Test Drive: 2012 Mazda MX-5 Special Version

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.