number.

Launching

By early 1989, the Miata was launched in the Chicago Auto Show and was priced at $13,800.00. The MX-5 NA series was first sold in Japan in March of that year, followed by the United States in July and also sold in Europe the following year. With an independent double wishbone suspension, wheel-disc brakes, an aluminum hood with an all-steel body and radial tires, the MX-5 was a resounding success with initial demand for the vehicle exceeding the company's production output.

The second generation of the Mazda MX-5 was made to carry the production label NB and started seeing production in 1998. This new generation MX-5 had a more powerful engine and sleeker body styling, patterned after another Mazda vehicle, the RX-7 models. The trademark retractable headlights of the MX-5's older version were deemed unsafe as per the pedestrian safety regulations, therefore, one of the most notable exterior changes exacted by the NB series was the shift to fixed headlights. With slightly bigger dimensions, the vehicle now weighed 1000 kg compared to its previous lighter 940 kg weight.

The present batch of Mazda MX-5s, which was coded as NC, has a somewhat muscular appeal to its design with some similarities to the Mazda RX-8. The NC edition of the MX-5 saw a change in its transmission to the rear-multi link front wishbone type from the original double wishbone suspension of its predecessors. Stability and Traction control were also incorporated to the newest breed of Miatas for added drivability and appeal.