Mazda MX-5 – restoring the fundamental open-top sports car pleasure?

Quite how other car companies have failed to catch up to the idea of building a small affordable simple roadster that sells so well is an unanswered question.  This is on the backdrop of the Mazda MX-5 keeping the record of best-seller roadster.

Alone in its concept and execution as small fun roadster

Sure, some say the original MX-5 was inspired by the British roadsters of a bygone era such as the Lotus Elan, but Mazda has certainly captured the spirit of the small fun roadster driving excitement.  Why did Britain stop making their roadsters?  The MG F and later MG TF produced just before MG Rover went belly-up were the last roadsters from this British brand.  The Lotus Elise is a small sports car, but it is not a fully-open car, and therefore not a roadster.  MINI did the modern MINI Roadster, but stopped production after only 3 short years (the original fun car brand has bailed out of building their most-fun car).

Where are the other small fun roadsters now?  Global sales are so strong and growing on sedans, hatchbacks, cross-overs and SUVs that car companies say the sales of sports cars and especially 2-door 2-seaters are dwindling.  Which is sad.  Still, if there were more of them to entice to buy, surely more people would be tempted?  No, car companies focus on chasing numbers… so thank you Mazda for keeping the small fun roadster spirit alive.  This shows that the Mazda MX-5 is all alone in its concept and execution.

Charming design of purity… going back to its roots

The original Mazda MX-5 was a pure and simple roadster, and quite tiny by today’s car-size standards.  The 2nd generation grew and for lack of standing out, became quite forgettable.  The 3rd Mazda MX-5 recaptured the crisp fun spirit, and while earlier cars had a soft-top, later cars had Mazda catching on to the trend of going folding hardtop, which gave it the Roadster-Coupé model name.  Read our review on this sun-chaser here.

Now the 4th generation MX-5 is ditching the smart folding hardtop and added weight and size, by going back to its roots.  The new MX-5 has a compact folding soft-top, stowing neatly into a neat space, keeping a streamlined silhouette.

It is more reinvetion of the original MX-5 than a progression of the 3rd generation.  The all-new car is aggressively charming, with a design as simple and eye-pleasing as one from nature, which follows the principle of irreducable complexity.

The headlamps are the smallest we have seen on a car for years, allowed here by modern technology, housing ultra-compact 4-lamp LED units, while daytime running lamps are LED for visibility and visual effect.  The rear lamps are just 2 simple round lamps with arrow-like low lamps to the sides.  All very minimalist modern.

The body is in trapezoidal outlines which highlight a taut musculature.  The cabin has been moved rearward, giving even more of that proper roadster feel – the saying goes: from the driver’s seat the driver should be able to touch the rear wheel – this is the mark of a true roadster.

The alloy wheels of 17 inch are just the right size, striking a balance between handling and comfort, while giving a sports car look (these size wheels illustrate how small the car actually is).

Restoring the fundamental open-top sports car pleasure

More power does not always mean more driving fun.  With today’s society’s tendency to compare ultimate numbers, thinking more is better, the MX-5 comes to market as fresh as a strong breath mint.  It uses these classic sports car driving fun methods of motoring:  natural engine, manual, rear-wheel drive.  Its 2.0 engine uses its 118kW at 6000 rpm and just the right amount of 200Nm torque driven through a short gearshift 6-speed manual, through a short distance to the rear wheels.  The rear wheels have a limited slip diff, for that sporty sports car enthusiastic drive. 

The whole MX-5 drivetrain has been SKYACTIV-ised (Mazda’s term for their optimised engineering) with a SKYACTIV-G engine, SKYACTIV-MT manual transmission, SKYACTIV-Body, and SKYACTIV-Chassis, coming up with clever solutions like using a portion of the rear body frame as the rear suspension cross-member and joining it in a truss shape, reducing weight and adding rigidity.

Just the right amount of toys

The Mazda MX-5 is not in the longest spec sheet competition, as this would make it complex and heavier, detracting from its driving-fun purpose, and more expensive.  It has several modern creature conveniences, like keyless entry and push-button start, Bluetooth hands-free phone and audio, climate control air-conditioning, cruise control, headlamps auto on/off, rain sensor for wipers, auto-dimming interior mirror, hill launch assist, I-Stop (engine on/off when standing still), leather seats, Multi-function Commander Control, 7-inch touchscreen display (MZD Connect) and a Premium Bose 9-speaker sound system and internet radio integration.

The safety items include ABS, brake assist, airbags for driver and passenger (front and side safety bags), passenger seat with Isofix child seat latch-in, dynamic stability control, and emergency stop signal (flashing lights during very hard / emergency braking).

Priced to extend its record

For the price of a boring hatch, sedan or SUV-type, you could instead have a roadster.  R 389 800 buys you a new Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe, including all taxes.

As there are no other small roadsters left, the MX-5 is compared to the small semi-cabriolets like Citroën DS3 Cabrio and Fiat 500C / Abarth 595C, and full cabriolets like Audi A3 Cabriolet, BMW 2 Series Convertible or Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet, but these are all hatchback/coupé-based, and have 2+2 seats – not nearly the same as a roadster proper. 

For a proper roadster you have to spend much more (, looking at the roadsters like BMW Z4, Porsche Boxster, Mercedes SLK and Jaguar F-Type.  But these are not small, either.  So its back to the Mazda MX-5, as the only non-extinct one from the small affordable roadster species.

Mazda MX-5 – restoring the fundamental open-top sports car pleasure?

The MX-5 is again designed according to the Japanese Jinba Ittai philosophy of horse and rider (= car and driver) as one.

Key elements of a small roadster include being lightweight, low and nimble.  The Mazda MX-5 “took on the challenge of embodying the fundamental pleasure of driving an open-top lightweight sports car” are the well strung-together words of the enthusiastic Mazda SA MD.