2017 Mazda MX-5 RF review – a Japanese sports car with British roots – Telegraph.co.uk

There’s a lot of extraneous shaking, wobbling and over-reaction, but the basic manners are good. You need to concentrate on the old-fashioned basics of smooth, gentle inputs and anticipation if you plan on really making progress in the RF.

If anything, the RF’s softer rear end makes it feel more progressive and comfortable than the regular soft-top. It reacts quickly to the steering, swooping into the bend, prone to understeer if you simply plant the throttle. Prepare the car, though, perhaps with a gentle brake as you turn in, and the car’s 50/50 weight balance and electrically assisted steering rack are a joy. And while power oversteer isn’t quite available, it is if you coax it in.

Fantabulous and funny, the RF isn’t quite as fine handling as the MX-5 and £2,000 seems an awful lot extra. But there again it’s calmer, more practical and it looks so very cute and covetable. Until that satin white show car without a hood or windscreen becomes available, this one is so hard to resist, oh go on, five stars it is.

THE FACTS

Mazda MX-5 RF

TESTED 1,998cc four-cylinder petrol, six-speed manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive

PRICE/ON SALE from £22,195/now

POWER/TORQUE 158bhp @ 6,000rpm/148lb ft @ 4,600rpm

TOP SPEED 134mph

ACCELERATION 0-62mph in 7.4sec

FUEL ECONOMY 40.9/30.1mpg (EU Combined/Urban), on test 32.2mpg

CO2 EMISSIONS 161g/km

VED BAND G (£185)

VERDICT Not quite as wieldy as the soft-top, but better looking, with calmer handling and a lot less wind in the hair with the roof down. In fact the RF is really a quite lovely little machine, although it is a bit expensive. Hardly surprising that it is expected to represent seven in every 10 MX-5s sold in the UK

TELEGRAPH RATING Five out of five