Mazda MX-5 RF 2.0

REPORT 5 £ 27,795 OTR/£28,815 as tested/£290pcm WHY IT’ S HERE Do a hard-top roof and big buttresses add to the MX-5 experience? DRIVER Jason Barlow

ABARTH IS 70 THIS YEAR, A MINOR ANNIVERSARY IN THE GRAND SCHEME

of things. Yet anyone who chanced upon the collection of Abarths at the far end of the Geneva show’s hall will know, Carlo Abarth’s Fifties and Sixties cars were magic. In a parallel world, he could have been another Ferrari.

A made-over Mazda MX-5 might seem a rather unhappy legacy, but as tribute acts go, the Abarth 124 Spider is better than a slap in the face. Having never driven one, mostly I was curious to see how – if – the same ingredients can be seasoned differently. The Abarth is a good deal more salty. Its 1.4-litre MultiAir engine is obviously smaller and less powerful, but it’s turbocharged, so its character and behaviour are markedly different to the Mazda’s. Down the same tricky, undulating country road, there’s not much in it in terms of actual pace, and the Mazda is a deceptively swift car. But the Abarth pulls harder from 3,000rpm, has 184lb ft versus the Mazda’s 151, and makes the sort of sound that beardy road testers from days of yore habitually described as ‘rorty’. The Mazda is much more polite, a little more effete and a lot less extrovert. The Abarth pops and parps, and generally announces itself in a way the Mazda would find faintly embarrassing.

Can’t separate them in handling terms, though. The Abarth is more fidgety and less precise. Turn off the traction control, and it’s also far more up for old-school RWD second-gear opposite-lock hairpin exit buffoonery. On which basis, it’s more fun. Except that the Mazda’s responses are neater and more precise up to that point, if not quite as amusing on or over the limit. They both use Bilstein dampers, a limited-slip diff, and strut brace. Throw in some Alcantara trim inside and actually what we have here are two strongly related cars that go their own way. The Mazda steers more sweetly, and would be easier to live with day-to-day. Which is handy.