40 Fun Facts About Mazda MX-5 Miata

Miata, the Mazda MX-5's name in North America, comes from an Old High German word meaning what?

Reward is the meaning a Mazda product planner found in Webster's dictionary while hunting for a name; the word is a distant cousin of the rare English word meed.

Which feature of the original Mazda MX-5 was dropped in 1998 over stricter pedestrian safety tests?

Pop-up headlights were unique to the first-generation car, which is why collectors can spot one at a glance; every MX-5 since has worn fixed lamps.

In Pixar's Cars, which twin sisters are Lightning McQueen's biggest fans, painted red to match him?

Mia and Tia are both first-generation Mazda Miatas covered in stickers of their hero's face, though they briefly switch sides when he goes missing.

What were fans invited to do to the one-millionth Mazda MX-5 as it toured several cities in 2016?

Fans got to sign it at each stop, where the first 240 people to arrive could add their names before the car moved on.

Which 1960s sports car was the benchmark for the first Mazda MX-5, right down to its door handles?

Lotus Elan cues also shaped the tail lamps and grille opening, and Mazda evaluated two of the cars closely while designing its own.

In which Japanese city, where Mazda began in 1920, has every generation of the MX-5 been built?

Hiroshima's Ujina plant has assembled every MX-5 since 1989, whatever badge the car wears: Miata in America or Roadster in Japan.

Which Italian brand sold the 124 Spider, a 2016 roadster Mazda built on the MX-5 platform?

Fiat got the car only after its parent company ruled that an Alfa Romeo version, announced in 2012, could not be built outside Italy.

The 2020 100th Anniversary Mazda MX-5 marked a century since the company began as a maker of what?

Cork was the trade of Toyo Cork Kogyo, founded in 1920; the anniversary car's white paint and red leather echoed the firm's little R360 coupe.

What did the 2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 offer that no other generation has had straight from the factory?

A turbocharger lifted the 1.8-litre engine to 178 horsepower and cut the sprint to 60 mph to 6.7 seconds, on stiffer springs and larger 17-inch wheels.

A 1991 special-edition Mazda MX-5 sold in the UK wore the colours of the car that won which race?

Le Mans 24 Hours victory in 1991 made Mazda the first Japanese manufacturer to win the race, a feat no other managed until Toyota in 2018.

Under which upmarket Mazda sub-brand was the first MX-5 sold in Japan, badged simply as a Roadster?

Eunos was one of several new marques Mazda was launching at home, in the spirit of Lexus, Acura and Infiniti, so the earliest Japanese cars carry no Mazda badge at all.

At which American city's auto show did Mazda unveil the MX-5 Miata to the world in February 1989?

Chicago saw the wraps come off on 10 February 1989, and Mazda returned to the same show 30 years later to launch an anniversary edition.

Which layout did Mazda's California team propose for the MX-5, beating in-house rivals in 1984?

Front-engine, rear-wheel drive won only at the second judging round, when full-scale clay models were shown; on paper the mid-engined rival had looked stronger.

Which Japanese phrase, meaning horse and rider as one, is the design credo behind the Mazda MX-5?

Jinba ittai was the guiding idea of programme head Toshihiko Hirai, whose team obsessed over details such as a gear lever with the shortest possible throw.

What was Bob Hall's job when he first urged Mazda's research chief to build a simple open sports car?

Motoring journalist Hall spoke fluent Japanese and made the pitch in person; he later joined Mazda USA as a product planner and got to chase the idea himself.

In which country was the first running prototype of the Mazda MX-5, codenamed V705, built in 1985?

England's International Automotive Design built it in Worthing with a fibreglass body, then it was shipped to California so Mazda could film the public's reaction.

Which award did the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 win in 2016, along with its matching design prize?

World Car of the Year went to Mazda for only the second time, after the Mazda2 in 2008, and the MX-5 took World Car Design of the Year on the same day.

How did the 2015 fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 compare in length and weight with the car it replaced?

Shorter and lighter: it lost about four inches and 100 kg, which put its weight close to that of the 1989 original at roughly 1,000 kg.

How is the standard fabric roof of the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 opened and closed?

Manually, by hand, and within a few seconds; Mazda kept the simple fabric top even as it gave this generation electric power steering.

What do the letters RF stand for on the Mazda MX-5 RF, the hard-roofed version announced in 2016?

Retractable Fastback describes the trick: the rear buttresses lift up and back so the roof panel can fold away behind the seats, then drop into place again.

