Appearing at the end of the last century – in 1989 to be exact – the Miata enjoyed immediate and global success. If he didn’t invent anything, he reinterpreted in a very beautiful way the philosophy of the British roadster of the 1960s, such as the Lotus Elan.
Small, light, strict two-seater, rear-wheel drive, with a real “mouth”. And affordable!
Having become legendary, its reliability only reinforced its success. Dethroning the legendary MGB (524,000 units), it quickly became the most produced roadster in the world, reaching one million copies on the current generation, type “ND”.
Today it displays 1,256,000 units on the counter!
A few touch-ups for his birthday
Credit Photo – Mazda
To celebrate its 35th anniversary, it is offering a few small touch-ups and developments, such as revised optics, now LED, a new Aero Gray color as well as an optimization of safety equipment.
And continues to increase its prices, which began 10 years ago. It would be wrong to deprive himself since he is now alone in his segment!
Vintage atmosphere inside
Credit Photo – Mazda
It is always with the same pleasure that we descend aboard this small machine, whose size is that of a city car (3.91 m), without being able to prevent ourselves from remembering Marcello Mastroianni jumping over the door of his Triumph TR3A in “La Dolce Vita”!
The tiny passenger compartment requires total privacy with your passenger whose knee you brush against each time you change gear!
Despite 100% hard plastics, the finish is neat and the presentation is very pleasant, especially with the two-tone board. Although its size has increased to 8.8 inches and its features have been improved, notably with a smartphone interface, the small multimedia screen – touchscreen – remains very well integrated and does not distort a vintage atmosphere, with refined instrumentation equipped with real needle dials!
Despite this cramped environment, the driving position is good with controls that are never far away!
Note, however, that the Recaro seats – standard on our Homura high finish – offer a less perfect position than the basic upholstery, which may seem paradoxical… Of course.
At the wheel, you become one with the car
Credit Photo – Mazda
The MX-5 is experienced from the first few meters. You become one with it.
The steering, both precise and direct, obeys your slightest command, without any filter, and the gearbox control is so precise that you change gear for the simple pleasure of it. Even more so with a little double declutching, or even a heel-and-toe! You feel the road, you feel the machine, in short, you feel the machine on the road. Without ever suffering thanks to a damping system which, while it allows you to grasp the profile of the road, is always comfortable. Even if the Bilstein shock absorbers of our Homura turn out to be a tad less soft than the basic ones.
If this delicious roadster is mainly enjoyed at a leisurely pace, with your hair blowing in the wind and your elbow out the door, enjoying the scenery, the potential of its chassis allows it to have a much more invigorating pace.
The recipe is as follows: adopt a clean driving style, taking care to properly register, in the bends, a slightly lazy front end, play on the mass transfers, then accelerate frankly while keeping the engine in the revs. Making sure to maintain a speed between 4,000 rpm – the maximum torque speed (205 Nm) – and… 7,000 rpm, where this variable distribution block delivers its 184 hp, provided you choose the right gear, the spacing of the six gears not being particularly short, especially the second and third.
We can then indulge in some nice drifts of the butt. Which is not always easy to maintain as the chassis – and the very grippy 17” Bridgestone Potenza – prove effective. Even if the 2.0 litre, in Homura finish, adopts a new asymmetric limited slip differential, which intervenes differently during acceleration and deceleration.
Fortunately, the new “Track” mode makes the maneuver a little easier by delaying the intervention of the ESC anti-skid. However, we remain far from the – extreme – liveliness of the first two generations, NA and NB, which were devoid of electronic crutch.
Note that the small 1.5 liter 133 hp version, a tad less rigorous, with its softer damping and its less grippy 16” tires, proves to be both more fun and easier to drive at full speed… Anyway , we can count on braking that is as effective as it is durable, which has no trouble slowing down such a small mass; in particular with the Brembo brakes (standard on 2.0 Homura, or option).
An engine that makes itself heard
Credit Photo – Mazda
It remains to talk about the main fault of the MX-5, since its origins, a mechanical sound of the most ordinary – despite a new resonator – that only a second-fit exhaust line, more musical, will be able to correct by adding to the pleasure of its driving.
Another downside, and not the least, is the abandonment in Europe, by the end of the year, of the 2.0 liter unit, sacrificed on the altar of anti-pollution standards and the ecological penalty!
Two colors for the hood
As for the manual hood, it can be retracted with a single movement, even while driving.
And with the top down, there is no turbulence or unacceptable noise, even at high speeds. The fact remains that this hood, unlined, but equipped with a glass bezel – which now offers the choice between two colors, black or beige – does little to isolate external noise when it is in place.
Non-fundamentalists on the web can always choose the MX-5 in RF version – for Retractable Fastback – which transforms it, electrically, into a 13”, targa. Sufficient for a weekend, the 130 liters of the small trunk would benefit from being supplemented by a veronica for longer stays.
A rising price, with an ecological penalty!
Credit Photo – Mazda
On the budget side, in addition to the slight increase in prices, you will have to pay a penalty of €2,726 on the 2.0 (which even rises to €9,681 on the automatic version…), but falls to €1,172 on the 1.5.
Still as reasonable, the average consumption is barely above 7 liters per 100 km, knowing that it can easily drop to around 6 liters when driving.
Our opinion on the Mazda MX-5 (2024)
Credit Photo – Mazda
The MX-5 is among the latest cars entirely dedicated to driving pleasure. In addition to its still reasonable price and its exceptional reliability, it depreciates only slightly on the second-hand market. Notice to amateurs!
WE love
- Authentic roadster 100% fun!
- Driving license
- Lightness
- Consumption
- Design
We like less
- Cramped interior
- Mechanical approval could be improved
- Any sound
- Abandonment of the 2.0 liter
The technical sheet of our test model
Credit Photo – Mazda
Mazda MX-5 Roadster 2.0 Skyactiv-G 184
- Version tested: €43,500 (Homura)
- From: €33,000/39,500 (1.5 liter 132 hp/2.0 liter 184 hp)
- Average manufacturer consumption/test average (l/100
- km) : 6,8/7,1
- CO2/bonus-malus : 153/2 726 €
- Taxable power: 10 CV
- Country of manufacture: Japan
Proposed range
- Essence
- from 132 to 184 ch
- from 33,000 to 46,000 €
To drive
- Engine
- 4-cylinder
- 16 valves
- direct injection gasoline
- distribution variable
- stop&start
- 1,998 cm3
- Transmission
- propulsion
- 6 speed manual
- Power
- 184 hp at 7,000 rpm
- Couple
- 205 Nm at 4,000 rpm
- Weight
- Dimensions
- Length: 3.91 meters
- Width: 1.73 meters
- Height: 1.23 meters
- Wheelbase: 2.31 meters
- Turning diameter: 10.04 meters
- Trunk volume: 130 liters
- Tank: 45 liters
- Vitesse maxi (km/h) : 219 km/h
- 0-100 km/h: 6.5 seconds
- Standard tires: 205/45 R 17
- Test tires: Bridgestone Potenza S001
Recommended option
- Unique option
- Metallic paint – from €650 to €950
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To sum up
35 years after its birth, the MX-5 is still here! An authentic roadster that takes you back to the very essence of automotive pleasure. A real antidote to the ambient (automotive) gloom!
