Mazda MX-5 Miata lovers praise their cars, above all, for one thing: great handling. For 2024, it’s working on its handling.
Sometimes, obsession brings greatness.
It’s not time for a major Miata update. But Mazda has given the MX-5 a more significant round of improvements than we normally see between model years. Most automakers redesign each car about every seven years and give them a major technological refresh at the halfway point. The Miata wasn’t due for either in 2024.
But that hasn’t stopped Mazda engineers from trying to improve on what the little roadster is best at. The 2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata starts at $30,150, including the $1,165 destination charge.
For 2024, the MX-5 gets a new steering rack. “The rack has been revised internally, resulting in reduced friction, as well as accompanying changes to the electric assist calibration through new software,” Mazda says. That results in “smoother steering action with a more defined ‘on-center’ feeling for relaxed freeway cruising, yet greater precision as the front tires are loaded up under hard cornering.”
Club and Grand Touring models also gain an asymmetrical limited-slip differential that dials the roadster’s famous handling in even tighter. Entry-level Sport models skip that update.
Visually, you’ll be able to tell a 2024 MX-5 from a 2023 model, but only on close inspection. Changes include new LED headlights and taillights and unique wheel designs.
Mazda has done nothing to update the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine, but Miata lovers know this car is not about its engine. It’s about handling, which makes it all the more remarkable that engineers are still finding ways to improve the car’s best attribute.
