It’s madeby a Japanese company but every aspect of it was painstakingly designed on the basis of evoking '60s style British sports cars.
Almost what I was about to post: grey-haired men and single young women.
If you went to France and asked for something tasteless to go with your wine, you would be handed a piece of American cheddar. If you go to Japan and ask for some eggs, mushrooms, tomato, and ham, you would get an English breakfast. It doesn’t matter who makes it, what matters is who came up with the idea. And with a small engine in the front, power at the back, and leather and weather in the middle, how can it be anything other than a manly British roadster?
Never even heard the stereotype. I guess I don’t hang around with enough people who think cars connect directly to their genitals or something? Public transportation will do that to you.
So for all of time, any small, front wheel drive convertible will be a British roadster, no matter where it’s made? No matter how reliable the electrical system is?
I think not.
Also, having just spent 4 years in Japan, good luck getting anything resembling an English breakfast.
Dude. Only a Volkswagen Cabriolet is more girly than a Miata.
Oddly enough, a Triumph or one of the cars it’s based on, not so much.
I think it’s because when you walked down sorority row in the 1990s, every other car was a Miata.
My boyfriend used to drive one.
Enough said.
Cheddar cheese is cheddar cheese no matter the distance between it place of manufacture and Somersetshire.
Specifically, the Lotus Elan.
Rear wheel drive.
In the last ten years, I went from a Miata, to an S2000, to a Lotus Elise. On the street, IMO, no contest, the Miata was the most fun.
Huh. Did not know that. That makes them more fun, now, doesn’t it?
It’s a chick car if it’s your every day car. I have several friends who race them on the weekends, one who even races Spec Miata. They make great budget race cars. I’ve also seen engine swaps with a 5.0, LS1, and several other V8s. When I finally get my small roadster, it’s going to be a replica of a Shelby Cobra.
I think it depends on the year. The early ones - late 90’s models had a definite chick vibe. They did a revamp around 2000/1 that added some power and other options to give it more cross-appeal. That generation and later, I haven’t heard the comments that I did on the originals.
I always liked the hunter green version with wood paneling, circa 2001. Nothing girly on that one.
Performance/handling aside, I think that Miatas have always lacked the more aggressive styling cues that other contemporary roadsters/compact sports cars have had.
And when Mazda’s designers finally add in some of the more assertive lines in the last refresh - the rakish headlights and fender bulges were cribbed straight off the RX-8, for example - they go and give it a big ol’ idiot grin. It looks like a friggin’ anime character or something.
So, yeah, chick car.
Not a chick car. It’s got that reputation, but I can’t work out why; ‘chick car’ conjures up images of something that values appearance over function, and insufficient power, and that’s just not an MX-5*. True, it’s not high-powered - just under 160bhp - but the MX-5’s strength isn’t going fast in a straight line; it’s all about agility and fun. I’ve only owned mine (a 2009 hardtop) for a few months, but it <em>rocks</em>. From a standing start, I can accelerate hard enough to give you a headache from how hard your head hits the headrest, and I can go through the dogleg bend in our road at home at around 130kph without the slightest hint of roll.
Like someone upthread said, most fun you can have under the speed limit 
*They’re MX-5s in Australia.
Because the Triumph is tainted by Lucas, the Prince of Darkness. Nothing is more manly than undependability.
I have heard that it is - or that it is an effeminate car (or a car that effeminate men drive).
That isn’t what would prevent me from buying one. What would prevent me from buying one is that if I wanted a sports car, I would probably go “all in” and get something from Porche or Mercedes.
Bwha? I’ve never seen a chick drive one: lots of Latin American dudes. To me it’s a car that says “when I win the lottery, I’ll upgrade to a real sports car! For now this is what I could afford… :(”
I think the fact that they use the slightly more butch-sounding name “MX-5” in territories including Australia and Europe suggests that it is marketed as less of a chickmobile. That said, they still are mostly owned by women here (UK). But if you want a true girl’s car, it’s the Mini - they’re pretty common here but I can hardly recall seeing a man driving one.
I have never, ever heard this stereotype.