Category: Convertibles 
Price Range: £15,000 to £19,695
Sweet engines, flick-switch gearchange, best-in-class handling, good value and cheap to run.
Slightly contrived styling, 1.6 a bit tardy.
Still one of the best, despite its age.
The 16-valve twin-cam engine has plenty of pulling power. Combine that with a light clutch and gearchange plus power steering and you have a car that anyone should find easy to drive. On a twisty road you can chuck the MX-5 around like a go-kart and even novice drivers will quickly gain the confidence to drive the car quickly. Meanwhile there is quite enough power to allow more advanced students to probe the car's limits.
The 127mph 1.8 model will easily keep pace with the MGF/Fiat Barchetta opposition and has a very responsive throttle.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mazda MX-5
wrote on 12 09 2007
wrote on 27 02 2007