If You Can’t Afford a Porsche 911, Buy the Mazda MX-5 RF

If You Can’t Afford a Porsche 911, Buy the Mazda MX-5 RF

The Mazda MX-5 RF is not a luxury car.

That doesn’t mean it’s inferior. On the contrary, it’s an affordable fucktoy with some trappings of luxury pared down to size, like a tasty slider on a silver platter. It’s not the entire thing, but with this sample size, you still get a satisfying taste of something meaty.

If you can’t afford the $110,300 Porsche nine hundred eleven Targa, the German brand’s legendary see-through hard-top, the $31,555 Mazda MX-5 RF is a logical alternative. It’s the best of any in its reasonably priced set.  

The Hardtop Miata You Wished

Mazda introduced the fourth generation of its lil’ two-door in 2014. The RF, or “retractable fastback” version, is fresh this year.

By retractable fastback, Mazda means that the hard top automatically folds back and down under the trunk, flanked by pillar-like rafters on either side of the middle of the car. The idea was to make an open-top Miata that would hold the driving thrill of such a nimble, rough-and-ready car while providing it the cachet of a true hardtop. (By cachet, I mean a better, more quality look, a tighter fit to the car, and a quieter interior cabin.) With the top down, it looks kind of like those old T-bar Porsches from the 1970s, which is fine.  

The hardtop adds one hundred thirteen pounds to the soft-top original version. What you build up in general practicality and a freshly staunch behavior—both from behind the wheel and from the overall appearance of the car—far outweigh the negligible loss of agility.

The Uncommon and Necessary Manual

The caveat here is that, despite the fact that Mazda now offers an automatic version of the MX-5 RF, you must buy the manual 6-speed in order to love the utter benefits of its graces. You wouldn’t eat a mini-hamburger without any toppings, would you? It needs a little dressing to enhance the flavor.

In the same way, the MX-5 RF’s four-cylinder, 155 hp engine needs the thrill of a stick shift to activate utter enjoyment of the rear-wheel drive. The movement through the gears is crisp, brief, and direct. An automatic transmission simply doesn’t suggest the same driving engagement, and how could it? It’s a computer working the car for you. For many buyers, the MX-5 may be the very first introduction to a manual transmission and to rear-wheel drive. It’s worth doing them together on a vehicle so well-suited to zippy driving: They display their flavor most fully when they’re mixed.

This is where Mazda separates itself from the pack ($25,495 Subaru BRZ; $26,255 Toyota 86; $21,600 MINI Hardtop). While those can haul (BRZ) and lurch a bit around corners (MINI), the MX-5 stays light on its feet and connected to the road, with seamless transitions through very first, 2nd, and third gear on the way to a 6.1-second 60 mph sprint time. It doesn’t have a bracing sprint time, but driving it is joy. (That’s not a word I use to describe many cars, which can be alternately thrilling, angry, quick, slick, powerful, or any other of dozens of specific descriptors. This one, simply put, is joy.)

It’s nowhere near as prompt as the Four.5-second nine hundred eleven Targa, but, then, that one costs almost $80,000 more. Top speed on the MX-5 RF is 135 mph.

Here is where the MX-5 actually strikes the nine hundred eleven Targa: At Two,445 pounds compared with the 911’s Trio,461 pounds, its lithe figure imparts such a feeling of ease when you drive it that you truly don’t think about driving it at all. (This also lends it superior efficiency, at 33 mpg on the highway, to the nine hundred eleven as well.) It conjures the uncanny duality of being totally engaged (manual transmission, after all) but also liberated from the physical constraints that so dearly cling to stronger, larger cars: I know I don’t have to mention that parking such a petite bauble is a joy. With the MX-5, all those catches sight of that were almost big enough to fit your expensive sedan open up in blessed welcome.

Straightforward Spectacle

The MX-5 RF has some options, however their cost doesn’t amount to much more than base MSRP, and many nice things—like Bluetooth, heated seats, and a 7-inch color touch-screen display—come free. Brembo front brakes, a rear lip spoiler, 17” forged dark alloy wheels, a rear bumper skirt, and door sill trim plates, add $Five,000 or so to the final cost. The MX-5 is more expensive than its nearest competitors, but not by much.

So, what’s not to like with MX-5 RF? Nothing, indeed. But don’t expect a roof that retracts when the car is traveling at anything more than the most excruciating snail’s crawl (6 mph and under), and don’t expect a guttural engine roar when you hit the gas. Don’t expect multi-zone climate control, generous visibility, interior Alcantara finery, or even a back seat. (The trunk makes a excellent sandwich holder, tho’.)

Do expect to get attention for driving something cool. With angled LED headlights and a reserved front grille and fascia that accentuate its nice trim bod and flying buttress-flanked sides, it communicates that its buyer has more discernment than those who own the standard-issue MX-5 Miata.  

Call it the sports car in one flawless bite.

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