Question about the MX-5 (2016, ND) Transmission Issues

Hello r/Miata,

I used to own a NA 1994 before I sold it for something more "practical" and I've regretted it for years. I went to the dealership yesterday and bought a 2016 club.

Now I've read around that the 2016 had transmission issues - and this kinda freaked me out so I ended up buying a full warranty on the car for 3 years ($2.25k).

Now, I'm not a guy to buy warranty and looking back Im not very happy with the purchase of the warranty. The only reason I bought it because I would hate the transmission to be blown then come up with $3k+.

Do you think it's worth it, especially for this model? Thanks for the help guys!

in Miataby [deleted]

74%

2.5y

mrcompositorman

NA, NC, ND (sold) Cayman S (current)

2.5y

I have one of the 2016 ND models that’s also affected by the transmission reliability issues, and I did a bunch of research on mine. Couple things:

I’ve seen extremely, extremely few examples of anyone whose transmission failed during street driving with stock power. Almost all of them were under track driving or with modded power, both of which add serious extra stress to your drivetrain.
I’ve seen even fewer cases of transmissions failing recently on 2016 models. It seems like whether your transmission was good or bad was a crapshoot, and most people that had bad ones have failed already. Your car’s been driven for 5 years, it probably has 20k+ miles. If it’s lasted that long, it’s pretty unlikely it will fail now all of a sudden. Most failures seem to happen under 20k miles and almost all of them under 30k miles.
finally, it costs about $3,000 to replace the ND transmission entirely. Were that to happen, yes, it really sucks. But personally I’d rather roll the dice on the chance that there is an extremely small possibility of a 3k repair, than spend more than 2k with very little chance of any return on that cost. Worst case scenario you’re saving less than $1,000. Best case you’re losing $2,250.

[deleted]

2.5y

Thank you for the thorough response! Yeah it has 50k on the odometer. This is swaying me to cancel the warranty. Thanks so much!!!

Maxwell_hau5_caffy

1mo

came across this thread just now after researching why my 2023 ND2 MT trans is failing street driving only with some canyons.

3k miles, stock power, brand new still under warranty and I lost my 3rd gear synchros.

Stock power will nuke these trans.

addiosdos

1.8y

Mine completely failed without warning at 24,100 miles. Never tracked it once and was completely stock. Never redlined or money shifted. It just blew up. Mazda replaced it for free.

Spooky_Fubuki

Emerald Mica

2.5y

I'm going to be brutaly honest, it probably wasn't worth it, especially if you don't really do motorsports. I'm pretty sure most of the failures were in motorsports setting albeit I do not have a nd1 so I could be full of shit.

[deleted]

2.5y

No worries i appreciate the response, i have about 3-4 weeks to decide before i get locked into the warranty. Ill wait for a little more data points - so thanks!!!!

Vito600rr

Jet Black

2.5y

65k miles on mine with last 10k supercharged. I've got the 2016 GT(V1 transmission) and which doesn't have and lsd.

I mention the LSD because most reports I've seen have been on club models. Maybe they were tracked, maybe not.

I've had no issues besides synchro acting up on cold starts trying to get into first or reverse.

I haven't dynod it but I'm on a similar fab9 tune as the one in the Engineering explained video, so somewhere in the 210hp/185tq range.

I treat the transmission kindly.

CriticalChef2294

11mo

I started having the same problem with the first gear on cold starts with my 18' RF after having the dealer change the transmission fluid. But again, shifts perfectly after some driving. Is it a common problem or should I change something?

Vito600rr

Jet Black

11mo

Normal from what ive seen

Repulsive-Link-1169

1mo

Yea I'm looking for an MX5 and I'm trying to decide between ND1 and ND2, ND2 is obv more expensive but they fixed the transmission issues, added some more power on 2.0 and added a telescopic steering column but moneeeeyyyyyyy😅, anyways I hope ur transmission lasts but if it's one of the bad ones then hopefully it goes during the warranty lol

Hung_tater

15d

I blew my manual transmission in my 2016 after 150k miles. New exhaust system that’s it :/

5050balance

2.5y

curious - what was the ratio of the cost with/without the warranty?

[deleted]

2.5y

The insurance for 3/y is $2,25k so around 10-12% of the value of the car?

5050balance

2.5y

hmmm... under the circumstances then, i would not have the added coverage, would drive rather carefully to limit chance of trouble, and would bank that $2500. then, in event of a failure, would pay for a new trans which you estimated at $3000. final result is new trans that ostensibly would not fail again under normal conditions, and would possibly have its own (limited) warranty (tho you'd have to check me on that), and would possibly be a more valuable car should you decide to sell it later ---- if you do go ahead and keep the warranty, then the upside is you have "piece of mind" for other things covered by that warranty, which can be a good thing if you are of a conservative mind ---- HTH and is not making things more confusing (LOL)...

extendedwarranty_bot

2.5y

5050balance, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty

5050balance

2.5y

hi bot - thank you for your interest but i'm good...

[deleted]

2.5y

I see where you're coming from. I think I'll go ahead and take my chances and remove the warranty. Thanks for the reply!

5050balance

2.5y

you're welcome - it's a tough call either way and i suppose everybody will have their own pros/cons based on their own needs...