Mazda MX-5 Miata Coloring Page: Free Printable PDF

Mazda MX-5 Miata: History & Fun Facts

A 1989 Debut Built Around Roadster Joy

Mazda unveiled the MX-5 Miata at the Chicago Auto Show in February 1989 and put it on sale later that year as a 1990 model, building the car around one simple goal: a light, affordable, two-seat convertible that brought back the open-top fun of small British roadsters from the 1960s without their notorious unreliability. Engineers studied cars like the Lotus Elan closely, borrowing the feel of a small, tossable sports car while wrapping it in Japanese build quality that could survive daily commuting rather than sitting in a garage waiting for the next repair.

Jinba Ittai: Horse and Rider as One

Mazda engineers designed the Miata around a Japanese phrase, jinba ittai, meaning horse and rider as one, aiming for a driver's seat placed near the car's center of gravity so the low, rounded body traced in this outline would respond to every input the way a trained horse responds to its rider. That same philosophy still guides every new Miata generation today, with engineers famously willing to trim ounces from a door handle or a stereo speaker if it helps the car feel more connected to the person behind the wheel.

Four Generations From Pop-Up Lights to Today

The original NA generation ran from 1989 to 1997 with pop-up headlights, followed by the NB from 1998 to 2005 with fixed round lenses, the larger NC from 2005 to 2015, and the current ND generation since 2015, which cut weight back down closer to the first car after two generations of gradual growth. Each generation kept the same basic recipe of a front engine, rear-wheel drive, and a manual soft top a driver can raise or lower from the driver's seat in only a few seconds without ever leaving the car.

A Guinness World Record for Best-Selling Roadster

Guinness World Records has recognized the Miata as the best-selling two-seat convertible sports car in history, a title earned through more than three decades of steady production while many rival small roadsters from the same era, including several European and Japanese competitors, were discontinued and never replaced. Enthusiast clubs around the world still gather for Miata-only meets and track days, a community built almost entirely around one small, affordable car that never grew into something heavier or more expensive.

Named for Reward, Sold as MX-5 Worldwide

Mazda sells the car as the MX-5 everywhere outside North America, where the Miata name comes from an Old High German word close to reward or gift, chosen by Mazda's American team to give the roadster a friendlier, more approachable badge than a simple alphanumeric code. The MX-5 badge itself stands for Mazda Experimental, tracing back to the internal project codes Mazda used while the roadster was still a secret prototype years before its public unveiling.

Built Light on Purpose, Not by Accident

Engineers tracked the weight of every single part during development, a practice they nicknamed gram strategy, and the result was a car light enough that its modest four-cylinder engine still felt lively, a philosophy that keeps the current ND among the lightest new sports cars sold anywhere today. That relentless focus on weight is also why the Miata has become a favorite base car for amateur racers, who prize how little extra work is needed to turn a stock roadster into a capable weekend track car.