Mazda MX-5 review - Reliability & safety
“Mazda has a long record of producing dependable and safe cars and the new Mazda MX-5 should be no different”
One of the chief attractions of the Mazda MX-5 ever since the original model launched has been its reliability. Many sports cars offer thrilling performance that has to be balanced against high running costs or questionable reliability, but the little Mazda has always been no more complex than your average family hatchback – and as a result it has an excellent record for dependability.
Mazda MX-5 reliability
Mazda has always tended to do well in our Driver Power owner satisfaction survey and the MX-5 last featured in 2020 when it was rated 26th out of 75 cars – the top ranking achieved by a sports car. However, it hasn’t appeared in the list since.
Mazda as a brand was ranked a respectable seventh out of 32 marques in the 2024 manufacturer rankings; that’s another impressive result it’s defended from the previous year and indicates that Mazda buyers are generally satisfied with their purchase. Mazda scored well for the user-friendliness of its cars’ controls, which tend to feature more physical switchgear than those of other brands, and the infotainment and smartphone integration was praised. It also did well in the safety features category and for value for money, fit and finish and quality and reliability as perceived by buyers. Its lowest scores were for its cars’ acceleration and visibility.
A middling 25% of owners reported a fault within the first 12 months across all models, but we suspect this number was lower for the MX-5.
Safety
Independent crash safety experts Euro NCAP awarded the Mazda MX-5 four stars out of a possible five when it went through their demanding tests in 2015. Adult protection was rated at 84% and for child protection the car scored 80%. Pedestrian protection, though, was an impressive 93%, thanks to a deployable bonnet. Note that a four-star score from 2015 isn’t comparable with a more recent score because Euro NCAP has since made the test tougher.
The MX-5 has all the safety equipment you’d expect, like airbags, anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control, but Mazda also offers its i-ACTIVSENSE active safety technology, as seen on the Mazda3 hatchback and Mazda6 saloon. These systems include lane-departure warning and blind-spot monitoring.
