Mind if I ask a personal question? Do you ever find yourself staying up far past a sensible bedtime, aimlessly flicking through social media as your soul withers at every piece of ragebait and engagement farming? It’s no secret that social media algorithms aren’t helping us lead happy lives, but on those nights when you don’t have the energy to build something and it’s too late to practice music, almost every activity seems a bit antisocial and stagnant. Here’s one that isn’t: long after the windows stop buzzing and the traffic stops humming, instead of doomscrolling in bed, why not go for a drive? Better yet, why not go for a drive in one of the best new cars on sale, the Mazda MX-5?
Last year, Mazda gave its iconic sports car a pretty big update that only made it better. Well, it’s now 2025 and a bunch of 2024 models are still on dealer lots, so Mazda’s seen fit to offer zero percent financing on all of them. Yep, zero percent financing on a brand new sports car. That ought to make life pretty good, yeah?
Mind you, there is a small catch. Mazda’s only offering a maximum zero percent term of 36 months, which means you’re likely looking at a moderately hefty monthly payment if you don’t put a significant sum down. On the plus side, in addition to all 50 states, this offer’s also available in D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
By now you’re probably wondering how many of last year’s MX-5s are actually left to get deals on. Well, according to Autotrader, Mazda dealers across America are sitting on 312 brand new 2024 MX-5s, 178 of which feature manual transmissions. Zooming in even further with an enthusiast focus, 64 of those stick-shift cars are the Club trim level with the Bilstein dampers and the limited-slip differential, and it sure seems that a significant chunk of those 64 cars have the available Brembo brakes, Recaro seats, and BBS wheels. Sure, you might have to travel, but taking a Spirit flight is a small price to pay for zero percent financing on an MX-5.
Oh, and we’re talking about the latest and greatest here, the ND3 MX-5. It keeps all the good stuff from the ND2 including the 181-horsepower inline-four, the telescoping steering column, and some interior tweaks, and then adds the latest hotness courtesy of an asymmetric limited-slip differential with different locking characteristics under acceleration and deceleration, a new steering rack, a track mode for the stability control, and some convenience and aesthetic tweaks like a new infotainment system and updated lighting.
It’s hard to argue that driving a sports car isn’t a more active experience than sitting on the couch mindlessly watching Instagram Reels, especially when that sports car’s a convertible. The smell of the air, the surge of the engine, the snick of the gearbox. There’s self-improvement to be found in every cloverleaf, every heel-toe downshift is an opportunity to work on your skill.
A smaller trunk than in most cars means deciding what’s really important to you, and somewhat flimsy cup holders are a good excuse to pull over at a proper cafe for a proper shot of proper espresso should you need a fix. A sports car is the antidote to indolence, a reminder that at 50 mph, floating above both 5,000 rpm and the senseless shouting of people who need attention, this world we live in is alright. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re having trouble with mindfulness, ask your doctor if a 0% APR MX-5 is right for you.
Top graphic credit: Mazda
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This is good Autopian
Can attest. My 0% loan on my 2019 ND (bought in 2020) was among the best purchasing decisions I’ve made for my well-being.
While we are on the topic of lightweight, nimble cars, have you ever considered the Merkur XR4Ti? IYKYK
There’s a Club local to me for $32k. A few Sports at $29k. I don’t have the space either in my garage or my budget. Otherwise it would be sorely tempting.
Yeah, $32,000 at 0% over 36 months is $888.89/month. Tempting until you do the actual math. Big nope from me too.
These days, with rates in the 6-8% range – with good credit! -, 0% is a huge incentive. Finanicing $30,000 for 36 months, compared to 7%, 0% would be a $3350 savings in interest!
MY BRZ has 200K on in it now, and if things are going to get stupid in the car market, the time might be right to get into something.
Related: Does anyone know how much snooping (telemetry) they do in these, and how easy it is to disable?
