2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata The Mazdaspeed Miata is right off the auto show circuit and our friend John Dinkel got one of the first drives in one. And who else is more qualified than a guy whose resume shows him as a past editor of Road & Track Magazine along with countless other articles. Dinkel will be posting his impressions of autos and all other thing automotive related from time to time. Seems the new Mazdaspeed impressed him. KM What’s not to love about the Miata, the most popular two-seat roadster in history? It is THE quintessential sports car, a throwback to the beloved Triumph, MG, Healey and Lotus ragtops of the sixties and Seventies, but minus the ashes and sackcloth reliability issues owners of those earlier roadsters lived with. And unlike many sports cars that begin life as a true purist’s machine but eventually end up overweight, over-equipped and underpowered vestiges of their former selves, the Miata has remained true to its school. Mazdaspeed is the group at Mazda charged with injecting even more venom into specific Mazda models. The highest performing Mazdas of the high performance Mazdas. The ZOOMIEST of the zoom-zooms. Within the first block of driving a regular Miata it’s normal for your face to break out into an ear-splitting grin. If it doesn’t, you should take up walking . . . or riding the bus. Visualize this facial expression and then multiply it by a factor of 10. That’s the effect the Mazdaspeed Miata has on every driving enthusiast. How could you not love a turbocharged and intercooled version with 25 percent more horses (178 bhp) and 33 percent more torque (166 lb-ft), a beefed up short-throw 6-speed gearbox, a Bosch® torque-sensing limited-slip differential, not to mention a Mazdaspeed sport-tuned and lowered suspension and a quicker steering ratio. We're talking serious no-holds-barred, pure unadulterated fun. And incredibly affordable at only $25,500. The best of the best just got better. And heed this warning. Mazda is building only 4000 Mazdaspeed MX-5 this year, and if you want one, you better order one now because they are going fast—very fast! |
John Dinkel |
|
