Remember when you didn’t have to tick a box for a manual transmission, it was just the de facto budget choice? Let’s just say that we aren’t in Kansas anymore, and haven’t been for a long time. For 2025, America’s cheapest stick-shift car isn’t just a proper sports car, it also carries a retail price that crests the $30,000 mark. I’m talking, of course, about the Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Yeah, I know, it’s hard to believe that there isn’t a single stick-shift car priced below $30,000 anymore, but look at the attrition. Volkswagen killed the three-pedal regular Jetta in 2025 (you can still get a GLI with a stick), you can’t get a Mini with a manual gearbox anymore, Nissan killed the Versa altogether, and you can’t get a manual in a regular Civic, Corolla, or Elantra anymore. The last normal non-high-performance compact car with a manual gearbox in America is the Mazda 3 Hatchback 2.5 S Premium, and that thing’s $32,685 including freight.
Does this make the Mazda MX-5 Miata Sport a bargain at $31,665 including freight? Well, yeah. Sure, it doesn’t have a rear seat or a huge trunk, so it’s not the most practical car in the world, but it is a ton of fun. Modest curb weight, engine up front, drive to the back, and a smiling piece of meat pulling a mechanical lever in the middle. Sounds like a good time, yeah?
Okay, sure, this base trim doesn’t come equipped with a limited-slip rear differential, or Bilstein dampers, or the option of more than just black or red paint, but the latest facelift means it’s not lacking in creature comforts. You get air conditioning, a larger infotainment screen (still with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, and trick new LED headlights. That’s no hardship.
Still, something feels a touch sickening about the general state of the row-your-own landscape. Flash back 20 years, and there were a number of sport compact cars you could’ve bought for less than the cost of the cheapest new Miata. The Honda Civic Si, the Saturn Ion Red Line, the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Now that whole segment is simply more expensive than the Miata. Blend that with a general lack of properly cheap brand-new stick-shift cars, and it feels like the end of the genre for most of us is nigh.
Sure, there will still be three-pedal hypercars with seven-figure price tags and marketing copy practically abusing terms like ‘analog’ and ‘engagement.’ They make fine eye candy on golf course greens and glitzy turntables, but to a nation with a median household income of $83,730 and six figures of average household debt, they’re about as unrelatable as a Hollywood nepobaby. When you have kids to put through college or payments to make to the Snap-On truck or a little bit of inopportune medical debt, there’s no dreaming about being a billionaire in a car cave full of carbounobtanium.
Instead, the stick shift used to be the way to signal both thrift and priority. Decades ago, rowing your own gears saved you money at the dealership, money at the gas pumps, and it shaved time off your zero-to-60 mph run. Sure, it had a learning curve, but it was an instrument of resolve and self-reliance. Stick with it, and you’d get back what you put in. Now though, that’s all changed.
Ever since the advent of more advanced automatic transmissions than ye olde four-speed slushboxes, two-pedal technology has been tilting the playing field. Modern automatics are almost always more efficient than their stick-shift equivalents. At the same time, clever automatic transmission programming can game fuel economy and noise tests to offer shorter gear ratios than a manual transmission without incurring a fuel economy penalty, and modern turbocharged engines generally benefit with automatics behind them. Add in worsening traffic just about everywhere, and the common manual transmission is becoming an endangered species.
Still, if only one stick-shift new vehicle can be the cheapest, it’s fitting for it to be the most successful sports car of all time. A proper rear-wheel-drive roadster with huge motorsports support, a million miles of headroom, and a certain joie de vivre. While a $30,000 compact crossover is a well-balanced meal of vegetables and starches, the MX-5 Miata is ice cream. Its value for the soul far eclipses its on-paper nutritional value. Enjoy it while you still can.
Top graphic image: Mazda
I am a “smiling piece of meat” when I drive my NA. 🙂
Wow. I was having a good day until I read this.
What’s the cheapest Civic you can get with a clutch pedal? Sport? SI?
Looks like the Civic Si, which starts at $31,495. Everything under it, is a CVT only.
Cant wait for it to get a little warmer and pull my Miata out in the PNW. Longer term I need to pull of the summer tires on it (from when I was in Texas) and get some all seasons on that don’t have a warning about using them below 44 degrees so I can enjoy it all year long.
The $30k threshold has just been surpassed.
The big takeaway for me from this article is that Mini no longer offers a stick (I might be living under a rock). I just can’t imagine getting a small Cooper without the stick, just seems wrong.
If something happened to my GR Corolla I could see me in an RF Miata pretty easily.
Ugh! Another article that makes me regret letting go of my 1986 MR2 manual with crank windows. I guess I was already old by then in 2004.
Same, red ’86. It hard to describe to my boys how low you sat/laid in it and resting your shift arm on the tunnel. So many good memories.
