The Cheapest New Convertible You Can Buy Is Also One Of The Very Best

In some ways, smartphones were a mistake. While access to pretty much the entire library of humankind’s knowledge in your pocket comes with wonderful possibilities, it’s also resulted in a digital world you’re never truly able to shut off. That email will find you, and after 6:00 p.m., it feels like a threat. Presentness feels endangered and precious, to the point where people pay exorbitant sums just to get away from it all for a week. Drop-tops feel endangered and precious in a similar way. At 70 MPH with the roof down, adding shareholder value through a Bluetooth call simply doesn’t enter your mind. Voice-to-text can wait until you’re parked; for now it’s just you and the road. That presentness’s been harder and harder to find as the number of affordable convertible models has dwindled, yet the Mazda MX-5 still promises the relief you’re looking for.

Whether you live in Canada or the United States of America, this is the least expensive new convertible you can buy by a considerable margin. The entry-level trim (Sport in America, GS in Canada) costs less than some well-specced economy cars, but it’s not some garden-variety compact car that’s had a run-in with the tin snips. It might just be the best-value real, thoroughbred sports car on the planet.

[Full disclosure: Mazda Canada let me borrow this MX-5 for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it clean with a full tank of premium fuel, and reviewed it. Fuel was paid for by yours truly.]

The Basics

Engine: Two-liter twin-cam 16-valve four-cylinder engine.

Transmission: Six-speed manual.

Drive: Rear-wheel-drive.

Output: 181 horsepower at 7,000 RPM, 151 lb.-ft. at 4,000 RPM.

Fuel Economy: 26 MPG city, 34 MPG highway, 29 MPG combined (9.0 L/100km city, 7.0 L/100km highway, 8.1 L/100km combined).

Curb Weight: 2,372 pounds.

Base Price: $32,045 including freight ($38,590 in Canada).

Price As-Tested: $32,640 including freight ($39,090 in Canada).

Why Does It Exist?

God bless Bob Hall and Mark Jordan, and godspeed Tom Matano. It’s difficult to imagine a world without the Mazda MX-5, but in some ways, it’s amazing this lineage happened at all. Hall first communicated the concept in 1976, ideation really started in 1982, and it wasn’t until 1986 that the project got final approval. By the time the first Miata (or MX-5, or Roadster depending on where you live) hit the market in 1989, the convertible sports car market was utterly decimated. Apart from an ancient Alfa Romeo, there wasn’t much out there for drivers looking for playful, affordable, rear-wheel-drive, wind-in-the-hair thrills. Mazda’s decision to take a classic formula and make it actually reliable caused an instant sensation. We’re talking mark-ups, waitlists, a surge of desire that opened the floodgates for the biggest burst of automotive joy since the 1960s. Mazda’s convertible set the stage for the BMW Z3, Mercedes-Benz SLK, Porsche Boxster, Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and Toyota MR-S among countless others, and while just about everything else in the genre has either faded out or taken a break since their respective launches, the MX-5 is still here. Still sticking to fundamentals, and still offering evidence that roadsters are for lovers regardless of income.

How Does It Look?

It’s been more than a decade since we first saw the fourth-generation MX-5, and it’s still nothing short of beautiful. The classically elegant dash-to-axle ratio and short deck are here, of course, but so are compound curves that captivate, surfacing that almost looks shrink-wrapped around the mechanicals, a convertible top that stows elegantly flush, and fenders that rise and fall in sports car tradition. A facelift for 2025 may have introduced a blocky radar sensor to the grille, but it also brought in new lights with integrated DRLs that cleaned up the front end. Drape it all in Soul Red Crystal paint, and the MX-5 still punches well above its price bracket. It may be theoretically possible to design a prettier entry-level convertible sports car, but practically, it’s difficult to imagine how.

What About The Interior?

Slide behind the wheel of the cheapest new MX-5, and it’s hard not to notice exactly what Mazda’s stripped out to meet such an aggressive price point. The color-matched door trims of more expensive models have been thrown out, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a whiff of soft-touch plastics anywhere. None of that really matters though, because the fundamentals are just so right. It starts with the way you sit down, but not way down, in a soft-yet-supportive non-height-adjustable seat mounted on ramped tracks to offer a slight boost the closer you sit to the wheel. Speaking of the wheel, it’s a wonderfully thin-rimmed affair wrapped in delightfully supple smooth-grain leather. Naturally, the shifter and handbrake match, with the former falling just about a stretched hand’s width from the wheel and perfectly in-line with the console armrest. A telescoping steering column added several years ago seals the deal, and surprisingly compliant door armrests are the cherries on top. Everything you touch in the MX-5 feels ergonomic and high-quality, and everything else just melts away.

