Ferrari 488 vs Mazda MX-30

What's the difference?

James Cleary road tests and reviews the new Ferrari 488 Spider with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

It’s almost inevitable. Tell someone you’re a motoring journo and the first question will be, ‘So, what’s the best car you’ve ever driven?’ 

Without getting into an esoteric analysis of what the word 'best' actually means in this context, it’s clear people want you to nominate your favourite. The fastest, the fanciest, the car you’ve enjoyed the most; the one that’s delivered a clearly superior experience.

And if I enter the room of mirrors (where you can always take a good hard look at yourself) the answer is clear. From the thousands of cars I’ve had the privilege of sliding my backside into, the best so far is Ferrari’s 458 Italia, an impossibly pure combination of dynamic brilliance, fierce acceleration, howling soundtrack and flawless beauty.

So, the opportunity to steer the open-roof Spider version of its successor, the 488, is a significant one. By rights, the best should be about to get better. But does it?

Mazda’s MX-30 is an odd one. It’s Mazda’s third small SUV and its first production electric car, yet it wears the brand’s MX sports car prefix and originally launched as a combustion mild hybrid.

Of course, Mazda is no stranger to automobile enigmas, with left-of-field rotary choices in its past, and its semi-combustion SkyActiv-X engines showing a different take on the future, but can the brand’s innovative nature help make its first fully electric car a hit?

I drove an MX-30 E35 Astina shortly after its Australian launch to attempt to unravel its mysteries. Will it find its place in an increasingly busy EV marketplace? Read on to find out.