The world’s best-selling convertible sports car over the past 26 years, Mazda’s Miata/MX-5, has suffered from one drawback as far as the cool crowd is concerned – the lack of an electric retractable roof.
That’s just changed…
The current soft-top model, recently launched in South Africa, is superbly easy to switch from covered to sunshine driving but, when all’s said and done, doing the conversion by muscle power (though little is needed!) has nowhere near the crowd-attraction as does pushing a button.
So it seems the Japanese automaker has listened, despite what will presumably be a price penalty for the MX-5 RF (Retractable Fastback). This the latest addition to the MX-5 family, the automaker says, “fully embodies the model’s 26-year-old tradition of ‘lots of fun'”.
The MX-5 RF has, Mazda explains, fastback styling with a smooth roof line that slopes down to the boot and its unique rear roof and retractable back window “offer a new open-air feeling”.
The roof can be operated either way at up to jogging speed and, Mazda claims, “stows compactly and efficiently in a limited space”. In fact, it uses the same amount of boot volume as the soft-top model.
The MX-5 RF will be available in ‘Machine Grey’, a new colour designed to accentuate the beauty of vehicle bodies. It’s Mazda’s second ‘premium’ colour after ‘Soul Red’, which since its launch has come to represent KODO design.
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Buyers will be able to choose between either current engine – SkyActive-G 1.5 or SkyActive-G 2.0 engine, depending on country.
The South African model is still to be confirmed.
The MX-5 RF will be on display at the 2016 New York International Auto Show from March 25.
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