Test Drive: 2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version

2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version. Click image to enlarge

DBDR: 2012 Mazda MX-5 SV Test Drive: 2011 Mazda MX-5 SV Manufacturer’s web site Mazda Canada

Review and photos by Chris Chase

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2012 Mazda MX-5

You don’t have to be a car enthusiast to enjoy driving. But it’s easy to forget how much fun it can be when it becomes part of a day-to-day routine of traffic jams and ruler-straight city streets, instead of something you do—even occasionally—just because you want to. If you need a reminder of the pure joy of driving, I’d argue that you will find none better in a new car than the Mazda MX-5.

This is the car that began in 1989 as the MX-5 Miata, and has evolved through two subsequent generations to become a more refined, more powerful machine. Even still, it stands as a stark contrast to most vehicles available today in offering a visceral, minimalist driving experience that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version. Click image to enlarge

The MX-5 reminds me of those “minimalist” running “shoes,” footwear so basic it barely deserves to be classified so. These things put less between your feet and the ground so you can better feel the surface you’re running on. Mazda has maintained a similar philosophy through three generations of MX-5: there’s not much extra here beyond what’s absolutely needed to make a car, a car.

As is Mazda’s way, the MX-5 is offered in three trims, starting with GX and moving up through a GS model to the top-end GT. And the differences between the three are all in trim. All three use a 2.0L four-cylinder engine with a choice of manual (a five-speed in the GX; six speeds in the GS and GT) or six-speed automatic transmissions. The GX’s convertible top is fabric, while the GS and GT get an electric folding hard roof that, amazingly, doesn’t take up any more space when stowed than the soft roof.

News for 2012 includes the addition of standard stability control across the line, and the GS’s standard folding hardtop. More significant is the addition of a fourth trim, dubbed SV, short for Special Version, which is perhaps the least imaginative trim designation in history. This model takes a GX and adds the power hardtop, 17-inch gunmetal wheels, heated leather seats, leather-trimmed steering wheel, shifter, and handbrake, automatic climate control, six-speed manual transmission, and covers it in SV-exclusive Velocity Red (body) and Brilliant Black (roof) paint. The 180 examples of this car go (or have gone) for $33,845 ($34,845 with automatic transmission)—$4,850 more than the GX, and about $2,000 less than the mid-range GS.

Truth be told, I’m getting “old” and I tend to get less enjoyment out of overtly sporty cars than I used to. Tight cabins and hard suspensions don’t do for me as much as they did 10 years ago, and so I was both looking forward to and dreading what this little car would be like to live with for a week of daily driving.

2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version. Click image to enlarge

I hadn’t driven an MX-5 in about 10 years, since the days when my friend’s dad owned a couple of first-generation Miatas and routinely tossed me the keys to go for a spin. This little car has grown up, but not much. The peaky motor still demands high revs to make the car feel quick, so it spins at nearly 3,000 rpm in sixth gear at 100 km/h, and you don’t need the tachometer to tell you that. Engine and road noise are ever-present, especially when the top is up and there’s no wind to drown them out.

My first pleasant susprise was the compliant ride. Whether it’s because of the body’s reduced structural strength or the desires of Mazda’s perceived target buyer, the MX-5’s suspension is far from punishing. Yet, this tiny roadster still corners with amazing agility and is an absolute blast to pilot through bends in the road. This is how I wish most performance cars were set up, because not everyone who likes to drive enthusiastically some of the time wants a car with a ride that beats them up all of the time.

Its 167 horsepower is not a lot in a modern sports car—the relatively pedestrian Mazda3 can be had with that much — but that’s part of what makes the MX-5 fun. I’d rather beat the snot out of this car on a daily basis than almost any other sports car, because in this one, you’re still travelling at (almost) legal speeds after blasting through the six-speed manual’s first four ratios. The engine note is less melodic than in many cars, but the sound suits the minimalist aesthetic this car is so happy to make you a part of.

2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version; photo by James Bergeron. Click image to enlarge

Natural Resources Canada’s fuel consumption ratings for the MX-5 are 9.7/7.1 L/100 km (city/highway); I was impressed with my test car’s observed consumption of 9.9 L/100, considering that when I wasn’t tooling along the highway at 100 km/h, I was — when appropriate — driving this car like I’d stolen it.

Mazda uses this car to remind us what a good manual shifter should feel like, with short shift throws and precise, positive gear engagement. My only knock is how clunky the transmission is when it’s cold; it does not take kindly to being rushed before things have begun to warm up.

Steering feel is fantastic and, dare I say, as good as it gets in a modern car. The rear-wheel drive layout leaves each set of wheels to do one thing, and do it well. The fronts transmit lots of information about the road surface up to the steering wheel without being too twitchy or prone to bump steer on uneven pavement; the rears take care of forward motion and can even contribute to steering if you dial in enough throttle mid-turn.

2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version. Click image to enlarge

If there’s any environment in which the MX-5 doesn’t shine, it’s freeway driving. I normally boot along with the quicker traffic on the stretch of Ontario’s Highway 417 that winds through Ottawa, but in this car found myself sticking to the slower right lanes. The steering is great when you’re following the curves of a winding backroad, but becomes much less so when the need is to keep it between the lines on a busy, fast, multi-lane highway. The on-centre dead-spot is essentially non-existent, so tracking a straight line requires almost constant small course corrections. I had the opportunity to take an MX-5 on a road trip to Washington, D.C. a couple summers ago, but turned it down, mainly because the car wouldn’t have fit all my stuff; I’m glad for that, because I suspect that would have been an awfully tiring drive, particularly given the frantic pace of the D.C. area’s freeways.

This is the car you want to take when you’ve got time to take the scenic route, especially if that option also includes lots of twisty-turny backroads.

2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version. Click image to enlarge

Less of a concern for long-distance drives is the MX-5’s interior that, in spite of the car’s tiny footprint, is surprisingly roomy and comfortable. The seats are supportive enough for enthusiastic driving, but are also wide enough that you need not starve yourself for a month just to fit between the bolsters. Headroom with the top up is quite generous, and maybe it was just context, but the footwells felt wider than those in the BMW 3 Series I’d tested two weeks earlier. The driving position is good, save for the placement of the throttle, which is closer to the driver’s seat than I liked. The throttle and brake are well spaced for heel-and-toe downshifting.

The 150 L trunk is small, but certainly usable for stuff like groceries or a weekend bag. I’d love a little bit of storage space behind the seats, but this is minimalist motoring, remember? The power retractable hardtop is quick to drop or restore (as I discovered on one drive in which I got caught in a downpour on said Highway 417 and had to cover up in a hurry) and, as you’ll have read in countless review of this car, takes up no more cargo space than the soft roof. The top’s operation is all electric, save for the manual header latch.

That dread of discomfort I felt before I picked this car up was long gone by the end of a week that proved that, aside from the workout required to get to a standing position from the low-slung seats, this is a perfectly feasible daily driver.

Thirty grand is a significant amount of money, particularly for what boils down to a full-sized toy. But if you’re in desperate need of a reminder of the joy of driving, using it to buy an MX-5 would make it money well spent.