Mazda MX-5 Eunos Roadster Review

Overall Rating

2 Seater Open top FR Stiff Chassis. Balance Incredible. Solid Geartrain. Probably the best choice for a first sports car. Steering is delightful and the feedback through the wheel is uncluttered and therefore very honest. Top marks Mazda. I've had mine 2 days and have driven 450 miles! 400 with the top down.

I like thmy Mazda MX-5 Eunos. Front end is very sprightly on mine and smooth controlled inputs are the way to go if you really want to be on it! This car makes you want to be a better driver to exploit it properly, somewhere in the back of my mind is the feeling that if I don € t know the car fully yet then what surprises are lurking further up the handling scale. So far for me it € s all been good but definitely respects the back end and keeps the front to rear attitude level in bends with partial throttle to begin with and you can gradually increase your speed. When you eventually start compressing those shocks a bit and can feel the weight of the car perfectly shared between front and rear wheels then you realize what this car is all about. Exploiting that wonderful balance further and steering into an apex with the throttle gave me my first four wheel drift in a car I € ve owned for 36 hours!! I € ve probably knocked 10 mph off my regular speeds through bends that I know (previously in a Mazda 323/Escort 1.6 16V) but that € s sensible with any unfamiliar vehicle and still I haven € t enjoyed driving this much for a long time!!! Point I € m trying to make before this turns into a novel is basically that I don € t feel that you can just jump in this car and drive fast. If you chuck it about too jerkily then the back-end will catch you out if you € re not prepared. But what a great car to learn the finer points in. I € ve hopped into a Suzuki swift FWD 1.3 and blitzed a familiar 30 mile drive with great cornering speeds and general brutality!!! 5 secs after getting out of the car I € d forgotten the experience. With the Mazda Roadster I just wanted to get back in , even doing the lesser speeds I am at the moment. OK give Lorries a flash when overtaking on motorways as you are quite low in profile and not easy to see. Likewise in traffic don € t pull up on the left side of that 4x4 as he may decide to change lanes using your bonnet as a short cut. Basically there are no bad points with this car except that petrol should be free when you buy one as it deserves to be on the road whenever possible. Thanks for listening. Be careful and the car will urge you on to go just that little bit faster when you have the balance right and only then. The onset of breakaway is so well telegraphed and quite wide ranged so let the car decide when you can drive it ,not you, and you € ll learn quicker.