Mazda MX-5 review: a sporty two-seater to outrun the fun police

Do cars have souls? It’s a good debating point for the snug bar. Traditionalists say the soul lies in the engine — an electric car is merely a washing machine motor and some batteries. If true, it means we may be nearing the end of the great age of the automobile. Manufacturers have largely stopped developing new combustion models because they have run out of time to get a return on their investments. Barely a month goes by without another sports car being axed because of new regulations or the looming 2035 ban on petrol and diesel. This year we’ve said goodbye to Toyota’s excellent GR86, Subaru’s BRZ and Jaguar’s F-Type. That leaves us with only a handful of torchbearers for the traditional two-seater, including the car in the picture: the Mazda MX-5.
The 2024 MX-5 is not radically different from its predecessor, offering the same range of engines that were introduced in 2018 and same chassis first seen in 2015. Like most carmakers, Mazda is hoping customers will make do with some light modifications and a few more accessories. Hence the “new” MX-5 you see here is really just a collection of tweaks. That said, the refinements are very good and include better LED headlights, better rear lights, daytime running lights, a new mode for flat-out driving, a larger central touchscreen and some new paint colours, including a nifty “aero grey” that will appeal to aviation enthusiasts.
Climb into the low-slung driver’s seat, punch the start button and you may find that you’re not really thinking about any of those things. Instead you might be wondering: if I drive far enough and fast enough, can I buy some time before the curtain comes down on all this?
This is a car with a soul — the spiritual successor to those great sports cars of yesteryear: the MGs (A and B and Midget), the Sunbeam Tiger, Triumph Spitfire and Austin-Healeys. All gone to the great scrapyard in the sky, along with more modern two-seaters such as the Honda S2000, Toyota MR2, Fiat Barchetta and the wonderful Fiat 124 Spider, both the original and the sequel.
The Mazda MX-5 may even be — say it softly — the last of its kind. Notch the stubby gearlever through the six-speed box and the car will lead you as if by instinct out of the city and in search of open roads. There’s something in its get-up-and-go that says, “Just enjoy the ride.” Find a twisty stretch of tarmac along the coast and the MX-5 really comes into its own. You can work the accelerator and gears in unison, pinballing between apexes as the road snakes between headlands.
Our pick is the two-litre version (£4,400 on top of the base price) with 181bhp — plenty for the little Mazda. Its Hiroshima-based maker has resisted the urge to put in a turbocharged engine or tinker with the road-hugging chassis. Instead it has stayed true to the basic formula of zesty engine up front and rear-wheel drive — the combination that made it a sensation when it zoomed into UK showrooms 34 years ago.
The main mechanical difference to the 2024 update is the addition of LSD: nothing hallucinogenic, but a type of limited slip differential called an asymmetric LSD. Suffice to say, release the clutch, rev to the red line and it helps deliver even more seat-of-the-pants fun.
The real beauty of the MX-5, however, is not in technical enhancements but in its simplicity. Strictly speaking, the MX-5 is not a cabriolet or a convertible, it’s a roadster (having two seats and two doors). Unlike electrically operated roofs that will open only when you’re driving at a crawl, you can simply reach up when the sun comes out, release the catch and push back the roof with a one-handed shove. Instead of being stuck in a bubble, watching the countryside speed past through a windscreen, you’re feeling the wind on your face and hearing birdsong when you pause at a junction. When the clouds arrive, just reach up again and pull it closed.
It was this that inspired Mazda to create the MX-5 in the first place. Back in 1976 the motoring journalist Bob Hall had the bright idea of creating a sports car based on the defunct Lotus Elan with a neutral 50:50 front/rear weight balance and no excess weight. “I babbled how the simple, bugs-in-the-teeth, wind-in-the-hair, classically British sports car doesn’t exist any more and somebody should build one,” said Hall, recalling a meeting with Mazda bosses. By the mid-1980s other two-seaters had followed the Elan out of production and Mazda HQ gave the go-ahead.
If you can’t stretch to a new MX-5 there are plenty of older models for sale online, including examples of the original “Miata” with wonderful pop-up headlights, reminiscent of the little Lotus that influenced Hall. So if you’ve saved some money under the mattress or cashed in a retirement cheque and want to stave off the end of an era, you could do worse than blow it on one of these. When it went on sale in 1990 the Series One cost £14,249. It was a bargain then and it still is now. And it still has soul.