Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe Sports 2006 Review

Road Test

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $51,455
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Automatic transmission $2200
Crash rating: (ANCAP) Not available
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km):  8.1
CO2 emissions (g/km): 191g/km
Also consider: Audi A3 convertible, Volkswagen Eos

About our ratings

It's interesting to speculate on how -- or even if -- Mazda foresaw a longterm future for the MX-5 when it was introduced in 1989.

We all know the Mazda was instantly labelled as a latter-day Lotus Elan and was undoubtedly seen by purists as a sacrilegious Japanese copy. What we, and most likely Mazda, didn't know at the time was that the basic little sportscar would gain enough traction to become a permanent member of the company's model portfolio. And that it would create its own breed of purists.

Over 20 years Mazda has needed to, and succeeded in, not disturbing the MX-5's basic essence. There's reason to applaud this: The ongoing temptations to grow and ‘sex-up' the MX-5 must be immense. When do you abandon retro and embrace post-modern? It would be too easy to make the MX-5 look like a BMW Z4 and throw in a thumping, big-power turbo.

But Mazda has stayed true to its original design briefs: Today's MX-5, even though it looks decidedly funkier than the 1989 original, is clearly recognisable for what it is. The essence remains, essentially, undiluted.

So the most recent of the updates that have been applied to the MX-5 over three generations is subtle to say the least. It might be more than a slight tweak of the colour palette, or new needles for the instrument displays, but a lot of people with only a passing interest in Mazdas are going to let it go by without a flicker.

That said, the latest MX-5 does take on a new-look front end that is part of Mazda's evolutionary design signature. There's the upswept, happy grille you'll find across the Mazda range these days, as well as reshaped headlights and more elaborate apertures surrounding the “fog” lights.

Roadster and soft-top also get subtle distinguishing variances -- grille treatment (mesh in the roadster, fin-type in soft-top) and chrome door handles and a clear lens in the rear stoplight for the roadster.

You'll need to look closer again to spot the new side sills, new rear bumper and now-protruding taillight lenses – the latter, according to Mazda, delivering aerodynamic improvements over the previous, flusher, arrangement – but it can't be denied the new car looks completely at home in the bold new world of impossibly complex compound curves, squeezed and tortured headlight shapes and crazily pronounced wedge profiles.

The MX-5 has a nodding acquaintance with all these things, but brings them all together with admirable restraint.

The changes inside are subtler again. Apart from the substitution of piano black with faux aluminium finish across the instrument panel and a few fiddles with dial graphics and centre console controls, there's little to pick the new model until you note that MX-5 specific, part-leather Recaro seats are now available.

It's surprisingly hard to say, in the case of the MX-5, whether glitter is more important than dynamics. Scratch many owners just beneath the skin and you might find it's the way the Mazda looks, rather than what it does, that is important.

That said, the MX-5 has had a number of mechanical upgrades. Nothing that makes it go a lot harder, or do things a lot better. Rather, things that turn up the sizzle, bringing a bit more aural satisfaction to the driving experience, as well as some changes aimed at lifting the on-road agility.

Mazda has tweaked the twin-cam VVT engine to produce a crisper sound via a more rigid surge tank in the intake manifold, as well as a device cutely described as the Induction Sound Enhancer. Unfortunately – and this comes back to the reasons many people buy MX-5s – the latter only goes into the six-speed manual version.

The manual-shift MX-5 develops the same maximum power at 118kW, but does it at 7000rpm, rather than 6700rpm as previously. The auto continues with the same 118kW/6700rpm figures, although both manual and six-speed auto MX-5s now have a 7500rpm red line. The unchanged torque of 188Nm still comes in at a highish 5000rpm - on both manual and auto versions.

But don't get the impression Mazda has merely raised the engine's vociferousness without looking at other things. The short-stroke, 2.0-litre four now gets a forged crank, fully floating pistons, new valve springs and reduced friction as part of a general workover that has played a part -- along with revised transmission ratios -- in improving fuel consumption averages from 8.8L/100km to 8.1 for both manual and auto versions.

