Car Of The Week : Mazda MX-5

In today’s day and age, a good value for money, fun to drive, reasonable and practically made sports cars are a rarity. Finding a roadster which scores well on all the above-mentioned aspects is like finding a needle in a hay stack! Mazda seem to have just the car that fits the bill – Mazda MX-5. The MX-5 was launched in 1989, but the seeds for project development were sown in 1976. What began as a casual conversation between a journalist and the heads of R&D at Mazda, led to the creation of a brilliant Mazda roadster.

  The MX-5 has a conventional roadster body with sleek curves and is certainly a head turner while on the road. The MX-5 is based on the Jinba Ittai design language used by Mazda across all 4 generations of the MX-5. Jinba Ittai refers to ‘rider and horse as one body’ this simply means creating a compact car with great driving dynamics, at the same time also meeting global safety standards. The MX-5 is a rear-wheel drive, front engine roadster with the very crucial 50:50 front & rear weight distribution. This gives the MX-5 a very good balance and excellent driving dynamics. Mazda chose to go ahead with a wishbone or a multi-link suspension set up on all 4 wheels, hence giving the car superior grip and maximizing tire performance. The design of the first-generation MX-5 was highly inspired from the likes of the Lotus Elan. However, it has come a long way and now in its fourth generation looks stunning! The current generation Mazda MX-5 was launched in 2015, offered with 2 naturally aspirated direct injection petrol engines – 1.5 L & a 2.0 L producing 129 bhp & 158 bhp respectively. The car is offered both with a 6-speed manual as well as an automatic transmission. A manual transmission in today’s age? Vintage, isn’t it? Yes, driving the MX-5 in manual is just the thing dreams are made off! In a time when automatics are on the rise in cars across all segments, Mazda has made an awesome choice going ahead with the manual. The MX-5 is a car an auto enthusiast would cherish. With quick responsiveness, amazing ride and handling, power when you need it, and the manual transmission of course! Well the MX-5 is not as quick as the likes of the Porsche 911, but with a 0-100 km/h time of 5.8 seconds, it gets the job done impressively. The MX-5 is a 2-door coupe car which can seat only 2 occupants. In its latest avatar, the Mazda MX-5 RF comes with a retractable roof.

The MX-5 is one of the best and highest selling 2 door roadsters in history. It could well be classified as a more affordable alternative to the Porsche 911, with the MX-5 being priced at almost half! This truly is a legendary car, and one we certainly look forward to when Mazda enters India.