If you are thinking of going out and buying a 2-seater sports car right now – then there are really only a couple of choices. The Mazda MX5 or something from Toyota that to be honest I can’t be bothered to tell you about because I have already announced the winner right here – right now.
The MX-5 has been doing the rounds for over 25 years now – and every time Mazda produced an updated model – I went out and tested the new generation just to see if it would feel better, worse or just the same.
Well I am happy to report – nothing has changed because it’s just as good as it always been – even 25 years later.
In fact – it’s so good that three people who all live within a 600 yard radius of where I live – all own one too. I’m not joking either – one guy is a Banker, one guy is a steel worker and the other guy owns his own catering company. Also, the really best news here is that not one of them is either a hairdresser or a balding guy over the age of 50.
So now we have that out of the way, we can dispense with all the innuendos about the kind of person who would own an MX-5 and get on with explaining what happened when the car I was testing arrived on my drive.
As I said earlier – a lot of people who live around me own one generation of the MX-5 or another, so as you can imagine – when they found out I had the new generation MX-5 sitting on my drive – it immediately caused quite a stir within said 600 yard radius.
To cut a long story short – I was visited quite a few times that week that I almost felt like I may have needed to move home or worse have the MX-5 taken into protective custody for all our wellbeing’s.
Power and Efficiency:
Fitted with a 1.5 litre petrol four-cylinder in-line DOHC, 16 valve engine with 131ps @ 7000rpm, 150Nm of torque and a fantastic short shift 6 speed gearbox that is pretty much used across the board by many sports car manufacturers because its basically of one of the best you can buy if you are looking at building a fast two-seater sports car.
You might also be lured into thinking that installing a1.5 litre engine in two-seater sports would be a very weak combination – but you would be wrong – because as the MX-5 only weighs 1215kg – this makes it as nimble as a field Mouse and as frisky as a French Poodle. Give it some beans and it will surprise you and then slap you in the face with a healthy 0-62 time of around 8.3sec and return an impressive 47.1mpg (combined) along with a top speed of around 127mph.
On the road:
Nimble, frisky and downright sublime – and that’s just to get you started. The handling is also just as superb thanks to the Mazda engineers getting everything right and getting all those all important components working together in perfect harmony with each other in such a way that it will leave you breathless because of how well balanced and controlled it feels on the road.
Design & Technology
The design of the MX-5 has stood the test of time really well – and even with this new generation – you can tell it has not lost any of its appeal or its DNA because you can instantly tell it’s an MX-5 even with the new lighting changes and the body boosting upgrades.
Sitting inside any two-seater sports car is tight – but for some reason the MX-5 feels bigger. Headroom and legroom is also good and I was really surprised that none of my internal organs needed to be squashed into place once I sat inside.
Additional standard equipment on the Sport Nav (above 131ps SE-L Nav) includes; 16” Gunmetal alloy wheels, rain-sensing wipers, adaptive front lighting, rear parking sensors, premium Bose sound system with 9 speakers, smart keyless entry, Lane Departure Warning System, black leather seat trim and Auto-dimming rear view mirror.
To sum up:
What can I say – the MX-5 is the perfect little two-seater that everyone should at some point in their life experience.
I would recommend right now that you go find one – and immediately drive it around some snaking bends with the roof down while listening to Aretha Franklin on repeat.
Price: £22,795 (Standard Car OTR)