Mazda MX-5 manual 2013 review

The Mazda MX-5 is the world’s best-selling two-seater sports-car, with almost one million delivered since 1989. In Australia, more than half of all sports-cars sold are Mazda MX-5s. But it has faced strong competition this year, so Mazda has given it a once-over to keep it fresh until an all-new model arrives in 2014 – that will also spawn an Alfa Romeo offshoot.

You’ve heard of ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’. Well what about ‘we turned the car inside out to save 804 grams?’. Because that’s the net result of the changes: trimming 700 grams from the newly designed front bumper (3.5 to 2.8kg if you’re curious) and a further 104 grams from the wiring loom by removing 10 metres of the 50 metres of wire in the car.

They used to fit 50 metres of wire in the car? The engineers have also toyed with the suspension and steering a little and fiddled with the engine computer to provide more oomph from lower revs (even if peak power is unchanged). 

Explore the 2013 Mazda MX-5 range

• Mazda MX-5 manual 2013 review
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• Mazda MX-5 2013 review: road test
• Mazda MX-5 2013 review

For all that, though, the car still doesn’t have a USB input. It still makes do with a headphone socket and a 12V power point. Which just shows you where Mazda’s priorities lie: driver enjoyment of the road ahead, not what’s happening inside the car.

Value

Prices remain almost unchanged. They’ve risen by $80 to $47,280 for the base model and $49,885 for the luxury version with Recaro seats and BBS wheels. Given the price rise is so minimal, I’m surprised it’s worth the paperwork. Anyone expecting a large price cut, therefore, will be sorely disappointed.

Many pundits were expecting a price trim, if not a butchering, given the competition in this class starts as low as $23,990 (Hyundai Veloster) and $29,990 (Toyota 86). True, they’re not convertibles - but they are fun, small sports-cars.

So value is a relative term. Compared to a Porsche Boxster or BMW Z4, the MX-5 is great value. But compared to what everyone else is buying right now, it’s still way too steep.

Technology

The technology in the MX-5 is beneath the skin, in the aforementioned trimming of the wiring looms, the thinning of the front bumper, and the remapping of the engine’s computer. Mazda has also installed a new brake booster, said to provide better feel and have less “hysteresis”.

I had no idea what that meant so I looked it up. Apparently it is “the dependence of a system not only on its current environment but also on its past environment. This dependence arises because the system can be in more than one internal state.” I still have no idea what it means or does, but the brakes felt good.

Design

The wheels are now charcoal in colour, there are black highlights in the interior that were previously chrome and the curvy bit of plastic above the speedometer is slightly lower so it doesn’t block the view of short drivers. The front bumper has a new bend in it and a bigger grille ‘mouth’. You know what, though? It’s an elegant, timeless shape. I’m glad they didn’t mess with it.

Safety

Well you get a folding metal roof these days, which is way better than a fabric top. Mazda Australia has ditched the soft-top for the time-being. Only four airbags are fitted (two frontal airbags and one outboard of each seat) because there isn’t room for overhead “curtain” airbags. Stability control is standard but, as ever, good road holding means you hopefully will be able to avoid a crash in the first place.

Driving

The MX-5’s 2.0-litre engine is unchanged (118kW/188Nm) but thanks to some computer wizardry Mazda has made genuine improvements to power delivery by increasing the amount of oomph at low revs.

Although the MX-5 has a little less grunt than the Toyota 86 – the darling of the moment – it revs cleaner, sounds smoother and has a more even power delivery across the rev range. The suspension is less jiggly than I remember MX-5s to be, and the stability control no longer kicks-in in case you do something wrong – it now only kicks-in if you do something wrong.

Brakes? Check. Bad points? The clutch pedal is too crowded, there’s not enough space around the floor. And I wish the driver’s side mirror was convex, so there was a better over-shoulder view.