Emissions have improved too, from 207g/km to 191 in the auto, and from 200g/km to 192g/km in the manual.

Suspension changes in the MX-5 mainly apply to the front end and are intended to improve driver feel, as well as ride quality. Mazda boffins lowered the front roll centre by 26mm and tuned the suspension to give more linear steering responses. Yaw and roll are said to be "more natural" to provide a better ride.

Work also went in to trying to make the MX-5 a better cruiser. Cockpit noise in the roadster version is said to be reduced by 2.1 dB.

Our test car was the Recaro version of the folding metal hardtop roadster coupe, complete with the Activematic six-speed sequential-shifting auto gearbox also seen in the RX-8.

Apart from the fact that, in base form, it costs $4900 more (it adds leather seats as well) than the soft-top and looks a little more awkward with the roof up, the roadster makes a good case for going all-metal with your next MX-5 -- it delivers the same al fresco thrills without compromise when the weather turns nasty. And, unlike other coupe-convertibles, the Mazda folds its roof into place so neatly it doesn't disturb boot space (already small;) at all.

But what it also shares with the soft-top MX-5 is a cockpit that gets increasingly noisier as speeds rise, making a mockery of the (now with a six channel equalizer) BOSE sound system.

Despite the work at lowering cockpit dB levels, the MX-5 is still a noisy little blighter on the open road. A combination of wind roar from the side windows, and the transmission of rumble from the tyres, reminds you where the MX-5 came from in the first place.

And the cockpit itself is not a place to be if you happen to be really tall. A 185cm driver will find there's not many places to go when it comes to seat adjustment and the cockpit area itself is, at best, friendly.

But the Recaro seats fitted to our test car were as supportive as you'd expect and the general touchy-feely aspects were no disappointment in a car tagged at $51,455 in manual transmission form (the auto adds $2200).

Like many sportscars the MX-5 is not overly generous with interior storage: There are no door bins, and nothing to speak of between the seats although there is a reasonable storage spot in a lidded and lockable bin between the seatbacks.

One welcome aspect of the roadster is that rear three-quarter vision is better than the convertible, thanks to the skinnier C-pillars.

The driving? Well, as you'd hope given the MX-5's pedigree, the general steering responses, road grip and engine performance remain at a standard that has become a benchmark for affordable two-seat sports cars.

As the MX-5 has always been, it's a car with adequate rather than overwhelming power, and the sort of road grip and steering response that tend to flatter the driver. The Recaro roadster's 17-inch BBS wheels also add a little more stickability.

Particularly with the six-speed auto version, the MX-5 remains a sportscar able to potter happily and smoothly around town while delivering plenty of fun out on a winding, traffic-free road.

Among the downsides are that, despite its falling well short of being a fireball on the road, the MX-5 still demands premium, minimum 95 RON fuel. This is partly compensated by the thrifty auto/manual average fuel consumption -- and the fact you're not able to pump much into the 50-litre tank anyway.

And although the powered roof lowers or erects in around 12 seconds, it must first be released manually by a flip-up lever in the centre of the windscreen, while steering wheel adjustments are limited to vertical movements only.

The MX-5 scores well on passive safety with dual front and side airbags, as well as the usual array of electronic primary safety aids including (switchable) stability control, anti-lock braking and traction control. Manual versions also get a torque-sensing limited-slip differential. No ANCAP figures are yet available for the current MX-5, although the previous version recorded four stars in 2002 testing. It could be assumed the new car is equal, or better.

The standard equipment list in the special Recaro version of the Roadster test car covered most bases: air-conditioning, cruise control, along with the seven-speaker Bose sound system complete with in-dash, six-disc CD stacker and Recaro seats.

So, does the latest MX-5 continue the proud tradition started way back in 1989? Not surprisingly, we'd have to say it does. Mazda has done a good job of holding on to the virtues that made the MX-5 what it is today, yet has managed to modernise it at the same time.

But will it still be around in another 20 years? Hmmm…

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