As a former (NA) MX-5 owner myself, I was rather excited at the prospect of the RF. It sounded like all the MX-5 stuff I loved, but with less risk of someone slashing the hood, and maybe a more refined interior.
The weather mostly sucked while we had the RF, so the roof stayed up a lot.
Credit:
Jonathan Gitlin
While I am sure the RF is more vandal-resistant, again I have to report that the hardtop makes this car, if anything, less refined to drive. There’s a sound-deadening panel that I am sure wasn’t fitted to the first RF we drove in 2017, but with the roof up, conversations with your passenger sound tinny, never mind anything played on the audio system. By comparison, the soft top soaks up some of the road noise without turning the interior into a resonating tin can.
Roof-down is not really much better. It’s the buttresses, which catch the air behind your head and make noise in the process. Raising the windows alleviates this, but only a little. You have to pay extra for this, too—a bit less than $3,000 depending on spec.
Still a joy to drive
So far, so not-great. But the rest of the MX-5 recipe is still sound, even if the RF remix is a little lacking. Under the hood is a 2.0 L four-cylinder Skyactiv-G engine, with 181 hp (135 kW) and 151 lb-ft (205 Nm), which is a lot more than early MX-5s made. And it’s still a relatively modest output, although sufficient for the car’s 2,469 lb (1,119 kg) curb weight. The engine revs freely to 7,000 rpm, but you’ll have to work at the gears if you’re in a flat-out hurry.
For the curious, the trunk release is on the right side of the license plate overhang.
Credit:
Jonathan Gitlin
These cars have never been about outright speed, though. Or outright grip, either. Instead, it’s a car where making progress is all about maintaining your momentum, and enjoying the balanced chassis, sharp and communicative steering, and the six-speed manual transmission.
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