Mazda MX-5 RF

Sure, the targastyle roof looks superb, but does it make the back-tobasics MX-5 better to live with?

MMAYBE IT’S BECAUSE I’M writing this doped up on vitamin D after the first few genuinely warm, sunny days of the year, but living with our Mazda MX-5 RF is proving really rather pleasant.

The Retractable Fastback itself has to take some credit for this. It’s not, admittedly, quite as nonchalant as the manual soft-top in the regular MX-5, where flipping the roof down or up is the work of seconds. The car is not as quiet when the roof is down, either. The regular drop-top can be a bit more blustery, but the compromised aerodynamics of the RF’S targa-style roof mean anything over 50mph creates a miniature hurricane around the buttresses. The theatre of the roof itself isn’t something you can appreciate from the driver’s seat, so you don’t get much of a kick from the mechatronic ballet behind your head, either. The result is easy to appreciate, though. Noise aside, the cabin still feels cosy on colder days, but there’s enough wind-rush to enhance the sensation of speed. And when that weird glowing orb finally emerges, there’s nothing quite like getting unfettered access to it rather than sitting in the gloomy pillbox cabin of, well, any modern car that isn’t a convertible.

Roof-up refinement is better than it is with the standard soft-top MX-5, too. This might sound like a tedious thing to read in the pages of

evo, but it makes a huge difference in the real world when you have longer distances to cover or Bedfordshire is doing its best impression of The Poseidon Adventure.

There is a bona fide evo benefit too, in the form of extra structural stiffness with the roof up. Bumps that shudder through the car while there’s a gap above your head seem to disappear with the panel in place. I still maintain that the best (and bestlooking) MX-5 would have a fixed roof and an E-type-style glazed fastback, but as compromises go, the RF gets pretty close to the mark.

With the drivetrain, too. Already everything seems to be loosening up, the gearchange of the six-speed manual ’box losing its notchiness but keeping its tactility and precision, and the 2-litre, 158bhp in-line four freeing up towards the red line. I’ve a sneaking suspicion Mazda has been tweaking the MX-5’S steering behind the scenes, too. This system is not as talkative as that of the GT86 driven in issue 234’s twin-test, but I’m sure it feels more natural than those of the first few Mk4 MX-5S I drove, and indeed of our previous long-termer.

Given most of this month’s miles have taken place at motorway pace, the RF is also proving remarkably frugal. A light kerb weight, natural aspiration and a high compression ratio don’t just make for a compelling drivers’ car, they also make a mockery of downsizing and turbocharging in terms of real-world economy. Again, not immediately relevant to the Thrill of Driving, but jolly useful when you’re trying to save for a house deposit and still want a few quid left over for slowly improving your other MX-5…

‘Bumps that shudder through the car while there’s a gap above your head disappear with the panel in place’