My pal is on his third first-gen (AW11) MR2. Red hardtop w/roll-up windows. I think he paid about $5-6K for it a year ago, and has put the better part of $5K into it since. Except for a door dent and tired paint, it’s pretty much restored to a great daily-use standard (IMO). I asked him to give me the right of first refusal if/when he ever gets tired of it.
Thomas is too young to remember when they were called “standards.”
That term was very much a US centric one. The Brits used ‘gearbox’ to denote a manual. The Italians used ‘marche’, but I may have spelled it wrong, that’s what it sounds like to my ears. The term ‘stick’ is very much slang.
From what I remember of living in England, gearbox=transmission, regardless of whether it’s auto or manual.
For $31,665, you can only get it in black with cloth seats.
Its Johnny Cash’s birthday, so approved.
It appears the Miata acronym still holds true no matter what.
I agree! But is is really: Miaata-Miata is almost always the answer. Love our Miata, even though I had to forgo the manual and get an automatic for my wife. It’s still an entertaining and engaging drive. Ours is a 2009 (NC2) PRHT with 145k.
I want the manual AND the other luxury items. I do NOT want a giant screen when I can see 360 degrees (transplanting an owl’s neck).
How far back in model years do I have to go to get a Miata without a screen?
I think 2017. Our 2016 ND does not have a screen.
My 2018 has a screen, but its much smaller. There’s also some guys out there that make a screenless conversion, but it still has space for a smartphone if you want to lock it in up on the dash.
WIRED Apple Car Play in 2026. I swear every time I think about a Miata there is some random thing that turns me off the deal.
It’s trivial to get a wireless car play adapter.
If it’s trivial (it is, I have one) then why isn’t it already included?
Car play will suck down your phone’s battery while you drive. Might as well be charging the battery while playing your tunes and charting your path; your gonna need to charge it anyway.
Yep. Half the cars with wireless pads don’t fit my phone case anyway. Might as well use a wire.
The GT has wireless
You were never going to buy one if that’s what turns you off.
Is that the sole reason, no. It’s more of a death of a thousand cuts situation. I want to like it because 99% of the people on the planet say it’s the best thing ever, but it just never clicks with me.
I actually don’t think that’s correct – the Miata has had wireless carplay at least as far back as the ND2. I have a 2023 RF and it’s wireless.
It might be a GT/Club only thing. Base Sport trim might not have it. My 2021 GT had it and so does my 2024 GT.
Wired works way better and plugging your phone in takes 2 seconds
Wires work better for everything, not just music in cars. IMO. 😉
Thank goodness for ice cream.
” Decades ago, rowing your own gears saved you money at the dealership, money at the gas pumps, and it shaved time off your zero-to-60 mph run. Sure, it had a learning curve, but it was an instrument of resolve and self-reliance. Stick with it”
I see what you did there.
How much are they really saving by keeping the lsd out of the base model? They should be tarred and feathered for that. Aside from the fact I can’t fit in one… no lsd would be a no go.
I’ve always owned base models, never missed it. Never missed anti-lock brakes either for that matter.
You must not autocross. I had and NA with the viscous LSD that quit working (which they all did eventually). It lit up the inside rear wheel out of every turn. I’d do whatever it took to get an LSD in a Miata (currently own an NB with a factory Torsen).
No ABS in my NB, but it is the one car I routinely lock up the front wheels in. ABS is absolutely not needed in my EG Civics, but it would be a worthwhile addition in the NB. No power steering in the EGs either, but the Miata has it – also probably worthwhile in the Miata – never had an issue catching a slide so the faster ratio seems to work.
I had a NB w LSD, but never flogged it hard enough to notice vs. my current NA without it. Sure, if you’re autocrossing or tracking the car I guess, but for regular enthusiastic legal use on public roads, the lack of LSD oughtn’t be a deal breaker (IMO of course). The nice thing about a Miata is that you enjoy driving it, even just puttering around town on the way to/from the grocery store.
Any rwd vehicle without an lsd iv constantly experienced tire slip in less than perfect conditions. Be it wet pavement, stones, etc. and definitely when also involivng a turn or hill at the same time. And that’s daily driving, I can’t imagine what itd be like with any type of spirited driving if I was driving a sporty car.
I have no experience with a miata because they are too small for me, but open diffs in general I have plenty of experience. Do love the one wheel peel though.
I didnt fit either last time I tried to get in one.. I am still wondering how the F Jeremy Clarkson fit in one in the TG or was it GT trip in the mideast to Bethlehem
I don’t know freight’s contribution, but I believe the GR86 still starts just under this with a standard LSD and it has a surprising amount of utility with a bigger trunk, back seat that folds flat, and actual space that can fit a human without having to sit bolt upright like in some kind of formal Victorian waiting area chair meant to keep guests a bit uncomfortable to keep them off balance.
Base GR86 with stick is $32,395 including destination.
