Miata
Mazda · on record 2002 to 2025
The Mazda Miata is the North American name for the Mazda MX 5 roadster, so British registrations under Miata usually indicate imported cars rather than UK supplied examples. Buyers chose the Miata because its sporting role offered something more focused than the marque's ordinary family models. The Miata has a stronger enthusiast pull than an ordinary car of its age, so originality, specialist support and condition increasingly influence which examples remain.
GROWING
Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.
3
licensed vehicles
2025 census
2025 census
21.4% of the peak fleet remains licensed
4
declared SORN
total surviving
peak 14 in 2004 · +0 vehicles a year, five year trend
Population history
Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.
Licensed
SORN
Latest census observation
Inside the surviving fleet
AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.
First registrations by year
When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.
New registrations
Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.
MOT reliability
DVSA test results for this family, 2005 to 2024.
Pass rate by year
| Failure reason | Failures | Share of all tests |
|---|---|---|
| A direction indicator missing, insecure, obviously incorrectly positioned or does not face to the front, rear or side as appropriate | 8 | 7.8% |
| An obligatory lamp shows a light other than red to the rear and white to the front (or yellow if a front position lamp is incorporated in a yellow headlamp) | 6 | 5.9% |
| Amalgamation of failures for all headlamp testers | 5 | 4.9% |
| Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated | 4 | 3.9% |
| The grooves of the tread pattern are not at least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band comprising the central three-quarters of the breadth of tread, and round the entire outer circumference of the tyre | 4 | 3.9% |
| A mandatory rear fog lamp missing, insecure, obviously incorrectly positioned or does not face to the rear | 4 | 3.9% |
| A mandatory rear fog lamp inoperative or less than 50% of the light sources illuminating | 3 | 2.9% |
| A mandatory rear fog lamp tell-tale missing or inoperative | 3 | 2.9% |
Counted across every recorded test, 2005 to 2024. Advisories are excluded.
Where the Miata remains
Based on MOT test locations, 2024. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.
| Postcode area | Vehicles tested | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| IP | 1 | 100% |
How this record was calculated
LATEST CENSUS2025
POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual
HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013
MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2024
FAMILY DEFINITIONMAZDA MIATA
PROCESSED20 Sep 2026
Full methodology
Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.
Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.
MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.