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By
EWAN KENNEDY
23 March 2009
And
now for something completely different – a story on a Mazda MX-5
sports car that begins with the automatic transmission. I can feel
purists cringe at the merest mention of an auto in a sports car,
but please bear with me guys, you're in for a pleasant surprise
because this is an automatic transmission that seems to respond to
the driver’s every thought.
Decide that you need a sudden downchange to accelerate hard,
possibly to overtake a slow-moving car whose occupants are
sight-seeing. Stab the accelerator pedal fast and it almost
instantly gives you one or two gears lower depending on the speed
and distance the transmission senses from your actions on the
accelerator.
Or picture the little MX-5 under hard braking for a tight corner.
Push down one of the buttons on the steering-wheel centre bar and
the auto responds with a sharp downshift to pick up the lower gear
with exactly the right revs for the car’s needs. Stab the button
twice and it drops two gears just as rapidly.
With practice, you can play with the auto through the throttle
pedal and get even better results from it.
We were on what is arguably Australia’s most famous driving road
while doing this testing as part of the Mazda Australia
introduction of the latest MX-5 to the motoring press.
Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. The Mazda worked brilliantly, the
scenery was breathtaking and, perhaps best of all, other drivers
on the road actually paid attention to the signs requesting them
to move over for faster cars. In the latter way it was almost like
motoring amongst the gentlemen and ladies you find behind the
steering wheels of cars all over Europe.
The ultimate judgement on the six-speed Mazda MX-5 auto: would I
buy one? No! Despite the fact the auto is admirably suited to a
sports roadster, the manual gearbox is even more enjoyable and
only continuous daily use in torturous traffic in a major city
would drag me away from the six-speed manual.
What about the rest of the features of the latest Mazda MX-5?
Well, it has had a facelift, a makeover that removes the last
traces of the traditional oval-style radiator grilles used since
the first-generation car was produced almost 20 year ago. Instead
the MX-5 now has a variation on the five-point grille design as
used on the rest of the vehicles in the range. This has a bold
design that suits the car down to the ground, and ties in neatly
with a new bumper which includes large cutouts to frame the
foglights.
At the rear there's a new bumper and redesigned taillights.
Inside, the changes are more subtle, chiefly in less reflective
materials in the console highlights and a revised trim rim around
the gear lever. The Bose sound system has been upgraded and
includes iPod / MP3 connectivity. Interestingly, the engineers
have worked to improve the engine’s sound when experienced from
the cockpit, but have cut the amount of road noise getting into
the interior when the top is in place.
Though the 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated engine retains the same
power and torque outputs (118 kW and 188 Nm) it now revs out all
the way to 7500 revs (it was 7000) and the torque has been spread
over a wider range. At the same time the fuel consumption has been
trimmed by six per cent on the manual models and eight per cent on
the automatics.
Suspension tuning has given the already nimble Mazda MX-5 an even
more positive feel. It still grips superbly and is such a joy to
drive that it's pretty well guaranteed to put more fun into your
day.
The complete Mazda MX-5 range, with prices (excluding on-road
costs) is:
Soft-top: $43,850 (manual)
Soft-top Touring: $45,720 (manual), $47,920 (automatic)
Roadster Coupe: $48, 755 (manual), $50,955 (automatic)
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Marque Publishing Company
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