Kenichi Yamamoto, the Mazda executive who backed the MX-5, was famed for developing which engine?

Wankel rotary development was Yamamoto's life's work: he led the 47 engineers, nicknamed the 47 Ronin, who turned the German design into a commercial engine.

What type of engine powered the original 1989 Mazda MX-5, making about 115 horsepower?

Inline-four power has been the rule for every generation since; the first 1.6-litre unit was designed specifically for the car, with a lightened crankshaft and flywheel.

What cut short the 2005 production run of the Mazdaspeed MX-5, leaving just 1,428 cars for the US?

A factory fire ended the run early, so the 2005 cars are far scarcer than the 4,000 built for the US the year before.

Why did Mazda offer to buy back 2001 MX-5 Miatas from their American owners?

Overstated horsepower was the problem: early US catalogues quoted the figure for Japanese-market cars, and owners who kept theirs got an apology and free servicing.

Which Mazda sports car shared its new suspension layout with the MX-5 that arrived in 2005?

RX-8 parts sharing gave the MX-5 a multilink rear end in place of the double wishbones used since 1989, and this generation also gained traction and stability control.

Spec Miata, a popular low-cost racing class in America, began in the late 1990s under which body?

SCCA, the Sports Car Club of America, began it as a regional class and took it national in 2006; the cars are lightly modified early MX-5s.

Which California circuit, then named after Mazda, hosted the first national MX-5 Cup race in 2006?

Laguna Seca carried Mazda's name for 17 years, and 22 drivers started that first race, which Chip Herr won from pole position.

What service did Mazda begin offering Japanese owners of the first-generation MX-5 in 2018?

Factory restoration can return a car to original specification at the plant that built it, and more than 600 owners applied when the scheme was announced.

Which Mazda technology name do the direct-injection engines of the fourth-generation MX-5 carry?

Skyactiv engines came in 1.5- and 2.0-litre sizes, both naturally aspirated, and a 2018 update raised the larger one's redline to 7,500 rpm.

Which designer, who joined Mazda North America in 1983, helped shape the first MX-5 and an RX-7?

Tom Matano had already worked for General Motors, Holden and BMW, and he later ran the industrial design school at San Francisco's Academy of Art University.

Mazda, maker of the MX-5, is named partly after Ahura Mazda, the chief god of which religion?

Zoroastrianism's god of wisdom and harmony gave the company its badge name, which also echoes the surname of founder Jujiro Matsuda.

The Europe-only Mazda MX-5 Niseko special edition was named after what kind of place in Japan?

A ski resort on the northern island of Hokkaido lent the name, and the main colour choices fitted the snowy theme: Icy Blue and Sunlight Silver.

How quickly did the US allocation of the 25th Anniversary Mazda MX-5 sell out in 2014?

Ten minutes was all it took; the edition came in a single colour scheme, Soul Red paint with a contrasting roof, mirrors and windscreen pillars.

Which bold colour was the only paint offered on the Mazda MX-5 30th Anniversary Edition of 2019?

Orange, officially Racing Orange, covered all 3,000 cars, and buyer feedback led Mazda to find 143 more for the US beyond the 500 first set aside.

What does Mazda call the truss that rigidly connects the MX-5's engine and differential to cut flex?

Powerplant Frame, or PPF, is a longitudinal brace that also improves balance in a car whose weight is already split almost 50:50 between its two axles.

Which Italian performance marque sold its own hotter version of the MX-5-based 124 Spider from 2016?

Abarth unveiled its version at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show alongside a rally car built on the same Japanese-made base.

Which code identifies the Mazda MX-5 sold from 2005 to 2015, the first with a folding hardtop?

NC cars could fold their two-piece hard roof in about 12 seconds without using any trunk space; the letters run from NA for the 1989 original to ND.

In some markets, the 1999 10th Anniversary Mazda MX-5 came with a gift box holding a pair of what?

Wristwatches by Seiko, one for him and one for her, had blue faces to match the car's paint and sat beside a scale model and a key ring.

The 1997 Miata STO meant Special Touring Option, but which nickname did the letters also earn?

Stuff Taken Off was the joke because the run-out special lacked the limited-slip differential, cruise control, premium stereo and hardtop of earlier editions.

Kuro, the name of a 2012 UK special-edition Mazda MX-5, is the Japanese word for what?

Black is what kuro means; the 600 cars, 200 soft-tops and 400 hardtop coupes, wore race-car-inspired graphics and a larger sports exhaust.