Should YOU Daily Drive a Miata? [Watch BEFORE You Buy One!]

Should you daily drive a Mazda MX5 Miata? In this video I give you my thoughts, after owning and daily driving a few of them over 6 years. I go over everything from storage space to comfort to safety and more, to try and give YOU a good idea of what living with a Mazda Miata as a daily driver is like. This video has a strong focus on the NA and NB Miata, but I also touch on the benefits of getting the newer NC or ND generations.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:47 storage
1:34 Reliability
2:20 Comfort
3:42 Safety and Visibility
5:09 Highway Driving
6:25 Gas Mileage
7:30 Traffic
8:05 Tech and Features
9:27 Fun

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[shirtzr]

Answer is yes. Don't need to watch the vid 😜

[ditto]

I daily drove mine for two years. 3 hours of highway time every day. Love it, really fun and I averaged 30mpg every fill up. Expect maintenance to be a thing, but it'll be small things breaking here and there. I had my clutch slave cylinder, a brake caliper, and my fuel pump all go on me during those two years. Preventative maintenance really helps.

[just_passing_through]

Can you? Should you? Yes, and yes.
I’ve been doing it for 23 years, NA then (currently) NB, and I’ve enjoyed every single minute behind the wheel.
And, both manual transmission!
Oh, and by the way, you have no blind spots because you have wing mirrors. If you do have blind spots, you don’t have your mirrors adjusted correctly.

[MiataChannel]

I've been daily driving a Miata for quite some time. I actually sold my last daily driver because I prefer to drive my Miata. Currently on Miata #5.

[masoncoffer]

Ive daily drove my 93 NA since august 2021 and its great for a first car as a 17 year old with little to no responsibilitys its wonderful. I dont need a lot of space and having a car that I feel everything around me is perfect. Ive avoided collisions due to its small size and nimbleness. I do also avoid highways especially double lanes as much as possible cause those suck in that car but. If you dont need to carry anyone or anything and just need a fun transport for you and maybe 1 person its perfect.

[fboness]

I daily drove one in LA for 6 years. Stop and go rush hour traffic with a 6 speed manual transmission was really unpleasant. After all the super bright headlights came in to vogue, it was pretty blinding at night. That being said, the thrill of driving it got me out of bed and to work on many mornings I might passed. Now its just a weekend fun car to blow off some stress with.

[boomerguy]

Exactly, "Should you/could you" drive it as a daily driver vs. "Do you want to" are the perfect ways to look at this car. I had the 2001 NB2 Miata (NB = Gen2 and 2 = second half of Gen2) which was my favorite Miata. It was a fantastic car as far as comfort, performance and reliability. It could definitely keep up with traffic in any situation. However, I felt more invisible than when I rode my motorcycle. Because of the tiny size, other cars and trucks were constantly "bullying" me on the highway and at intersections. This car gets no respect. I finally gave up and switched to a bigger VW Rabbit which is also a sports car. (Yes, the Miata is that small.)
Do I miss the Miata? Yes. Was it a daily driver for me? No. It was the car for cruising the mountain twisties.

[larrybyrne]

I would caution against putting stuff on the parcel shelf in any car. Put it this way, car stops abruptly at 50mph the object on the parcel will continue to travel at 50mph regardless of whose head is in the way. Other than that, excellent video - thanks 😊

[BulldogBadger]

I daily drive mine, it makes me smile and has enough room in the boot for shopping supplies

[RoxanneBarbelo]

I just bought a 2002 Special Edition last week and I plan on having some fun with it. As for a daily I don't mind. I'm a lady with no children and I am 5.8 tall. It's very comfortable to drive for long periods. The lack of space is a sacrifice but because the car is so enjoyable to drive it makes up for the lack of normal car expectations.
The 6th gear is great for around the northern Virginia area but once you get on I95 you realize it's not very fast but keeps up just fine. People around Virginia are rude to me like I'm in the way, but they also struggle to keep up with me when I want.
If you live in an area with high-speed drivers on average I suggest good brakes, suspension upgrades, and a tune so it accelerates as fast as other more modern cars in traffic.
No matter what the car lacks it makes up for it in just being a lot of fun to drive.

