What we’re running at TG: bye EVs, Q8, hello A7, MX-5 RF

Hello Mazda MX-5 RF GT £27,795 OTR/£28,815 as tested

Cars are getting too lardy. While something with 500bhp that weighs a tonne is a far more appealing prospect than a car that has 1,000bhp and weighs twice that, staying skinny isn’t easy.

Like Alpine’s sublime A110, the Mazda MX-5 RF is an antidote to the auto-obesity. It weighs 1,148kg dry, and measures 3.9m stem to stern. Retrieving it from the TG car park was like foraging down the back of the sofa, sandwiched as it was between two (mid-size) SUVs. And even then I wasn’t sure I’d fit in it. Not comfortably, anyway.

I do, just. You wouldn’t want to be much above 6ft 3in or a regular down the pie shop, though. There’s no getting around the fact that it’s a dainty little thing, and Mazda’s marketing folk almost certainly don’t picture middle-aged male lummoxes when it comes to framing the car’s appeal.

Yet the MX-5’s inspiration is the original Lotus Elan, the lightweight template of all that is good, holy and RWD in performance cars. The current car was a bit soft and squidgy to begin with, but the latest version with the 2.0-litre engine makes 181bhp, which isn’t 500 but it’ll do. It’s suspended on double wishbones, with a multi-link set-up at the rear. Chapman would definitely approve. The 205/45 tyres on 17in wheels – 17s! – promise much, too.

Would he like the Retractable Fastback folding hardtop roof? Its three parts disappear in 15 seconds, for a surprisingly authentic sensory experience, but add 45 precious kg. It’s pretty, though, and looks like an Antman Ferrari 599 GTB.