The Unlikely Lads

Think Mazda lost its way with the third generation MX-5? Think again. These two surprisingly different machines are out to remind us just what a fantastic car we’ve been overlooking for more than a decade…

- Tom Willcox

Barely 15-years on from the moment the firstgeneration model shook the world at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, Mazda was in the process of pulling the covers off its very latest version of its globally acclaimed roadster – the MX-5 – back in 2005.

Now in its third guise and with hundreds of thousands of the previous versions already being loved around the globe, motoring fans everywhere waited with baited breath to see whether the firm was able to bat off increasingly tight safety regulations that threatened to jeopardise the pure, lightweight fundamentals this revered badge always stood for.

And while hindsight has finally helped us realise just what a cracking little motor the NC MX-5 is in its own right, its slightly inflated dimensions and increased kerb weight meant initial reactions were mixed for the first time. As such, this car became a model that was less popular on the race track and more likely to be found sitting on the driveway of a modest family home – possibly with the inclusion of some shiny chrome styling parts thrown in for good measure.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with a new audience discovering the magic of the Miata. But now it’s been with us for more than ten years, we think it’s time for us performance enthusiasts to remind ourselves what this little car really has going for it. And to help us illustrate this point, we’ve enlisted the help of two friends from Norfolk who happen to own a duo of the finest examples of these cars we’ve seen in a long time. They might have started their lives as similarly spec’d Galaxy Grey examples, with both getting driven hard and frequently, but each one represents an entirely different approach to how to have fun in one of these very versatile toys…

ADAM’S MX-5