Thirty-five years ago, Mazda either rediscovered fire or created the next best thing since sliced bread, depending on which metaphor you prefer, with the MX-5 Miata. It tugs at your heartstrings and toys with your emotions like no other car can, and that flame still burns strong in this 2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata 35th Anniversary Edition.
The original Miata, pop-up headlights et al, fused the spirit of sixties European roadsters with the sensibility and reliability of Japanese cars. It didn’t take long for “the answer is always Miata” to stick; since 1990 and across four generations, you get a sense of playfulness and connectivity almost nobody else can touch. It’s the gold standard of affordable sports cars; the mic drop; the ultimate embodiment of the Japanese jinba ittai philosophy — “horse and rider as one,” as it were. Suffice it to say, when I drive a Boxster but can’t stop thinking about a Miata all week, calling this a winning formula is an understatement.
These damn things are also really good at toying with your emotions. It’s expected of a droptop, like a Mustang or an M4, to turn a frown upside down — but after the year I’ve had, I’ve learned those dopamine hits end once you park and put the top back up. Miatas, on the other hand, keep the buzz going. They all have an inexplicable way of pulling out whatever anger, anxiety, and any other maladies eating away at you, then crushing them under their skinny-ass tires. But there’s something about this exact car that does it better than the rest.
Maybe it’s the paint. Last year, the fourth-gen Miata — officially called the MX-5, colloquially called the ND — received a subtle but comprehensive update we’ve covered in great detail here and here. This limited-production 35th Anniversary Edition model builds on that with a gorgeous colourway hearkening back to the 1995 M-Edition cars. Each one is drenched in Mazda’s new Artisan Red Metallic, a velvety shade of wine red that pops as much as Soul Red in the sun, but looks far classier in all other light. It’s accented by 17-inch wheels wrapped in the same factory Potenzas as NDs with the sport pack, and the tan soft top folds away in one fell swoop to reveal a matching Nappa leather interior.
Maybe it’s the way it envelops you. Heading into its 10th year on the market, the ND’s driving position is perfect, as long as you aren’t too tall. You sit low, the pedals are perfectly spaced for rev-matching and heel-toeing, and the slim steering wheel and ball shifter fall naturally into your hands. Who the hell cares if the cupholders are dumb, or the cubbies aren’t big enough, or it doesn’t have a proper glove box? As much of a tired marketing trope as this sounds, it really does feel like you become one with the car, as jinba-ittai teaches.
Elsewhere inside, the velvety Artisan Red paint spills onto the upper portions of the door cards, topping a swathe of cushy, stitched tan trim that extends across the dashboard and through the opposite side. The leather seats are supple, supportive, and have a classy crest embossed in the headrest to remind you that you’re driving something neat. Look closely at the air vents and the inner portions are colour-keyed to the paint, too! Mazda’s upgrade last year to an 8.8-inch widescreen for the infotainment was a good call; the graphics look more crisp, and it’s low-profile enough to not impede your line of sight out the windshield.
Maybe it’s how the right ingredients come together. By now, we all know soft-top NDs are light, weighing in around 2,300 pounds, about as much as a later-yearNA. We know the ND’s 181-horsepower, 2.0-litre turbo-four loves to rev and feels genuinely quick in such a light car. And we know three pedals are the way to go; the six-speed manual is the gold standard for its crisp shift action and easy-to-read clutch. It all flows incredibly well, dancing with you through its chatty steering wheel and perfectly placed pedals as you hit the apex of the on-ramp, then zip through traffic all the way home. In those moments, you forget about the B-S and remember why you like cars in the first place. For the last 35 years, no other car except the Miata could do that without breaking the bank.
I haven’t felt this way in a very long time, but the Miata always has been good at toying with your emotions. It’s really no surprise this 2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata 35th Anniversary Edition has my stomach in knots.
