Test drive Mazda MX-5 (MIATA) 2005-2008 convertible

Solder from Mazda

There are cars, negative reviews of which are almost impossible to meet. One of these Mazda MX-5, glorified primarily by the revival of the body of the Roadster. The second coming of relatives was marked by the appearance in 1989 of the new Mazda MX-5 or Miata. Until that time, the production of relatives was curtailed due to the tightened requirements for passive safety.
There is a legend that the MX-5 is a model of Lotus, which, having developed a project, put it on a long regiment. In search of a platform for the new relatives, Mazda was offered the same drawings. So in MX-5 the spirit of English sports cars is originally laid.
We started the way on the new Mazda MX-5 in the steppes of Stavropol and finished in the mountains of Kavminwar. In the morning, in order for the car journalists to release steam, they were waiting for a familiarization trip on all models of the Mazda sports line. It was possible to drive along a special highway marked with cones, tied in a ring and located at a military airfield. The purpose of the trip to feel the difference in the behavior of three different drives of the rear on the RX-8, front on 3MPS and complete on 6MPS.
While I walked with the keys to the car, several passers -by stopped me the same questions: how much strength is under her hood? And at what speed is she going?. The red sports rubber attracts attention no worse than a UFO. Mazda MX-5 160 l. p., and the maximum speed is 215 km/h. But to accelerate to the limit on the MX-5 is as stupid as checking it on the off-road. Its destiny is a dynamic movement, and it is good if it occurred in an appropriate landscape, for example, on the road walking along the seashore or along a picturesque mountain serpentine.
Unlike most sports cars, the MX-5 appearance cannot be called aggressive. A little covered hood, swollen gills - that is, wheel arches. MX-5 is more like a good-natured cat. Car feed, with wide arches, round-line rounds and licked corners, harmoniously combines with the front. It turns out that the bio -design has not yet gone out of fashion.
If with the raised roof of MX-5 a squat car, then without a top the window sill line is at the level of the hip and I want to jump into the salon, like some hero of the American film. Planting in the MX-5 is specific, you are more likely to be reduced with elongated legs, observing a long hood into the windshield. Despite the lack of adjustment of the steering wheel and athletic leather chair in height, it is convenient to get a job. Devices are well read. The gearbox handle is like a continuation of you, but the handbrake was left from the right -hand drive version to take advantage of it.
Having shielded plenty of tires on sports kara, we went along the federal highway to Kislovodsk. It was necessary to overcome about 230 kilometers. Despite the side wind, the sun was baked, so it was decided to fold the roof. We open the lock, press the button, twelve seconds, and the compartment turns into an elegant relatives. The roof consists of three sections that are made of composite material and are folded by an electric drive. Everything is wonderful, but it will not work to control the mechanism of folding the roof on the go. If suddenly at a traffic light you decide to raise or fold the roof, the rest will have to wait for the end of the process, since you can’t move at this moment.
There are enough places in the trunk for 150 liters only for small bags. For small things, boxing behind an armrest is provided and a glove compartment in which A4 format folders are placed without problems. Both, which is logical for the relatives, can be locked. There is a place for bottles in the armrest and doors. Frankly, the quality of plastic in the interior was embarrassed. In a sports family, I would like to see materials more expensive and more pleasant to the touch. And here, although tightly fitted, but hard plastic, diluted with a black lacquered insert, called Piano Black. In addition to black skin, you can order a cheerful flower. In our version, an audio system of Bose with a subwoofer was installed. I load the discs in Chenger located on the console, but the radio refuses to read mp3. Suddenly - the iPod is supported, but MP3 is not! We'll have to look for CD Audio. After reading the disk, the audio system pleased with a juicy dynamic sound, and the processor changes the sound with a folded roof.
