MAZDA MX-5
ROADSTER REVIVAL
Half the price of a Porsche Boxster. Twice the fun. The MX-5 is one of the most desirable cars on the planet
by RICHARD BREMNER
So does it dart, like a good MX-5 should? Does it feel small, speedy, deft and slick? Does it seem robust, forgiving and fun? Let's not stall any longer: the answer is yes, yes and yes. The all-new Mazda MX-5 is as much fun as its 721,621 predecessors, an MX-5 at heart.
It is also a better car. Here's why. You cam whirl at the wheel without banging your elbow on the door. You can sit in it, if you're tall, without making a bulge in the roof. You can speed along in it, roof down, without your exquisitely-teased tresses billowing out of shape, and you can hear the stereo pumping hard and clean. You can reconfigure the roof (just about) from the driver's seat, and far faster than any whirring electric motors could.
And you'll enjoy that same delicate yet confident poise more of the time, because bumps, dips and crests upset it less. The new MX-5 goes harder and stops faster too, but at least as important as all of this is that you feel in control of this exhilarating precision instrument.
The moment you know this car is going to be right comes not miles down the road on some challenging parabola, but pretty much as soon as you clap eyes on it. It could only be an MX-5, never mind that the final shape was whittled down from 320 drawings, seven quarter-scale models and three full-size bucks. It might not be bold, but it is the very essence of a car that this among the best-loved on the road today.
If feels familiar when you sit in it, too. The dash is all-new, but the horizontal theme of the 1989 original's makes a welcome return, picked out with a strip of _ convincing _ faux lacquered wood, and the instruments, though a touch more sophisticated, look familiarly simple.
And you sit snugly, if not quite as tightly as before, with the aluminium-faced pedals placed just so, behind the slightly over-sized wheel. These days it has aluminised spokes to carry the stereo's controls, but it's at least as tempting to grasp.
This is a cabin of unintimidating simplicity, whose aluminium highlighting and textured detailing create a far richer ambience than in previous MX-5s.
And then you twist, well, not the key, but a knob where the key would have gone, because the MX-5 has one of those credit card keys now, and you feel the twin-cam four shudder briefly as it kicks into life.
You hear it too, because it's surprisingly audible. A light thrust of the palm is all that's needed to engage a gear, the lever moving with the mechanical precision that was so satisfying in the old car.
Already you feel at home, a feeling intensified when you swivel the wheel and enjoy an instant, predictable reaction. The car doesn't roll much, it spears, bends accurately, and rides with surprising civility.
The bonnet and boot are now made from aluminium, and these panels feature a ground-breaking technology, currently being patented, which enables steel to be friction-welded to aluminium (saving assembly energy) in a way that prevents electrolytic corrosion between the metals.
Aluminium is also used for the engine block, the powertrain carrier, and various suspension parts. But more striking is the fact that no less than 84 grams were chiselled from the rear view mirror. Such doggedness is a measure of how determined Mazda has been not to lose the magic of the old car.
Maintaining the MX-5's legendary ability to dive into bends was also a major priority, and a challenge intensified by the fact that the car rides on a wheelbase 65mm longer than the old car's, a stretching that would make it less willing to turn in. But the effect has been countered by moving weight towards the centre of the car. So the engine sits 135mm further back, making the MX-5 a front mid-engined car, the radiator is canted rearwards, the battery lies further forward and the front and rear overhangs are shorter. The centre of gravity is also 180mm lower, a substantial drop partly achieved by lowering the fuel tank by 120mm. All of this has reduced the Mazda's yaw inertia (or its reluctance to change direction) by two percent. That may not sound much, but it's significant. And as with the two previous cars, weight distribution is 50:50, so it remains a well-balanced little thing.
It is also much stiffer, by 47% torsionally, and 22% in bending. The improvement is so big that when the previous car's suspension was transferred unaltered to a prototype early in the project, it was almost undrivable. Despite this, the suspension layout is the same (double wishbones up front, a multi-link arrangement at the rear) because it was the tune rather than the fundamentals that were the cause; 473 different damper tunes were tried and 960 tyres worn damper tunes were tried and 960 tyres worn through before an ideal was struck.
New to the MX-5, if not Mazda, is the 2.0 MZR engine. It's the biggest yet fitted to an MX-5, and it yields a promising 158hp. Both it and the 124hp 1.8 use an alloy block in place of the iron item, and the 16 valves are driven by more durable chains. There's infinitely variable valve timing, acting on the inlet valves, and each engine is canted by 10 degrees to provide room for the plenum chamber of the variable length intake system. Peak torque arrives at 5,000rpm for the 2.0 (194Nm) and 4,500rpm for the 1.8 (172Nm). The gearbox is a five-speed and there's an optional six-speeder whose ratios are tighter packed, but with a longer sixth for relaxed cruising.
Grip, balance, fluency, poise and faithfulness are just some of the qualities that allow us to build speeds of 128-144kph, the long-travel throttle and a handy measure of engine braking allowing you to develop a real rhythm. Heavy braking is rare, partly because there's so much grip, partly because the open landscape allows you to let the car flow with the road, and partly because the engine is not insanely powerful. This is a budget sportster, after all, and harnessing every last effort from the engine is part of the appeal. There is lots more torque than the old car could muster anyway, its arrival announced by a soundtrack that can turn a bit too insistent at times though not, happily, at a cruise. The brakes are superb, with just the right feel, and the longer suspension travel allows the Mazda to ride the rough stuff with amazing calm. It is as balanced, nimble and satisfying as advertised.
So there really isn't much wrong with this car, although we've dredged up a few moans. There are still no door pockets, creating a shortage of in-cabin dumping ground. The centre air vents cannot be individually closed off, which may lead to climate control clashes with your passenger. The seat recline mechanism is of the crude stepped variety, smooth gearchanges aren't as easy to achieve as they should be and the roof is a muscle-wrencher if you're attempting a cockpit-bound closing. The exterior door handles are inspirationless pieces of non-design, unlike the originals, and the credit card-style key looks easy to lose. But that's not much, making this new MX-5 just as livable as previous editions in their day.
More than that, it is simply a brilliant sports car, a car that completely delivers on its promise. It's affordable, comfortable and convenient, leaving you free to enjoy its supreme verve. And it's great to look at too. Once again, Mazda has made one of the most desirable cars on the planet.
Source: AUTOCAR
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