2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF Grand Touring

Lightness and cornering ability - they’re what make a sports car a sports car. It’s what we feel and engage with most as drivers: nimbleness, the way a chassis twists and rolls into a corner, how g-forces pull one’s body away from the apex, hands grasping the steering wheel as tires fight for grip. These sensations stimulate the driver in us all. But a lush interior, creature comforts, silence; it’s characteristics like these that make the daily drive to work or the store enjoyable. But when you can take your “weekend car” to work and enjoy it, that’s when you know you’ve found the perfect car.

Perfection may be subjective, but four generations and two mid-generation updates later, the 2025 MX-5 may be the closest to perfection that the average individual may be able to obtain. While nearly perfect, the MX-5 is not without its minuscule faults. Again, nothing is perfect, but hey, neither am I. In that respect, the horse is very much one like the rider and I think that made the bond even stronger. As with any new relationship, you slowly begin to learn your partner as the miles, laps, or days tick by. This is common in racing - you’re never perfectly bonded with a new race car on the first session out. You slowly begin to mesh with the car, learning their characteristics, letting the chassis and the engine speak to you. A mechanical song and dance, a conversation of sensation so to speak.

Mazda USA was kind enough to let me live with a 2025 Machine Gray Metallic RF Grand Touring 6-speed (aka an ND3 RF GT) for a week and I felt a small piece of me leave when it drove away after our seven day endeavor, though I’d be lying though if I said the first day wasn’t nerve wracking. Of course, after our fair share of miles, we slowly grow close as the miles rolled on.

From the start, the ND is quite different from her elder siblings. She’s more refined, has improvements in every aspect, yet still performs in a manner that is so synonymous with all the sensations one would expect when thinking about an MX-5. Our week started with what (to some) is the monotony of commuting. I’m fortunate that most of my work commute consists of wide surface streets, engaging on-ramps, and curvy backroads through vineyards to break up the short highway sprints. As soon as we hit the first on-ramp, something was different - something was extremely unexpected and good. Enter KPC (Kinematic Posture Control), an addition made back during the 2022 model year and an asymmetric LSD that’s brand new for the 2025 model year in Club and Grand Touring models. This was my first encounter with KPC and it was simply delightful. To have a street car as engaged and communicative as one of my NA or NB race cars is something entirely out of my wheelhouse. The ND held firm and flat through all aspects of the corner. The body roll is almost non-existent yet suspension travel negated all major bumps. On turn-in, the steering is sharp, something rare for modern cars with electronic power steering. On mid-corner, the MX-5 rotates with precision; every input from the accelerator having a near instantaneous and direct reaction. On corner exit, the asymmetric LSD engages smoothly, the suspension squatting on corner exit with just enough “squish” to keep grip without utilizing excess suspension travel. This car had won me over in just one corner and I was hooked.

Pinned to the floor for corner exit, the 2.0L Skyactiv-G pulls right to redline and has a surprising bit of grunt, a factor most had seen as a flaw in all the prior MX-5 Miata generations. Torque is very linear on these Skyactiv motors and the transmission and final drive selection is seemingly optimized for both commuting and backroads without compromise in either element. And after a fun few days of commuting, the weekend was finally upon us. It’s where the history nerd and real driver would finally get to come out and play.

I’m personally fortunate enough to have collected an array of literature and original Mazda documents from the NA’s development. This collection includes not only pre-production 35mm film photos and the development and marketing plans for the NA, but also maps of both the northern and southern California drive routes, which Mazda staff had driven in week-long blitz back in May of 1989. With Mazda releasing the 35th anniversary edition in 2025, I had a strong urge to recreate their history and felt it was appropriate to go back to where it all started for our favorite little roadster. 35 years later, this RF Grand Touring would now be back in San Francisco, driving along the same route that Mazda themselves had.

Our drive would lead us from the “Test Base” start at the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, down Van Ness, and through an array of cross streets including Clay St and Union St in the Russian Hill and Nob Hill neighborhoods. Having driven through San Francisco a plethora of times prior, never before have heavily used surface streets felt so comfortable. The Grand Touring’s seats hug the body and allow for plenty of adjustment. Mazda seems to have focused a fair amount of effort on these seats, with emphasis on means to minimize fatigue and maximize comfort. In addition to ergonomics, NVH and handling of the less than ideal terrain were spectacular. Truly, whomever Mazda has brought onboard during the ND’s lifespan to work on spring rates, shock valving, and overall driving experience is truly worth their weight in gold. Even when compared to its own most recent sibling, the ND is a night and day difference from my own NC Grand Touring PRHT, which left a lot to be desired when it was still equipped with the factory Bilsteins.

After the loop of punishing San Francisco pavement, it was time to take the scenic route home. Thankfully, California is blessed with one of the most scenic coastal highways in the country, Highway 1. It’s as if the RF especially was built for exactly these kinds of drives - flowing curves, the sea breeze swirling around the cabin, and yet again, the seats holding the body comfortably in place as 50 miles gracefully ticked away en route to Pigeon Point lighthouse. With a stop to stretch our legs and take in some views, it was time to back-track a bit and make our way home. Running Highway 84 from San Gregorio to Woodside with such a nimble car like the ND is the closest you can get to spirited driving short of seat time at the track. A diverse selection of speeds and corner types, this section of road reveals every bit of mechanical goodness of the ND, again harking back to that first on-ramp experience: flat cornering, direct steering, and predictable handling dynamics all wrapped up into one fine Machine Gray Metallic metal box. 

So what’s the final verdict on this iteration of Mazda’s beloved MX-5? Simply spectacular. It’s all the good anyone has loved in prior generations but with the improvements one would expect skilled engineers to make. The current MX-5 is the perfect petite sports car that can handle the punishment of a spirited driver and all their wants and ambitions on any given weekend yet, without compromise, can still take them to work every day of the week if need be. Yes, the clutch pedal feel and feedback leaves a bit to be desired, but this seems to be a trend in modern sports cars compared to their older counterparts. Like I said at the beginning of this piece, nothing can be perfect, and the clutch pedal feel is the one and only “to be improved,” note I’d make. The gorgeous body lines make you feel in love at first sight, but the handling and powerplant really keep you hooked for the long term. So, if someone wants to magically leave a new ND3 in my garage for me to love and cherish for a very long time, I’d happily oblige to be its caretaker…

Special thanks to Mazda USA / Mazda North American Operations for supplying this MX-5 for me to review!