On a well -visible two -lane road leading from the landfill, with a side of the road and steep turns could be arranged one of the asphalt dopes in a rally race. The first bunch of turns showed that this chassis is very large. 17-inch wheels with low-profile rubber Michelin Pilot Preceda do not even respond to frank provocations like dropping gas in a bend, and the stabilization system even with a slight slipping stops supplying fuel. Having accelerated stronger, under the traction I pass the next turn - the rubber was recruited, a skid began, smoothly turning into sliding of all four wheels. I dump the gas and the car returns to the trajectory, screwing into the turn. Moreover, the control is one hundred percent. Thanks to the same weight between the front and rear wheels and Gram Strategy. The latter means that in the process of creating a new relatives, the designers put all the details of the car on a diet, trying to reduce the weight of the car. I stop on the side of the road, turn the steering wheel. I look at double transverse levers, and in the center the yellow spot of the Bilstein one -pipe, the shock absorber Legend of Motorsport! In Stavropol, having missed one of the lying policemen, I squeeze my teeth, imagining how we struck the front bumper on the asphalt during the congress. Nothing like this! The elastic suspension practices landing without breakdown. MX-5 is tough in sports. On irregularities, it is seriously shaking, but neither the elements of the suspension or the body make sounds. The hardness of the body compared to the previous version is significantly increased, which favorably affected controllability.
The capacity of the imminent 160-horsepower engine is enough to break away from the flow in the city. However, looking at the two piping of the exhaust system, you expect a more invigorating sound. The engine's thrust is quite even, and starting with 4000 rp. min. You can go in any gear. The maximum torque is achieved at 5000 vol. min. The stabilization system is disconnected by one touch. For nothing, that the rear wheels are equipped with a self -locking differential, to disrupt them in a shift in a trim. The tail flows spectacularly, but the steering wheel has to work quite actively, thanks to the short steering rack. On the highway, the steering wheel lives its own life. When the wheels fall on coatings with different relief, it seems that there is no hydraulic wrap at all. The bagel, as if in a fit, breaks from side to side. However, if you hold the steering wheel tightly, exchange rate stability remains. The brakes are effective, such as you expect from a sports relatives.
On the highway, a comfortable speed with a lowered top is about 120 kilometers per hour. You can go faster, but then even the most lifeless hair comes to life. The temperature overboard that day was about 12 degrees and the stove on average power, quite effectively coped with the microclimate in the cabin. Having changed the place with the passenger, I found that despite the symmetry in the MX-5, it blows stronger on the right side. Apparently the reason was in a strong side wind. I turned on the heating of the seat, which surprised with its power. 10 seconds are enough for it to turn into a hot heating pad. On the one hand, the heating rate is impressive, but there is a drawback - the lack of heating adjustment.
Arriving at the mineral water airport, having parked and lowering the roof, I realized my mistake. In two days of trips to the Caucasus, I never drove a hard top! When you sit behind the wheel of a relatives, the sun shines over your head, and the highway runs away the highway, you underestimate the hard top. What is he for? Unless to protect the salon from dust at night.
Although, according to Mazda, the hard top was created for operation 365 days a year, but in Russia out of 12 months it will be happy to drive only in the summer. Mazda MX-5 is not the first or even the second car in the family. This is a real weekend car. When walking on Mazda MX-5, you can relax not only with your soul, but also in the body, taking air and sunbathing.
Mazda MX-5 is supplied to the domestic market in two trim levels. Energy version with a 126-horsepower 1.8 liter engine. Its price is $ 34,900. Two-liter 160-horsepower Sport. The latter is $ 5,000 more expensive. The differences in the suspension from Bilstein, a powerful Bose audio system, leather salon, climate control, heating of seats, fog and xenon headlights with washer and 17 inch discs. Buying a car for the soul to save on such joys is inappropriate.
Remembering the past nessile winter, I want to believe that spring and autumn will also be without precipitation. In this case, the declared figure is 100 relatives that Mazda plans to sell in 2007, and 150 in the next, for our country looks realistic.
 

Source: Auto.mail.ru