Mazda puts a lid on MX-5
Mazda makes its own rules. It certainly has in creating a hard-top version of the MX-5, reports.
If, like me, you’ve always thought that the Mazda MX-5 would be irresistible as a coupe – well, this new RF model isn’t it. Despite how it might look.
But it’s probably as close as we’re going to get from a company that has been unflinching in its commitment to the keep-it-simple MX-5 formula for nearly three decades.
The RF is Mazda’s ingenious solution to a difficult problem: how to put a folding hard-top on its latest roadster without compromising styling, space and handling.
The company has done this before, of course: the previous MX-5 was available as a roadster-coupe, with a folding roof that looked exactly the same as the soft-top whether the lid was up or down. But the latest MX-5 is smaller and lighter than the previous car – an attempt by Mazda to get right back to the model’s 1989 roots.
Design chief Masashi Nakayama explained to media during a prelaunch drive in Japan late last year that the new model simply doesn’t have the space for a roadster-alike folding roof.
The new RF, which has just been launched in New Zealand, is Mazda’s typically clever solution. RF stands for Retractable Fastback, but it’s really more of a targa-top. Those rear pillars have a coupe-like look in profile, but in reality they are thin ‘flying buttresses’ that wrap around the bootlid, leaving an upright rear window and flat rear deck, just like the roadster.
Retract the powered top and the whole rear section lifts up out of the way, allowing the middle and front panels to stow. Then the buttresses click back down into place. The whole process takes 13 seconds, which Mazda claims makes this the fastest one-touch powered folding hard-top in the world. Bootspace is pretty much preserved: the RF has 127 litres compared with the roadster’s 130.
Mazda NZ reckons the RF has broad enough appeal to account for 90 per cent of its projected MX-5 sales for 2017. Globally, the roadster/RF mix is expected to be more like 50/50.
The entry 1.5-litre GSX manual soft-top is still in the mix here as the party-like-it’s-1989 model at $40,995. There’s no direct RF equivalent because all of the fastback models have the 2.0-litre engine and the $48,495 RF GSX is only available with the six-speed automatic transmission. Similar standard equipment levels between the two, though.
There’s more parity between the 2.0-litre Limited roadster and RF models. The top-spec roadster is $46,995 in manual form, with a $1500 premium for the automatic. Which makes the RF GSX the same price as a roadster Limited automatic.
The RF Limited is $51,495 in manual form ($4500 more than the equivalent roadster) or $52,995 as an automatic.
Mazda NZ sees RF sales heavily biased towards the Limited model (over 80 per cent) and automatic transmission (70 per cent).
There’s also a launch edition called the RF-S, with just 15 units available at $54,995. It comes only in Mazda’s flash new Machine Grey exterior finish and has Nappa leather upholstery with the model name embroidered on the head restraints, Piano Black roof, unique badging and a nice Certificate of Authenticity from Mazda.
Mazda’s obsessive-compulsive approach to the MX-5 means that it’s gone all out to ensure dynamic parity between roadster and RF. The fastback roof adds 45kg, which doesn’t sound like a lot but is significant for a sports car that weighs a little over a tonne. It’s enough to bump fuel consumption up by half a litre over the roadster to 7.4 l/100km for the RF Limited automatic.
To compensate for the extra bulk and higher centre of gravity, Mazda has made the front suspension slightly stiffer and the rear slightly softer.
The company also has this thing about the MX-5 having enough roll and pitch to feel like a properly entertaining sports car; it found the RF-roof made the body structure stiffer, so it hollowed out a tunnel member in the platform to reintroduce some flexibility. That’s attention to detail, people.
A day spent driving the MX-5 RF back-to-back with the roadster was enlightening. Very little has been lost in translation in terms of the roadster’s communicative steering, perfect weight distribution and that desire to dance around every corner.
If you’re all about top-down sports car driving, the roadster is still the one. You do get that convertible sensation in the RF because the air flows through the cabin and out between the rear pillars. But it doesn’t feel as open as the roadster because you’re aware of that roof structure behind you. At open-road speeds, the RF also suffers from more cabin turbulence than the roadster, although the reverse is true for urban motoring.
But the RF presents a compelling case in terms of that cute-asa-button coupe-like styling, enhanced security and greater comfort in winter weather.
The folding hard-top makes the MX-5 even more of an everyday car. Anything that makes driving an MX-5 every day a more compelling proposition should be celebrated.