Thankfully Mazda doesn’t sell pii to third party users. When the insurance scandal with GM and Honda broke last year, I deep dived it because my wife’s CX9 has all of the connectivity features. Its also fairly easy to opt out of it
Way to rub it in my 6’3” face that I can’t fit into a MX-5 yet again.
I feel you, brother
Wait, you’re only 6’3″ and you don’t fit? I’m 6’6″ so despite what they say, MIATA IS NEVER THE ANSWER
I have a rusty saw and an old sewing kit. Wanna fit?
Also 6’3”, and while NA/NB’s are a lost cause unless you’re resigned to never using the top (and having a struggle with the pedals), I’ve been able to drive NC and ND’s. All the better (or at least, marginally less awkward) if you install drop brackets on the driver seat.
Even better, if it’s an extra car, consider an NA, NB, or NC. Hagerty insures my 2006 as a classic car with an agreed value policy and it’s about 20% of the insurance cost of my other cars. Annual mileage is limited to whatever you tell them (typically 3000-4000 miles a year). It works great for our northern climate where I garage the car in the winter or bad weather, but it doesn’t restrict you from taking out in the winter.
My son does daily a 2016 ND, but it’s not without compromises since it’s small, only holds 2 people, and has a small trunk. But it also gets mid-30’s for fuel economy and the insurance has been fine. It has winter tires on it currently and does fine in the snow, but not great, since it’s so light and low to the ground. But he’s happy with it because it’s so fun in the summer. You can’t go wrong with any model of Miata. They are dependable cars and are a ton of fun.
Hagerty won’t give me a policy for my MR2 Spyder because I don’t have a garage. I guess that is a new requirement the last few years. Paying normal insurance on the car is my biggest running expense.
I love this car but i wish they make a coupe version of it, where i live the nice weather lasts only 2-3 months, i know there is a targa but that’s not it, a coupe with a roof, and more space in the trunk.
Toyota got Subaru to make an MX5 Coupe.
I can get a mountain bike in the back of my GT86, just. Loads of room back there.
I don’t like convertibles but I had an NA MX5 for maybe seven years. Hard top on all the time, soft top taken out for a nice big storage shelf behind the seats. It was pretty good in the snow too.
The 86 is as much fun to drive, but has more room in it.
Just sold my NB that has been in my family since 2003 and that I learned how to drive on… I already miss having one and the ND is fantastic.
Actually a pretty good argument right there. I’m up here desperately trying to hold on until the weather improves; I’m banking on that fixing the the blues. A Miata certainly wouldn’t hurt though.
Well it would hurt when I run out of money. And when my wife finds it (wherever I hide it, I’m sure she’ll find it somehow).
The ND3 RF has been haunting me for a little while now, and I keep thinking about changing my NA for one. I tell the wife its much safer than the NA and I have the green light :). But I live in Connecticut that charges annual property taxes on vehicles and high insurance rates. Plus if the last few weeks have been any indication, the discretionary spending is going to be reigned in for the time being. So for now I putt away on the 1.6, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Sorry–as cool as they are I ain’t making any significant financial commitment for a good long while.
While the interest won’t cost anything the divorce certainly would. Kidding…mostly. Anyway a Miata is a very, very difficult proposition to sell to someone who doesn’t care about cars. They really are an “if you get it, you get it” thing and most normies don’t get it…hell I’ve met plenty of more casual enthusiasts whose take on them is WHY WOULD I WANT A TINY UNDERPOWERED GIRL CAR?!
I do worship at the altar of Miata though. They’re driving nirvana and for me personally they’re a good example of meeting your heroes being a good thing. I learned how to drive stick on my aunt’s NA and if I ever drift off daydreaming about going for a drive that little BRG roadster is usually my partner. A Miata is basically a go kart for grownups. They’re glorious little machines that will teach you a lot of very important lessons about driving.
My NA was my only running, road-legal car a couple weeks ago when the temperature here was essentially stuck at 0F. Tons of callouts at work, and meanwhile my 35-year-old roadster was firing up and commuting 30 miles each way across the tundra.
The only problem is that at such low temperatires, everything from the interior plastics to the power steering pump to the tire rubber is grumpy and will let you know about it. Hoon potential low.
