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MX-5 = Bullshit minimized, driving fun maximized
The expectations of the roadster are clear and they are high! Not much less than an increase in pure driving pleasure. The predecessor was a stunner in this discipline. The new model must be in no way inferior to that. Mazda invited to Barcelona for the first test drive. A good prerequisite for experiencing the Roadster the way you should experience it: Open! Under the Spanish sun.
First test drive in the new Mazda MX-5
The sun burns your skull away. It is summer and in Spain's cultural metropolis Barcelona probably no one would think to dowel with an open convertible through the blazing heat during the siesta time. Unless you're a journalist from Germany. Let's go to the first exit in the new MX-5, a million-dollar success for the Japanese. The Roadster has been available in Germany since 1990. The first models are already pure classic cars and, as Mazda knows, for the most part still on the road. And MX-5 drivers are loyal customers. They like to drive their own roadster for a whole decade. The idea of changing must therefore be animated. And for that, the new one opens an optical firework. Soul Red has to be the color, then the eroticism of the little roadster really pops!
The LED headlights on the front blink sharply. LED? Always! No line too messed up the side view. He stayed briefly. Under 4 meters and thus even 8 centimeters shorter than the predecessor. But also flatter. And the wheelbase was also shrunk. Everything for agility, everything for driving fun. The overhangs are crisp and short, the MX-5 a visual revelation, a boon for victims of large-series boredom in the compact class. Roof down. Soak up the sun, sizzle, switch and live!
Jinba Ittai - Give me more curves
The few kilos that the sexy roadster brings to the ride - in the base it is well under 1.000 (975 kg) - it also distributes equally between the axles thanks to the motor built far behind the front axle. 50:50 sounds like ideal conditions for a bit of driving fun from corner to corner.
Jinba Ittai, the Japanese prose philosophy for the "fusion" of horse and rider. You should become one with your mobile pedestal and that's why you put on the MX-5. Enter? No, the chairs and the space between the transmission tunnel and the door look more like a tailor-made jogging jacket. A sports suit without a baggy look and a bad cut. They grabbed the steering wheel in front of the driver's forehead and even the stitching on the seat should give you the following line! Straight towards the horizon? This is where the PR idea gets stuck - because straight ahead is the only discipline in which the MX-5 can be more easily overlooked. It has to go into the curve. Sniff out vertices, feel G-forces, delight in the perfect balance of the MX-5. As a Sports Line, the MX-5 even has Bilstein dampers. The sports driver's heart curls up full of anticipation. Earlier MX-5s delighted those who were willing to drift with a Torsen locking differential. That was thrown out in the latest development, and an LSD from the specialist GKN took its place. Here, too, the philosophy was consistently pursued: smaller, lighter and yet effective. The MX-5 can be removed from the ESP leash at the push of a button and enables dancing around its own vertical axis. Anyone who knows the curve can drive the MX-5 looking through the side window towards the exit of the curve.
Motor - where's the sound?
A lot of sun? There must be shade there. As a matter of fact. Even the 2.0 liter four-cylinder with 160 hp is more of a fan of revs than of powerful thrust. A look at the data sheet reveals the dilemma. 200 Nm at 4.600 revolutions. Even with the super featherweight of the MX-5, this is a bit poor. Mazda helps from the speed. The MX-6's 5-speed gearbox, which is splendidly shiftable and blessed with short and crisp paths, helps. But the approval criteria of the EU crats stole the engine sound from us. The highly compressed 13: 1 all-aluminum engine has all the intricacies of modern engine construction, from 4-valve technology to direct injection and valves with variable control times - you just don't want to give the engine sound. It always hums as if the neighbor's lawnmower was on drugs - but one factor is missing: horniness in the sound. All the more sad, because on Sunday morning you want to cheer the two-liter towards 6.000 so that the MX-5 stamps away from the starting block as jaggedly as its sharp look promises.
Safety - yes, but!
Because a new car can no longer do without, there is also the MX-5 with multimedia gibberish, even with Bose things in the headrests. With the Roadster, however, sound should be generated by the combustion of air and gasoline mixture, not via the loudspeakers. Away with it. Bring the purist roadster. The MX-5 has all the talents to take on the legacy of a Lotus. Small, light and understandable limited to what makes sense. The fact that you need a lane keeping assistant is rather unlikely - especially since the Mazda system cannot convince. Grumpy warning tone from the loudspeaker and that much too late? The MX-5 doesn't need that, gone! What he needs is more sound from the engine and just a tick more torque.
What's left of the day - Yamamoto-san gives the answer
Nobuhiro Yamamoto is the “Mr. MX-5 ”at Mazda, the senior project manager for the latest MX-5 generation.
No bullshit - focus on authentic driving fun!
Bullshit, of course, does not appear in the vocabulary of polite Japanese. But what Yamamoto-san said is clear. The MX-5 embodies nothing less than the most sensible combination of performance, agility and driving pleasure. Anyone who goes to “dance on the country road” needs an honest, authentic car. The linear steering, the honest traction, the incredibly agile driving behavior - all of this fits perfectly with the 200 Nm pedal under the bonnet. No, better, even the small 1.5 liter with 131 hp meets the requirements that Mazda wants to meet with the MX-5. And that is nothing less than offering the perfect roadster - the basis for the merging of driver and machine into a fun-driving unit.
The journalist leaves Barcelona with a hearty sunburn and is caught in his heart: Probably the most honest everyday roadster that money and good words can buy on the market. Incidentally, the base starts at € 22.990 - and it probably already offers a lot more than SIE expect from a fun driving car!
Mazda |
MX-5 SKYACTIV -G 160 |
| design type | Four-cylinder, direct injection, aluminum |
| Capacity | 1.998 cc |
| Performance | 160 hp / 6.000 rpm |
| kraft | 200 Nm / 4.600 rpm |
| Transmission | 6 gear manually |
| drive axle | rear-wheel drive |
| Length Width Height | 3.915, 1.735, 1.230 mm |
| wheelbase | 2.310mm |
| Empty weight | 1.075 kg |
| turning circle | 10.4m |
| top speed | 214 km / h |
| Acceleration 0-100 km / h | 7,3 sec |
| standard consumption | 6,9 - 6,6 l / 100 km |
| base Price | 26,890 € |
| Test car price | - |
| Insurance | - |
| Motor vehicle tax | - |
| - | |
| Use opportunities | little |
| depreciation | low |