More than a niche. Retracing its history means witnessing a technical, stylistic and commercial event that set an example, was born from the suggestion of journalist, Bob Hallto Mazda executives: why not offer a sports compact, sEnglish roadster style of the 50s and 60s? A rare case in which the spark became hot, which spread beyond the expectations of the Hiroshima company, if we consider that the goal was to sell 500-600 per month and that instead, from 1989, after the baptism in Chicago, the first series – called NA – a total of 400,000 copies. Major successes: Miata in the US, Eunos Roadster in Japan and MX-5 in Europe: arrived in Italy in 1990 and, due to the quota of Japanese cars, the market for parallel imports from the United States was immediately provided.
Replay the dream. The MX-5 had not invented anything new, but it boldly re-introduced in a modern key the elements that had made the invention of the two-seater sports that the British and Italians also championed. The Japanese spider had no doubts about it draw heavily from the Lotus Elan for that line, designed by Tom Matano, also the father of the latest generation RX-7 and, if you open the bonnet, the 115 HP 1.6 DOHC 16-valve engine looks like that of Alfa Romeo. Light (980 kg), small (less than four meters) and above all agile, thanks to the complete distribution of masses on two axles, double wishbone suspension and Rear wheel drive, which made jap an endless source of joy in curves. The joy of driving immediately became a unique feature of the MX-5, making us quickly forget about 0-100 in 9 seconds, which certainly did not deserve to be a “traffic light burner”, when the maximum speed of 190 km / h was. rather than enough. In 1994 the 1.8 with 131 horsepower arrived and the 1.6 was reduced to 90 HP, to keep the price down and protect itself from the competition. The second generation (NB) landed in 1998which lost the pop-up headlights, but benefited from chassis stiffness and new 1.8 VVT and 147 horses.
Guinness Auto. The MX-5 continued its journey, entering its name in the Guinness Book of World Records in May 2000: with 531,890 examples produced, it became a sports duo. best sellers in the world and the privilege – extraordinary for the type of car – one million was officially exceeded on April 22, 2016. At the same time, there were two other generations, the NC was launched in 2005, bigger and more powerful, and the ND in 2015, which was restored instead of the original , with weights and dimensions modeled further on NA. The first story of the MX-5 now it is an established historic car, and prices have tripled in recent years: it is difficult to find an example in good condition for less than 9,000-10,000 euros (13,500 for a car in mint condition), and even rare “NB” 1.8 Sports and Challenges are coveted by collectors. It couldn’t have gone any other way for a car that has become a legend