RE: Mazda MX-5: Review
Discussion
I had a good look around the car yesterday at the FoS.
The styling is certainly not an evolution of the earlier and is much the better for out. It looks good "in the metal" , compact and rather masculine. I think it will be colour sensitive. Three of the cars were the metallic red with a "ceramic' pale silver / cream car. The red shows off the cars curves.
Observations. The cockpit is simple, comfortable, well laid but cozy with 2 people. The hood looks good when erected and is very simple and easy to use. It is genuinely one hand operation from the drivers seat with a central latch / lock mechanism.
Hopefully the key fob will have a boot release button as the release sensor under the rear number place recess isn't easy to locate and probably not nice to use when the car is wet and covered in crap. The boot is not huge (as expected) but one of the cars was sporting a neat looking boot rack for additional luggage. Not a fan of the nav / audio fixed to the centre of the dash, I can see scroats walking past a thinking iPad on the dash .... lets have it ! resulting in broken glass and cut hoods. If would be better if its was retractable or removable The side windows drop and fall way from the A pillar leaving a gap which is looks odd and could be noisy on the move. The base model looks cosmetically "under wheeled" which is probably why the wheels were dark rather than silver / alloy. The 2.0 model looks much better with the 17 inch wheels
I will leave the above threads to debate if its a sports car and the merits of its performance and handling. If you want a new, modern, reliable, relatively cheap, easy to drive and own 2 seat convertible then the new MX5 will ceratinly tick all the boxes. Listening to the people looking at the cars I heard no one debating 0-60 times and the on the limits dynamics of its anticipated handling - its a fun, lifestyle car for all ages
I liked it
The styling is certainly not an evolution of the earlier and is much the better for out. It looks good "in the metal" , compact and rather masculine. I think it will be colour sensitive. Three of the cars were the metallic red with a "ceramic' pale silver / cream car. The red shows off the cars curves.
Observations. The cockpit is simple, comfortable, well laid but cozy with 2 people. The hood looks good when erected and is very simple and easy to use. It is genuinely one hand operation from the drivers seat with a central latch / lock mechanism.
Hopefully the key fob will have a boot release button as the release sensor under the rear number place recess isn't easy to locate and probably not nice to use when the car is wet and covered in crap. The boot is not huge (as expected) but one of the cars was sporting a neat looking boot rack for additional luggage. Not a fan of the nav / audio fixed to the centre of the dash, I can see scroats walking past a thinking iPad on the dash .... lets have it ! resulting in broken glass and cut hoods. If would be better if its was retractable or removable The side windows drop and fall way from the A pillar leaving a gap which is looks odd and could be noisy on the move. The base model looks cosmetically "under wheeled" which is probably why the wheels were dark rather than silver / alloy. The 2.0 model looks much better with the 17 inch wheels
I will leave the above threads to debate if its a sports car and the merits of its performance and handling. If you want a new, modern, reliable, relatively cheap, easy to drive and own 2 seat convertible then the new MX5 will ceratinly tick all the boxes. Listening to the people looking at the cars I heard no one debating 0-60 times and the on the limits dynamics of its anticipated handling - its a fun, lifestyle car for all ages
I liked it
juansolo said:
To be fair, I'm expecting to pocket quite a bit of cash in the deal 
FWIW, I've had the Cayman now 5 years and it's really, really good. The telling thing though is when I drive my brothers Mk1 (for it is the car in question), Power and engine noise aside, I prefer the MX-5 to drive on the road. I took it for a run and I was enjoying playing with it's limits. I started feeling a little guilty about that (as had I been doing that in the Cayman I'd have been rattling along at a fair old rate), looked down and I was barely doing 60mph. That was the point I realised the genius of it. It's 185 14" tyres, it's seemingly guttless engine that you have to keep right up there in the revs to make any progress at all. The controls being perfect. Just the balance of it.
You're not wrong that the Cayman is objectively a better car in every respect. But even with the little engine and little wheels on mine, to get to it's limits on the road it's license losing stuff. On the big sweeping roads in Scotland on a tour we did recently the Cayman was perfectly suited. The MX-5 would have been out of it's depth. Conversely the MX-5 would have been perfect for some of the narrow roads that the Cayman was a little too big/powerful for. The ideal situation would of course be to keep both, but I'm operating a strict two car policy (practical and toy). So if the MX-5 comes in, the Cayman will go out. I've loved the Porsche, but I fancy a change and the MX-5 is what it's likely to be.
