2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata: What's It Like To Live With?

What do you want to know about?

• What We Bought And Why
• Maintenance and upkeep

What We Bought And Why

• Our test vehicle: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring
• Base MSRP: $24,435
• MSRP as tested: $27,095
• What we paid: $7,300

If you had a budget of $7,500 and wanted a fun rear-wheel-drive performance car, what would you get? A question like this often elicits as many different answers as the number of people you ask. Our answer: a 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata. Now, before you begin to list the many reasons your car pick would've been better than our little roadster, allow us to explain the rationale behind it.

What Did We Get?
Finding a decent car for sale under $7,500, with used car prices currently at record highs, presents some interesting challenges. Compared to just two years ago, the asking prices we're seeing today for some jalopies on the market are flat out hysterical. Our budget meant we weren't just going to waltz into a dealership and find a jewel but instead would have to turn over a couple of proverbial rocks to uncover the few remaining bargains out there.

We eventually found our 2006 MX-5 with 125K miles on Craigslist in Reseda, California. It was listed as a private-party sale but was actually owned by a used car "dealership" that stored its inventory in a dirt lot behind a service shop. The original asking price was $7,900, but after some back and forth for a few weeks, we agreed on a sale price of $6,490 ($7,300 total after tax and licensing fees were added in). After using the Edmunds online appraisal tool, this turned out to be a pretty fair retail price from a dealer.

As you might expect, our little Mazda had its share of blemishes. They included a few cracks in the paint and dents in the fenders, a busted trunk button, and tires as hard as stones, along with the usual wear and tear from spending the last 15 years on the road. But it looked to have solid bones (at least according to our prepurchase inspection report) with no immediate red flags to give us pause. Even the soft top was in good condition and worked perfectly. Kudos to Mazda for keeping that part simple and robust.

The MX-5 is a relatively simple car in terms of vehicle configurations. Current trims available (not including the power-retractable hardtop model) are the Sport, Club and Grand Touring. In 2006, these same trims existed alongside a super-budget Club Spec that sat below the Base trim with a Touring trim the next step up. Each trim level essentially adds just a few options until you arrive at the range-topping Grand Touring, which is the trim we got.

Compared to most cars today, the Miata even in fully loaded Grand Touring trim feels relatively spartan. So what separates our Grand Touring trim from the cheapest, bare-bones Club Spec MX-5 back from 2006? The full feature list includes air conditioning, leather seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearshift, foglights, cruise control, keyless entry, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, power door locks, a six-speed manual transmission (up from a five-speed), 17-inch wheels, a cloth convertible top, a seven-speaker Bose audio system and silver interior trim.

One of the perks of getting either the Sport or Grand Touring model of our year was the available suspension package, which includes a sport-tuned suspension with Bilstein shocks and a Torsen limited-slip differential. We peeked underneath the car and saw the yellow Bilstein shocks, a telltale sign our car had this package — giddyup!

What Did We Get?
So here's where we explain why we ended up with an MX-5. We came up with a list of fun rear-wheel-drive cars we believed would be selling used for $7,500 or less, and then started researching things including common failure points, parts costs and general availability. If you plan on doing some spirited driving, especially if it's on a racetrack and you're on a budget, then it's a good idea to make sure you can afford to maintain or repair your car and that parts are available.

These parameters whittled down the list pretty quickly and left us searching for either a Nissan 350Z, a BMW 3 Series or a Mazda MX-5 Miata. The Mazda RX-8 appeared on our list briefly, but then we started to read about all the issues a rotary engine is prone to. As we mentioned, due to unusually high prices for used cars, our budget turned up limited options. Most 350Zs were either out of range or super rundown. Most of the in-budget BMW 3 Series vehicles had automatic transmissions and we really wanted one with a manual. The Miatas were running at higher prices as well, though decent examples were still within our budget.

This meant we could more likely select a Miata we liked and not have to take a leap of faith on just any example we could find. Having owned three Mazda cars myself, two of them Miatas, I know that their lightweight nature means they are much easier-wearing on parts such as brakes and tires, and parts are relatively plentiful and inexpensive.

We were searching for first- (NA) and second-generation (NB) Miatas to start because the older models are less expensive, but we came across a couple of third-generation (NC) Miatas within arm's reach of our budget. The newest ND models are obviously well out of reach. The NC Miata is the largest generation of the Miata but still a tiny car. Some people on the internet don't like the fact that the NC is bigger, but since the Edmunds editorial staff ranges in height from 5-foot-2 to 6-foot-5, a little extra room goes a long way. I also like the NC's larger and more powerful 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Will its 170 horses lead to smokey burnouts? No. But we're also pretty optimistic that it won't be billowing smoke from areas it shouldn't either.

Edmunds purchased this vehicle for the purpose of evaluation.

2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata: Maintenance and upkeep

When buying a used car, a little due diligence may save you a world of hurt, time and money. We always recommend getting a prepurchase inspection done before any transaction if it's possible. And if it's not, know where the problem areas are beforehand and check them over yourself.

If there's anything that can sully the excitement of a new-to-you car purchase, it's having to spend a chunk of money right out of the gates to fix things you didn't know were broken. Let's see if we follow our own advice and how it shakes out for us.

Maintenance Summary

Items we're keeping an eye on

• Valve cover looks damaged and poorly repaired. Might be the cause for an intermittent "lean idle" warning that keeps popping up.

• Our steering wheel is off-center. Hope it's just the alignment.

• Tires are rock hard and need to be swapped for new ones.

Recalls applicable to this vehicle

• See all recalls on the 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata