Written by: Martin Ward
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 

This year, the iconic MX-5 sports car marks its 20^thanniversary. To celebrate its birthday, it has had a number of styling changes including a new larger front grille. The interior has also received a small amount of improvements but after all this time on the market, it is very difficult for the manufacturer to continually make improvements. This car already has a good following and has had for many years so it would be changes for changes sake. However, the most important addition to the range is the introduction of an automatic gearbox for the first time in its twenty year history for the UK market.

  

Twenty years is a long time for any car to be on the market but it is an awful long time to be without an automatic gearbox. The powershift is a six speed sequential automatic with steering wheel paddle shift or it can be used in full automatic mode. The gear lever is in the middle of the centre console and if the moved to the right, it can be used as a manual shift, if moved back to the left, it is back in full automatic mode. It does work extremely well and offers a smooth and effortless gear change. The powershift gearbox is coupled to a 2.0 litre petrol engine that produces160ps, goes from 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds and has a top speed of 121mph. The CO2 emission output is188g/km.

 

The car we tested had the recently introduced metal retracting hard top, which goes up and down in around fifteen seconds and stows away neatly in between the seats and the boot lid. When the roof is up, the cabin is warm and quiet with minimal wind, road or engine noise. The cost of the hard top over the traditional soft top is £1,500.

 

It will be interesting to see how sales develop for the powershift model as it could be one of those cars that everyone wants if it is not available, but when it actually comes into market, the interest in them quickly fades. However, Mazda are offering a stylish two seater car that everyone recognises and is loaded with standard specification. The only difference being is that it now comes with the benefit of the auto transmission. The price of the test car was £21,695.

Trackback Print

Location: Blogs Martin's Blog

Your name:
Your email:
	(Optional) Email used only to show Gravatar.
Your website:
Title:
Comment:
Security Code Enter the code shown above in the box below
Add Comment   Cancel