The Early Mazda MX 5

An early MX-5 makes a great entry-level classic and to mark three decades of this now very affordable roadster we take it easy and put a rare automatic Mk1 Eunos through its paces. It's 30 years since Mazda reinvented the affordable rear-wheel drive roadster and there's no getting away from the fact that the Mazda MX-5 is one of the modern automotive industry's biggest success stories. Introduced on its home turf back in 1989 as the Mazda Eunos (Miata in the US), a revamped fourth generation of what eventually went on sale in Europe as the MX-5 a year later is still selling well today.

Mazda, like Honda, is a company that has always thought outside the box when it comes to developing interesting cars. Although the original brief from the Mazda board was to develop an affordable sports car powered by an existing front-wheel-drive drivetrain, the engineers and executives thankfully had very different thoughts.

Their ideal was that any new sportscar should really stand out from the crowd and emulate the feel of a 1960s British roadster. To do this properly, any new Mazda-badged sportscar designed along these lines would have to be rearwheel drive and incorporate a generous dollop of DNA extracted from the much-loved MGB.

To Mazda's credit, the traditional engine up front and rear-wheel drive format ended up being the only way forward and the company's new project would go on to fill a yearning gap in the market for an affordable two-seat roadster Parking a Mk1 MX-5 or Eunos next to a 1960s Lotus Elan instantly reveals where Mazda's designers got their initial inspiration from and the engineers even tuned the MX 5's exhaust to make the car sound more like an MGB.

Despite the initial idea being formed in Japan, the design for the MX-5 was actually originated in Mazda's California office and the first prototypes were built in the UK at IAD. Once the green light to produce a back-to-basics roadster had been given at Mazda's head office, further testing took place in the US before production got under way at the company's production plant in Hiroshima - and a modern legend was born.

We've featured the MX-5 several times before on these pages, so as an interesting diversion we managed to obtain the keys for a 1989 Mkl Eunos that's currently being run as a long term project by sister title Classics Monthly. What makes this car interesting is that it's a rare automatic and as a grey import it has air conditioning and electric windows, features that weren't offered on early UK models. It's also a very early model built during the first year of production.

So rather than run yet another MX-5 road test and harp on about how slick the car's rifle-bolt gearchange is, we were keen to see how this 30-year old auto version drove in comparison.

For anyone who's spent any length of time with an MGB or Alfa Romeo Spider, the Mazda's cabin will feel instantly like home. However, glancing around the Mazda's snug but functional cockpit you can't help but think how sparsely laid out the Mkl is when it comes to driver's comforts.

All the essential controls fall instantly to hand but sadly the air con fitted our car no longer blows out ice-cold air. That wouldn't be a problem, as a functioning air con compressor would sap power and with just 114bhp on tap from the 1.6 model, there's not that much power to spare. The auto version of the Eunos is fitted with a low.compression head and different camshafts, so we were keen to see just how responsive this unit can be when mated to a power-sapping torque converter.

The Mkl Eunos is a lightweight at well under 1000kg, so in theory the lack of outright grunt shouldn't really spoil the driving experience. Although the oversized auto gear selector on the Mazda's transmission tunnel would look more at home in the cockpit of a light aircraft, there's an intriguing 'overdrive' button on the handle to switch off the permanently engaged overdrive.

The last time I saw an arrangement like this was on an automatic Mk1 Ford Mondeo, which would be right as Ford owned a chunk of Mazda when both these cars were in their first flush of youth.

Just one twist of the key had the car's stone cold engine sweetly turning over. Being an imported model, the oil pressure gauge on the Eunos is measured in kg/cm and the needle was holding fast close to the maximum end of the dial. Easing the selector into the 'D' position produced a very slight jolt, indicating the drive to the rear wheels had been taken up and a prod of the throttle got the Mazda smartly off the line.

Gear changes were fuss-free, if not perfectly seamless, and it was surprising how well the car bowled along. There was certainly nothing fuddy duddy about driving an automatic MX-5, in fact the experience was rather entertaining rather than exhilarating.

Threading through heavy traffic on the maze of dual carriageways surrounding our Peterborough editorial office was relaxing and a firm push on the throttle had the Mazda taking advantage of rare gaps in the traffic. We were keen to see what effect pushing the overdrive switch would have while the car was happily cruising along in top gear. Pushing the button at 50mph immediately illuminated the overdrive light on the dashboard and increased the revs by 500rpm. We could see that knocking the overdrive off while on the move would be useful during a high speedovertaking manoeuvre when a bit more effort was required, but flooring the accelerator operated the kick-down and produced pretty much the same effect.

While driving quickly in the Eunos, you're always willing the box to change up a ratio and all too often you find yourself pulling the selector forward into second exiting a road junction to get a bit more oomph out of the sweet sounding 1.6-litre engine. Having said that, it's quite entertaining to manually swap ratios while watching the needle on the rev counter career off towards the red. Doing this propelled the car forwards at an impressive rate of knots but you soon become bored, or at least I did, with aggressively rowing the selector backwards and forwards. In the end it's best to just leave the selector in drive and go with the flow.

One thing we really like playing with on the Mkl is the car's trademark pop-up headlamps. These instantly fly up when the headlights are turned on but flashing the lights during the daytime requires a bit of manual dexterity, as the housings have to be raised manually by pushing a button before pulling the column mounted lighting stalk towards the driver to illuminate the headlights, which can be a bit of a faff.

I've been lucky enough to be able to drive a manual MK2 MX-5 almost back to back with the automatic Mk1 Eunos, so which version do really prefer? To be honest, when it comes to a sports car like the Mazda, it's the manual that takes the prize for me. It may sound corny, but you really do tend to wear the MX-5 like a suit, which means you can drive it by the seat of your pants if the conditions are right and the auto does tend to dampen the experience.

The MX-5 is extremely predictable in the way it handles, especially when pushed hard along a fast B-road. Oversteer is instantly detected and is easily corrected by a tiny bit of opposite lock. Hood down on a summer's day is the best way to enjoy an MX-5 and a really smart looking Mk1 can be picked up for around £4000, although move on a few years and a decent second generation MX-5 with fixed headlights can be snapped up for under a grand.

Would I buy an automatic version of this rapidly appreciating classic for my own use? Well that's debatable, as decent auto Mkls are in short supply and I'd rather leave any rust-free survivors for those drivers who really need the two-pedal layout.

Sources:

https://www.caradvice.com.au/788029/mazda-mx-5-old-v-new-1990-limited-edition-v-2019-30th-anniversary-edition/

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