I wish Mazda would make a Miata XL (or maybe call it the Mazda MX-5 1/2?) that was the exact same car but 10% larger. The Miata XL/MX-5.5 would still be fun despite the added weight, but it would be much more accessible to larger individuals. As it stands right now, the Miata is completely useless for anyone larger than extra medium.
I hear you, but better yet, remove 10% of the sheet metal behind the driver to make it lighter and roomier. Who needs a trunk in a sports car?
I definitely need a trunk. But they don’t even need to remove it, just get rid of all the plastic nonsense in front of it so the seat can go back another inch or so while still reclining from “the full upright and locked position”.
Seats that weren’t designed by the Marquis de Sade would be a plus too.
As someone who owns an MR2 Spyder, there are many times when a trunk or even a more useful frunk would be really appreciated.
Road tripping in a Miata is a much less spartan experience.
That’s only true if you can fit in the seats. For me, it’s either remove something from behind the seat to add ~4″ leg room/seat reclining room or buy a used BMW Z3/Z4 or Corvette.
Height wise I’m sure you’re right. However I’m a 2xl and fit fine in an mx5.
I’d buy one. Loved my Fiata, other than I didn’t fit in the thing.
Have you tried an NC? We have an NC and an ND in the family. The NC is so much roomier. It’s still small, but it fits larger and taller people and there’s seat bracket modifications out there to gain a little more space by lowering the seat also. Personally, I like our NC better, but it’s a stick and the ND is an auto, and we also have a first year ND which only have 155 HP.
Yes, unfortunately the NC didn’t work for me. I couldn’t adjust the seat to a position where I could fit in the car with the top up, and I looked slightly over the windshield. I was only able to try one with the stock seat mount, though. I needed only a few extra inches of headroom, so one with a lowered seat might work.
You want an RX-8.
I am going to tell you something, but you’d better keep it to yourself so prices stay absurdly cheap. Z3. Be happy now
Unfortunately, my wife loves her 2021 RF GT (manual) too much to trade it (paid for) and I get to drive the Highlander because… big dog, groceries, DIY stuff. Such is life.
Oh man, I might have to do the ole’ bowling ball trick.
My wife doesn’t want to learn to drive stick but has wanted a Miata for years.
So I buy one of these in a stick as a gift, for her, in hopes she hates it and then by default, I get a Miata!
But likely because she’s strong willed, stubborn, and rightfully won’t give me the satisfaction, she’ll learn to drive it to spite me.
So either way, I win!
Would love a ND as the daily to go with the NA but I need more than 2 seats on a daily basis. My wife would be less than thrilled with being forced to take the kids everywhere due to seating capacity.
“…but taking a Spirit flight is a small price to pay for zero percent financing on an MX-5.”
Spirit? I suppose “small price” to risk getting caught in a royal rumble at the gate is relative, lol.
Either way, cruising around the USVI in a drop-top Miata would be pretty sweet.
The last Spirit flight I was on got delayed twice…once because they had to change a tire unexpectedly, and a second time because one of the passengers got so drunk at the San Juan airport Margaritaville during the first delay that he thought it would be funny to crack a few bomb jokes to the flight attendants. He was forcibly removed but didn’t go down without a fight.
Oof. A San Juan Spirit flight is next level. I was in PR once. Spent most of the time on Vieques with the roosters and the horses. It was nice enough…to go once and see the bioluminescence. Once.
I took the kayak trip to the bio bay, it was spectacular. The rain forest was also grand; the only rain forest in the US National Park System.
It’s the only tropical rainforest in the system but there are temperate rainforests in, for example, Olympic National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (As part of my day job I teach a course on the geology of the national parks. I occasionally mention trees and other such stuff.)
The Bio Bay was awesome. I had a hurt back at the time, so I paid extra to ride a 2-person kayak w/the guide paddling. I side-winded my way into a VIP tour.