Granted, the fight between keeping compact dimensions and building in modern safety means Mazda’s compromised on in-cabin storage. The bin under the console armrest is far too small for any phone larger than an old-school Motorola Razr, the door bins are nonexistent, and you don’t even get a proper glovebox. A lockable bin between the seats is pretty much your only usable cubby, but it’s big enough for the handbook and papers and a pair of gloves. The handle above it releases the simple manual convertible top from its stowed position, and dropping the top ends with clicking it in place with a gentle push from an outstretched arm. As for trunk space, 4.6 cu. ft. doesn’t sound like much, but it’s just enough for a light weekend away or a modest Costco shop. Before you hire Marie Kondo, give Mazda’s roadster a shot. It’ll make you realize just how many objects in your life are unnecessary.

How Does It Drive?

On paper, 181 horsepower doesn’t sound like much. That’s all the two-liter inline-four in an MX-5 is capable of kicking out, a figure dwarfed even by a similar 2.5-liter engine in the marque’s mainstream economy car. Except that figure alone is only worth so much, as the MX-5 has three powerful allies: Revs, weight, and gearing. Not only does this modest engine spin to 7,500 RPM, but each horsepower only has 13.1 pounds to push around. With help from short gear ratios, the end result is zero-to-60 mph in about six seconds, plenty quick enough to be proper fun without inviting too much trouble. You’ll be shifting often, and you’ll want to, thanks to the fantabulous snick-snick action of the six-speed shifter and the power peak arriving at 7,000 RPM. There’s real reward in chasing the revs here, which fits given the etymology of ‘Miata’.

Mind you, there’s also reward in taking it easy. That sensational gearchange mechanism even makes serious short-shifting fun, and reasonable torque off-idle makes changing up-and-down the ‘box early not only natural in traffic, but satisfying at the pumps. Despite an EPA combined rating of 29 MPG (8.1 L/100km), I actually averaged 34 MPG (6.9 L/100km) in the real world without much effort and with plenty of city driving. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

So what can’t this convertible do on tarmac? It’s reasonable to think that the lack of a limited-slip differential in the base trim is a perceptible drawback, but it’s not nearly as big of a deal as you’d expect. If there’s a weak spot in the way the MX-5 drives, it’s in the steering. Like in just about every new car, it’s assisted by an electric motor, but there’s a strange mass damping effect just off-center that manifests itself as a stiffness and a slight reluctance to return to true center. Feedback through the helm is relatively light, but it’s that aforementioned trait that really feels strange in the context of the steering on the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86. Still, this fly in the ointment certainly isn’t enough to ruin the MX-5, and there are other ways it communicates.

The base suspension’s refreshingly soft, pitching and rolling around like a puppy on a polished wood floor. That might get irksome on track, but on the road, it’s both comfortable and tactile, writhing and wriggling with excitement while screaming at the top of its lungs about exactly what the car’s doing. Even with the immediacy of such a short wheelbase serving up confident rotation, you’d need appendages made from actual ham to spin the MX-5. It’s designed to play, and not beat you up or tire you out in the process. It’ll make you want to drive from the canyons of Los Angeles to the mountains of Appalachia via Banff, and there’s no higher praise than that.

Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?

Maybe, maybe not. See, this is a base model, and while it does feature air-con and electric windows and motorized mirrors, it strips out a lot of fripperies. Let’s start with what’s actually on deck: A 2025 facelift introduced Mazda’s now-outgoing infotainment system, which is simply worlds better than the unit on prior models. The screen’s richer and has smaller bezels, but isn’t overpowering. The menu structure makes excellent sense, and while Apple CarPlay and Android Auto aren’t wireless, they are here. So are automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, adaptive cruise control, and a shockingly cromulent six-speaker stereo.

However, you won’t find heated seats, or auto-dimming mirrors, or clever bendy headlights here in this pared-back convertible. There’s no automatic climate control, no Homelink, the list goes on. Other than heated seats, I didn’t find myself missing any of that, and I even got on with the satisfyingly tactile rotary controller for the infotainment. A knob for volume, three knobs for heating and air-con, and one knob to select gears with. It’s really all you need.

Three Things To Know About The Base Mazda MX-5

1. No limited-slip differential here.
2. The cheapest trim is manual-only.
3. Standard dampers make for remarkable ride comfort.

Does The Base Mazda MX-5 Fulfil Its Purpose?

Yes, yes, a million times yes. The Mazda MX-5 is joy distilled, a whiff of that crisp October air the morning of the Scholastic book fair in an age of indifferent smog. A reminder that life is meant to be fun, an expression of ecstasy that doesn’t own you. It’s reasonably priced, it has a proper warranty, and even gets surprisingly stellar fuel economy. At $32,640 as-tested ($39,090 in Canada), it’s less expensive than a Honda Civic Si, about the same price as a loaded Toyota Corolla sedan, and right in the ballpark of just about every well-specced subcompact crossover under the sun. Sure, it might not have the space or quantity of cosseting gizmos of a regular car, but that’s a worthy tradeoff for stowing the convertible top and living in the moment with an ear-to-ear grin. Just add SPF 50.

What’s The Punctum Of The Cheapest New MX-5 You Can Buy?

The most smiles-per-dollar of any new car, full-stop.

Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal