Miata is an old High German word meaning reward.
As a name for a little two-seater roadster that embodies all the best bits of top down motoring, that’s about as good as you can get. The genius of the original was in taking the essence of the British sports car and then performing a sort of exorcism on it: “Lucas, Prince of Darkness, I cast thee out!”
At time of writing, this simple blend of Japanese reliability and lightweight fun has found more than a million fans in the world, with this new fourth generation car passing the million car landmark this spring. And, considering that a first generation MX-5 can have up to 20 owners in its lifetime, the number of people who have enjoyed a little corner-carving in one of these things is probably equivalent to the population of Canada.
The only problem is that each successive generation of Miata/MX-5 has been slightly worse than the one before. The first generation is the reliable Lotus Elan, the second generation is a bit more of a serious sportster, the third generation brought added power and weight.
And here’s the next chapter in the story, with fewer horses under the hood and greater efficiency. Has Mazda flipped the book back to the beginning, or lost the plot?
Design
First, no more Mr. Cute Miata. The scowly little face of the new MX-5 neither grins nor smiles, instead choosing to glower like a little robot dogfish. The designers did as much as they could to inject a little aggression into the car, and you can give them a little credit for not overdoing it.
While the new MX-5 looks fierce, with its curving sheetmetal and impossibly low nose, there are a few angles on the car that don’t quite work. The rear seems a bit hiked up in the air, like a cat about to spring. Also, any number of people have complained that it looks a bit too much like a Jaguar F-Type.
Too much like an F-Type? So what? Draped in Soul Red paint and fitted with the optional Sport Package’s 17-inch BBS multi-spoke wheels, the new MX-5 looks ready to hit the road.
Environment
Making the most of such a small space isn’t easy, but Mazda has done the best they can to make the MX-5 accessible to any driver. In its lowest position, the seat should just about fit people who are a bit above six feet tall, and the clever way the seat tilts as it raises should suit much shorter drivers as well.
The rest of the cockpit looks pretty standard Mazda fare, including the screen mounted atop the dashboard instead of in it. As a driver, you’ll like the way the cockpit fits like a glove; as a passenger, you’ll note that the MX-5 can give Porsche a run for the world’s worst cupholders award. The way the body colour seems to flow over the top of the front doors is a neat feature.
With $4,400 sport pack, you get very grippy Alcantara and leather Recaro seats. These are simply excellent, although it should also be pointed out that the standard MX-5 seats are just as good for most use.
Other things to like include a couple of USB chargers up front where it’s easy to plug in your phone and get the tunes flowing, and a relatively deep cargo compartment between the seat backs. The trunk, while relatively narrow, is actually big enough for a weekend getaway if you ever played Tetris in your youth. Total capacity is 130 litres, which is good enough for two smallish suitcases. Load ‘er up, flip the top down, and off you run to the mountains.
Performance
The MX-5’s new 2.0-litre engine makes 155 horsepower at 6,000 r.p.m. and 148 foot-pounds of torque at 4,600 r.p.m. These numbers might seem fine to you, but at the time they made a lot of people very angry. Less power than the outgoing model? Sacrilege!
What nonsense. The Miata (sorry, MX-5) has never been about raw power, but about the ability to row through the gears and get your blood flowing without worrying too much that you’re annihilating the speed limit. If you want to drag race, buy a Camaro SS. If you want to dance along some of British Columbia’s hidden backroads at a far more civil pace, go for the MX-5.
Let’s start with the folding top, which is so good it makes a mockery of every other convertible on the market. Pop the latch, swing your arm around, and you can have it down in less than five seconds. Get going at 50 kilometres per hour or above, and rain doesn’t come into the cabin – throw in some pretty powerful heated seats and a strong heater fan, and you should essentially never have the top up.
We hit the road up to Darcy, past Pemberton, for a little post Sea-to-Sky exploration, and found complete wonder. The MX-5’s electric steering is as good as this technology offers for feedback, and the chassis is perfectly composed. There’s more body roll than hard-core sports car fans will expect, but this just contributes to the MX-5’s composure over crazed pavement and the odd pothole; it also lets you feel the weight transfer a little better.
Everything’s just about perfect, from the fizzy four-pot running to redline, to the snick-snick six-speed gearbox, to the easy heel-toe modulation of the pedals. And, because the top comes down and the great outdoors comes in, you don’t really need to have the Laguna Seca racetrack tattooed on your forearm to enjoy it. The MX-5 is rewarding for the driver, but it provides the same rewards for any driver. Even if you’re just shuffling along in the automatic version, it’d still put a mile-wide grin on your face.
Features
The sport package’s addition brought the total for this week’s mid-grade GS tester to a little more than $40,000 before freight and taxes. That’s not cheap, and even the more basic GX starts at $31,900. No MX-5 is heavy on technology loadout, but the seven-inch touchscreen and rotary dial combination is relatively easy to use.
With its low gearing, the previous generation MX-5 often burned more fuel than you’d expect from a lightweight four-cylinder car. The new one is much better, easily hitting its official 8.9 litres/100 kilometres city and 6.5 l/100 km highway figures.
Green light
Light, balanced, revvy and peppy; easy to use folding top; sharp new styling.
Stop sign
Wonky cupholders; options can make things expensive.
The checkered flag
For its fourth generation, Mazda has created a machine that rewards just as much as the original did.
Competition
Subaru BRZ ($27,395): If convertibles aren’t your thing, or you need a little 2+2 practicality to go with your revvy four-cylinder fun, the BRZ might just be the car for you. Slightly cheaper than the MX-5, it’s also got a bit more carrying capacity, with rear seats able to fit kids and the like. The seats fold down, and the wide trunk opening is just big enough to be able to bring four new tires home.
While the BRZ has 200 h.p. to play with, don’t be fooled – it’s not actually any quicker than the MX-5. It’s also a little rougher around the edges, and takes a little longer to fall in love with. Still, if we had more elemental sports cars like this, the world would be a better place.
