1999 MKII 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION ‘600 10th Anniversary models reached the UK – why didn’t Mazda import more?’
Mazda marks a decade in production
This MX-5 is a guilty pleasure once more. 7500 were made and there are many elements that set it apart – blue soft top, Nardi steering wheel, strut brace, Bilstein shocks and two-tone leather seats – but will the driving experience reflect the upgrades?
Having just leapt out of the Arizona I’m looking forward to feeling the best of what Mazda could accomplish with the 1.8 in MKII trim, as Mazda worked hard on the engine to make it as peppy as possible. Domed pistons raised the compression ratio from 9.0:1 to 9.5:1, the intake camshaft changed to a solid lifter design, the intake parts in the cylinder head were straightened and the inlet manifold realigned. Nifty mods, all of them.
I can feel the extra oomph from the moment
I leave the pits. There’s more pick-up from low down but it doesn’t feel over torquey – that’ll be Mazda’s Variable Intake Control System, which provides a long narrow intake manifold at low revs and a short, free-flowing manifold at high revs for freer breathing. Again, clever stuff. The gear ratios feel closer as well. I tell the car ‘that’s a neat trick’ as I swap between fourth and fifth, then I finally discover a sixth ratio bottom right on the stick – this is the first-ever six-speed MX-5.
This is the MX-5 you read about in magazines – tight, taught, balanced and tractable. It’s the first car I have driven today that deals with extra weight and extra power without losing the purity of the original intent or compromising on the thrills it delivers.