[mitchelllee-cusack]

Miata Dailyer here 🙋‍♂️. Abso-freaking-lutely love daily driving mine and have yet to run into many if any problems. Have even taken myself and my sister to a 5 day long wedding weekend with all of our clothing etc in the boot. Top down driving all the way with nothing on the parcel shelf 👌😁

[vanessamonster]

I daily drove mine for 7 years in NY. Snow, rain etc. You need to take extra caution in bad weather, but it is manageable. As for reliability, it had 23k when I bought it and today is just under 200k.

[MartinTaylor]

I've been daily driving a Miata since 1995 - first a 91 NA for 13 years and a 2004 MSM since then. I live in San Francisco and work on the edge of Silicon Valley so no winter or ice, very little rain, and lots of twisty roads make it fun in all but the worst stop and go traffic. I have learned to drive pretty defensively over the years with my lights on most of the time - other cars don't see you.

[torusuetsugu]

I'm watching this video like I haven't been driving a Miata for 4 years 😅

[larularae]

I've always really liked the aesthetic of the Miata, wonderful shape and size and the pop-up headlights are possibly my favorite thing about cars like this, completely unnecessary but cool nonetheless

[jonathanfoster]

I’ve been daily driving my 99 Miata since the beginning of 2020. I love it. I also have a 93 truck when I need more space.

[Anon-greyman]

22mpg on a turbo miata is GREAT... your build is so simple i love it. thanks for the entertainment and wisdom!

[Will-yldq]

I currently daily my 2000 nb1 Miata, it’s amazing in every aspect and for my situation where it’s usually me or my significant other the space is perfect. Being 6’5 it’s abit cramped but after making adjustments to the seats I fit fine and comfortably.

[sebuteo]

Thanks for making and posting this video. Very interesting! I’m a drummer, and my daily drivers were always estates (do you Yanks call them station-wagons?), Ford, Nissan, Volvo. I needed the space!

But I got fed up with lugging other musicians’ gear around, in addition to my drum kits. And also I just fancied having an MX5 (UK style!), having fallen in love with them when my younger sister had one.

I’ve only ever had the one MX5, a 2003 1.8 MkII, what you guys would call an NB, I believe? And I love it.

It had done 90, 000 miles when I bought it. I’ve had it maybe eight years now? And it’s now on 180, 000 miles.

Actually, the cam-belt failed on us, about 10 days ago. And as I have no money whatsoever, I had to repair it myself. Took me ages to sort it out (new cam-belt, idlers, cam cover gasket). In fact it’s only today I finally got the car running nice and sweet again.

It’s our daily drive, for my wife and I. She doesn’t drive. It has some issues: no picking up friends and family, unless I’m flying solo. And even then, just the one ‘spare’ seat!

Also, for shopping, or moving my drum kits around, or transporting whatever, it’s a challenge. That said, I’ve carried all kinds of stuff in or on the car. It can be great fun working out how to transport larger things.

But the lack of space can be a bummer!

Having just done the cambelt etc, I can say I like the hands-on nature of Miatas. I’m no grease monkey; but watching YouTubers and time/patience were rewarded today, when my dead baby was brought back to life!

Also, I’m 6’ 1”. Headroom is minimal! And sometimes I can’t see stuff above a certain height - eg traffic signals - when my roof is up or I have the hard top on.

But it’s the only car I have, and I drive it all the time, and love it. I can only really get the smallest of my drum kits in the car. But I’ve moved over from gigging and recording, etc, to teaching. So it’s not terminal!

With UK fuel prices that’d start a war in the US, fuel economy isn’t terrific. Only if I drive like a timid little old lady can I save a buck or two. But that’s not much fun, is it!

Long journeys require breaks, as it’s not the most luxurious ride. But I enjoy travelling in the MX5, esp’ with the roof down.

So, in conclusion, not always the most comfortable or practical of daily drives, perhaps. But I don’t care; she’s my DD, and I love her!

Even more so now, having nursed her back to health from death’s door!

[joeyvega]

Imo if your a smaller person it's a great daily car, I haven't had any major issues with mine yet and it's a 93 NA with about 140k miles on it rn, one thing I would swap out right away is the stock radiator bc the stock ones weren't built very well and are bound to just disintegrate at one point and you'll end up overheating pretty fast. Basic maintenance is pretty easy and most people can do it themselves watching a YouTube tutorial. One issue that I see many people having is probably going to be the noise, you hear almost everything going on inside the car and out and it's not ideal for people who want a smooth quiet ride (this can be fixed with insulation and a hard top but that can get pretty expensive). Parts are also cheap as hell bc they are absolutely everywhere.