It’s wild how bright those little things are, but a camera hardly pics it up. It’s one of those, “You have to see it to believe it” deals. It was easily the highlight of the trip!
I love Vieques, Medalla and Sun Bay. Would be fantastic article about the vehicles around there
Yeah, it WAS nice, but I’d rather go somewhere else new instead of going back.
I took the puddle jumper from, SJ to Vieques, which was pretty rad. I was the only passenger (both ways), and at SJ I was about an hour early for the flight. I didn’t know any better, lol.
Anyway, the pilot comes up to me like 5 minutes after I checked-in at the desk and says, “Do you wanna go now?”
“Sure. Yes, Si. Let’s do it!”, and off to the tarmac we went. That part was hilarious to me.
Fuckin’ Puerto Rico, lol.
That’s the Spirit®!
I think I would rather take Greyhound than Spirit. <eek>
That gets trickier when you go from Key West to San Juan, though, lol.
I bought a NB supercharged (NBSC license plate lol) last fall and I cant wait for Tuesday when the forecast calls for 60F and sunny. Seasonal depression leave my body type of day.
Looks like Monday or Tuesday will be Miata weather here as well.
Can’t wait to unplug the battery tender and thrash my NB as well!
I know what you mean. I drove my NC to work on Monday when it was 20 degrees, just because we had a good rain that cleaned the salt off the streets and it had been months since it had left the garage. It just puts such a smile on my face.
“If you don’t put a significant sum down” shouldn’t enter the equation at 0%, doubly so when savings accounts are still hovering around 4% and the stock market is….*checks stock market*…like I said, savings accounts!
Switch to CDs while you can still lock in those pre-Trump rates.
Exactly. At 0% interest, save that down payment as a rainy-day fund for the monthly.
Or the value/loan gap in case you total it 🙂
I’ve got to go sit in one of these so I can get over my current interest in buying one.
I’m 6’4 and I don’t think it’s going to work so I want to just move on.
Yep. Seeing that windshield frame crossmember at eye level has always dissuaded me from getting one. I like my braincase and want to keep it.
I found my 6’2″ self pretty comfy in the NC, but the others are all tighter to the point of discomfort. This seems to jive with what the Miatascenti have confirmed as well. There are some seat mods and stuff, but I’m not going to those extremes just to fit in a car when Minis and GTIs and 500s so many others have tons of driver space. Le sigh.
There’s a leftover 2024 at the dealer by my house, and checking……..damn it’s an auto.
5 new 2025 manuals though.
Edited: Wow, a Miata being a nearly $40K proposition is shocking. Maybe these are all loaded but yikes.
Yeah, I had to be That Guy but the value proposition of a new (loaded) Miata is almost as bad as a new Wrangler or 4Runner, and it’s a lot less car. But also a lot less money.
Yeah while I get Thomas’ advocacy for the Club trim I honestly think the Miata is a car you buy as barebones as you can get it. I see new manual base models with basically nothing but AC and a backup camera for under 30 near me. That’s where the buy is IMHO. They also have one of the biggest aftermarkets of any modern car and forums on forums on forums, so for a couple grand you can just add the performance bits yourself if you want to…although unless you’re tracking yours I’m not sure if the Club upgrades are going to make all that much of a difference.
I don’t see Miata’s as cars you constantly drive at 10/10ths and try to eek every bit of performance out of…for me they’re fantastic weekend cars/backroad cruisers that you drive at a moderate pace and push when appropriate. A Miata is about enjoying the journey, not getting to the destination first. Although I’ve seen some pretty incredible track builds, so if that’s really what you want to do then go for it but definitely buy a used one as your starting point.
Anyway as you know I’m the furthest thing from a manual diehard but unless you’re physically disabled there is 0 excuse to buy an automatic Miata. A smooth and rewarding manual is the centerpiece of the car. Have it as god intended.
It might be time to pull the trigger. I was considering one when I got my last car but I ended up with a Volvo station wagon. I love my Volvo but I never really stopped thinking about (and wanting) the Miata.
Dammit! The want is strong, but the timing is wrong!