I'll try to remind myself of this post next time I'm lusting after something bigger and more powerful...FWIW, I've had the Cayman now 5 years and it's really, really good. The telling thing though is when I drive my brothers Mk1 (for it is the car in question), Power and engine noise aside, I prefer the MX-5 to drive on the road. I took it for a run and I was enjoying playing with it's limits. I started feeling a little guilty about that (as had I been doing that in the Cayman I'd have been rattling along at a fair old rate), looked down and I was barely doing 60mph. That was the point I realised the genius of it. It's 185 14" tyres, it's seemingly guttless engine that you have to keep right up there in the revs to make any progress at all. The controls being perfect. Just the balance of it.
You're not wrong that the Cayman is objectively a better car in every respect. But even with the little engine and little wheels on mine, to get to it's limits on the road it's license losing stuff. On the big sweeping roads in Scotland on a tour we did recently the Cayman was perfectly suited. The MX-5 would have been out of it's depth. Conversely the MX-5 would have been perfect for some of the narrow roads that the Cayman was a little too big/powerful for. The ideal situation would of course be to keep both, but I'm operating a strict two car policy (practical and toy). So if the MX-5 comes in, the Cayman will go out. I've loved the Porsche, but I fancy a change and the MX-5 is what it's likely to be.
MajorMantra said:
juansolo said:
To be fair, I'm expecting to pocket quite a bit of cash in the deal
FWIW, I've had the Cayman now 5 years and it's really, really good. The telling thing though is when I drive my brothers Mk1 (for it is the car in question), Power and engine noise aside, I prefer the MX-5 to drive on the road. I took it for a run and I was enjoying playing with it's limits. I started feeling a little guilty about that (as had I been doing that in the Cayman I'd have been rattling along at a fair old rate), looked down and I was barely doing 60mph. That was the point I realised the genius of it. It's 185 14" tyres, it's seemingly guttless engine that you have to keep right up there in the revs to make any progress at all. The controls being perfect. Just the balance of it.
You're not wrong that the Cayman is objectively a better car in every respect. But even with the little engine and little wheels on mine, to get to it's limits on the road it's license losing stuff. On the big sweeping roads in Scotland on a tour we did recently the Cayman was perfectly suited. The MX-5 would have been out of it's depth. Conversely the MX-5 would have been perfect for some of the narrow roads that the Cayman was a little too big/powerful for. The ideal situation would of course be to keep both, but I'm operating a strict two car policy (practical and toy). So if the MX-5 comes in, the Cayman will go out. I've loved the Porsche, but I fancy a change and the MX-5 is what it's likely to be.
I'll try to remind myself of this post next time I'm lusting after something bigger and more powerful...FWIW, I've had the Cayman now 5 years and it's really, really good. The telling thing though is when I drive my brothers Mk1 (for it is the car in question), Power and engine noise aside, I prefer the MX-5 to drive on the road. I took it for a run and I was enjoying playing with it's limits. I started feeling a little guilty about that (as had I been doing that in the Cayman I'd have been rattling along at a fair old rate), looked down and I was barely doing 60mph. That was the point I realised the genius of it. It's 185 14" tyres, it's seemingly guttless engine that you have to keep right up there in the revs to make any progress at all. The controls being perfect. Just the balance of it.
You're not wrong that the Cayman is objectively a better car in every respect. But even with the little engine and little wheels on mine, to get to it's limits on the road it's license losing stuff. On the big sweeping roads in Scotland on a tour we did recently the Cayman was perfectly suited. The MX-5 would have been out of it's depth. Conversely the MX-5 would have been perfect for some of the narrow roads that the Cayman was a little too big/powerful for. The ideal situation would of course be to keep both, but I'm operating a strict two car policy (practical and toy). So if the MX-5 comes in, the Cayman will go out. I've loved the Porsche, but I fancy a change and the MX-5 is what it's likely to be.
juansolo said:
MajorMantra said:
juansolo said:
To be fair, I'm expecting to pocket quite a bit of cash in the deal
FWIW, I've had the Cayman now 5 years and it's really, really good. The telling thing though is when I drive my brothers Mk1 (for it is the car in question), Power and engine noise aside, I prefer the MX-5 to drive on the road. I took it for a run and I was enjoying playing with it's limits. I started feeling a little guilty about that (as had I been doing that in the Cayman I'd have been rattling along at a fair old rate), looked down and I was barely doing 60mph. That was the point I realised the genius of it. It's 185 14" tyres, it's seemingly guttless engine that you have to keep right up there in the revs to make any progress at all. The controls being perfect. Just the balance of it.