Base Miata is $31,665 including destination. Miata is $730 cheaper.
Honest question, is that with LSD in both the Gr86 and MX-5? What is the lowest price possible with manual transmission and LSD for each? Personally if I ever took the dive into either of these an LSD would be mandatory with otherwise lowest options/weight since I would be taking it to a track many times. I have done enough with open diff cars that I would not be having it for something that would be abused around corners. I respect others not needing a LSD though.
Miata doesn’t come with LSD or usable space as standard. LSD requires the next package up, which is another $3500.
Thanks, yea that was what I was thinking, you have a 10% increase from the base price of the Miata to get an LSD. That really makes the GR86 appealing for my purposes as it looks like all trims come with the LSD standard, so base price of about 33000 compared to the Miata with LSD for about 35000
Probably not important for most buyers, but it also makes a big difference in the snow.
I mean, when the numbers are that close, get a Mustang. Seats 4, more power, 6 speed and if you’re ok with a 2024 vs a 2025, cheaper still:
https://www.cargurus.com/details/432310889?resultSetId=2b2b7db3-f18b-4239-a386-f8aac7f81140&searchUuid=f8797723-fcd8-4c8c-b90e-9c45fd85cbc8&sourceContext=USED&sponsoredType=NONE&srpVariation=DEFAULT_SEARCH&listingIndex=2&inclusionType=DEFAULT&searchZip=15212&searchDistance=50&ourls=SRP&srpc=N4IghgZgxiBcoC8CWAHOICMBWATBnIANCAM4D2ATgC4AqAnigKboAKASgJIDCAokaZSoARJBUZQqSMgDt0AQQDKXfgBMkJKmGlRmsLAAZiAWzABrRgFkyKxgBsaFJEZZgqACxJwA2iCMFjOAD0KgQAusQaYNQAmoxRcDj6OAAsxIzSKrHxsIk4AGzE6kJ2SABujBR0PNJgAEa2jCpwVBQArozE0jIKbqgodQ0AQmAkJdK6GHk4ERQoAGpRSK5SsrAgQjwAYnIAqgAyNAD6CjxybFwAEiAAvsQSAB5woLZITbDJAMw4Hxj6ABx-ACcxBQAHM4BgIq1Wq90BA-gB2QEIhHfAC00BUfzRySgfygaNqgP0jDRgKgySwECxWCgtTx-BIFCgD3QOxOQhu1yAA
2024s and newer, the Ecoboost can only be had in an automatic. Have to go GT trim or better to get the manual.
Your link to the 24 Ecoboost is an auto
Google says the Mustang is a full 1000lbs heavier. They are not comparable cars. I’d love a GR86, but I have no interest in a 2025 Mustang (and I own a 66 Mustang 2+2).
It needs a tuned 1.8L V6. It could keep its balance, possibly fit without heightening the hood, and make 220+ horsepower.
THEN change the body to shun the stupid styling elements and turn it into a streamliner with les than half the CdA value when the top is up.
You’d have something that was not just a halo car for fuel economy to compete with the Toyota Prius, but also something that performance-wise could punch well above its weight.
You all are eventually going to wear me down.
A family friend has an NA that hit a deer, I’m tempted to take it on as a fixer-upper.
I’m not saying you need to buy one, but you absolutely should try it out. If you end up in a 986 Boxster instead, no judgment.
You have to drive a Boxster a lot faster to really feel/enjoy it. My pal drove a few, ended up buying a first-gen MR2 instead. In it (or my NA) 40 MPH is capable of thrilling. 🙂
I bought an MX-5 yesterday, picking it up on sat.
Just over £2000 for an NC with 90,000 miles but no (bad) rust that I could find. I think I got a bit of a bargain considering the lack of rust?
That does sound like a good deal. Around here I could get a rusty NA or NB for $3500 before the pandemic, and I was looking pretty seriously for one with a little less rust in exchange for some higher mileage. Better shape examples could be had for $5k. The market has seemed to cool a bit from the COVID highs, but now we’re another 6 years on and the rusty ones are gone. A cheap 1.6 NA is at least $5k, and a nicer NB or high mileage NC is closer to $9-10k.
Apparently I should be looking at importing one.
I agree with all of your price estimates Bags. Luckily, I bought my second Miata (a NA) just before the pandemic for just over a couple grand. It’d be much closer to $8-10K now. I’ve put in about $2K in repairs/maintenance so far… everything works fine but (of course) it needs paint.
That’s a screaming deal, even accounting for location. Nothing native to here has much rust usually, but a NC w/less than 100K miles would easily cost two or three times that much in SoCal. I like NCs (well, I like all Miatas). Assuming the car holds no terrible surprises, that might be the best deal you ever get on a used car in your life, unless people routinely give you cars for free for some reason. 😉
Use it in good health! 🙂