As a huge fan of anything unique, I’d be better off staying away from eBay and Marktplaats. By now, I’ve installed just about every possible original option—and even more aftermarket stuff—on and in my car. Some for added comfort, others just as gadgets. Still, on a rainy evening, I decided to type “Miata” into eBay. With thousands of results, surely there had to be something fun for me, right? Unfortunately for my wallet, that turned out to be true.
This ad for a mirror immediately caught my attention. Over the past few years, I’ve seen, driven, and admired dozens, if not hundreds, of MX-5s, but I’d never seen this feature before: a mirror with automatic dimming and a display showing temperature and a compass. The listing was well-written, with clear photos and a seller who clearly knew what he was talking about—he’d removed the mirror, along with all the necessary wiring, from a scrapped Miata. After extensive research online, I found very little information about this mirror. Just one other listing on eBay for an incomplete set, and one person on a forum who had shared some information. After discovering that the mirror also supports degrees Celsius—and not just those ridiculous units Americans use—I decided to buy it. Admittedly, the few beers I’d had that evening had some influence on my decisions at the time.
After two long weeks of waiting, the day had finally arrived: my package from the US had arrived. Unfortunately, not everything was perfect: something was rattling inside the mirror. Luckily, I’m not afraid of electronics or repairs, so I immediately detached the rattling part. The circuit board responsible for the compass had come loose from its connector and was rattling. Not a disaster in itself, but unfortunately, the connector’s pins had bent in the process. After carefully bending them back into shape, I put everything back together, hoping this wouldn’t be fatal to the mirror’s functionality. Then my curiosity got the better of me—instead of waiting three days for the installation, I tested everything that very same night. Fortunately, everything was fine, and the stranger on the forum was right about the degrees Celsius.
On (yet another) rainy day, Jeroen and I got to work. The wiring was simple: run the wires down through the window frame—two for power to the fuse box, and the other two from the temperature sensor through the bulkhead to the outside. The rearview mirror can be detached from the windshield by pressing a small latch. I wasn’t very good at it, but luckily Jeroen is a bit more patient. The temperature sensor was trickier, but that was mainly due to the aftermarket grille I’d installed. Below are the manufacturer’s instructions for installing the sensor, which were made more difficult in my case by the aforementioned grille.
The “new” mirror is slightly larger than the one that originally came with the car, but it is also positioned higher on the windshield by design. This minimizes the impact on forward visibility as much as possible.
Right after installation, there was still some trouble with the temperature sensor: it displayed an “OC” error message. The connector was likely damaged during an attempt to remove the pins from it during installation. After straightening out the connector, the temperature reading returned, though the compass was still out of commission. The great thing about an OEM Mazda product is the included manual, which clearly states that driving a few laps should resolve this issue—and that’s exactly what happened. As of this writing, the mirror is working perfectly. The biggest advantage over a manually dimming mirror is the gradual dimming: it’s not just on or off, but the dimming adjusts to the ambient light. All in all, it’s a nice upgrade that makes daily driving in the MX-5 just a little more pleasant.
Edit by Jeroen: If anyone is interested in this solution, it might be good to know that the parts are still available new through CIPA in the U.S.