You're not wrong that the Cayman is objectively a better car in every respect. But even with the little engine and little wheels on mine, to get to it's limits on the road it's license losing stuff. On the big sweeping roads in Scotland on a tour we did recently the Cayman was perfectly suited. The MX-5 would have been out of it's depth. Conversely the MX-5 would have been perfect for some of the narrow roads that the Cayman was a little too big/powerful for. The ideal situation would of course be to keep both, but I'm operating a strict two car policy (practical and toy). So if the MX-5 comes in, the Cayman will go out. I've loved the Porsche, but I fancy a change and the MX-5 is what it's likely to be.
I'll try to remind myself of this post next time I'm lusting after something bigger and more powerful...FWIW, I've had the Cayman now 5 years and it's really, really good. The telling thing though is when I drive my brothers Mk1 (for it is the car in question), Power and engine noise aside, I prefer the MX-5 to drive on the road. I took it for a run and I was enjoying playing with it's limits. I started feeling a little guilty about that (as had I been doing that in the Cayman I'd have been rattling along at a fair old rate), looked down and I was barely doing 60mph. That was the point I realised the genius of it. It's 185 14" tyres, it's seemingly guttless engine that you have to keep right up there in the revs to make any progress at all. The controls being perfect. Just the balance of it.
You're not wrong that the Cayman is objectively a better car in every respect. But even with the little engine and little wheels on mine, to get to it's limits on the road it's license losing stuff. On the big sweeping roads in Scotland on a tour we did recently the Cayman was perfectly suited. The MX-5 would have been out of it's depth. Conversely the MX-5 would have been perfect for some of the narrow roads that the Cayman was a little too big/powerful for. The ideal situation would of course be to keep both, but I'm operating a strict two car policy (practical and toy). So if the MX-5 comes in, the Cayman will go out. I've loved the Porsche, but I fancy a change and the MX-5 is what it's likely to be.
SturdyHSV said:
Or a new Alfa spider... 
Thats coming but won't be on this platform, that will be an all new car built in Italy according to the CEO, although the platform was a joint venture it will now be used for a new Fiat 124, Fiat have been busy registering trademarks etc in the US, could be interesting to see how different it is as I believe it will be an Abarth car .... but that last bit may be wrong .. either way it does mean we'll have 3 roadsters by mid 2016 to choose from ....Looks great.
What many people forget when comparing old with new and searching aimlessly for where the 'progress' has been made is that the purpose of this car wasn't to build upon the MK1 but to emulate it.
Such is the relentless desire of the public nowadays that every new model must be faster, more powerful, have more grip, sprint to 60 a bit quicker - but cost the same. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we now have absurd Focus', Astra's and now Civics with 1990s Sports car levels of performance and power. It's obsessive and idiotic - the sweet spot used to be somewhere around 200bhp, 195-215 section rubber and a compliant ride.
The fact that the 'numbers' are so similar to the NA Mk1 MX5 is complimentary rather than derogatory.
I just wish other manufacturers had the balls to create a proper car, rather than a turbocharged, bloated caricature of their latest shopping hatchback.
What many people forget when comparing old with new and searching aimlessly for where the 'progress' has been made is that the purpose of this car wasn't to build upon the MK1 but to emulate it.
Such is the relentless desire of the public nowadays that every new model must be faster, more powerful, have more grip, sprint to 60 a bit quicker - but cost the same. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we now have absurd Focus', Astra's and now Civics with 1990s Sports car levels of performance and power. It's obsessive and idiotic - the sweet spot used to be somewhere around 200bhp, 195-215 section rubber and a compliant ride.
The fact that the 'numbers' are so similar to the NA Mk1 MX5 is complimentary rather than derogatory.
I just wish other manufacturers had the balls to create a proper car, rather than a turbocharged, bloated caricature of their latest shopping hatchback.
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