Just went for a drive in the poor man’s supercar. I guess the people who call it the poor man’s supercar are rich and can afford a supercar. I took a 2004 Mazda MX5 Arctic edition for a quick blast on our ‘amazing’ Maltese roads. Whats so special about the Arctic edition? Well from what I can see is that, air-conditioning comes as standard. Maybe Mazda are trying to tell us how powerful it is with Arctic name and Arctic blue paint job.
The car is reasonably low to the ground and has quite a tight chassis handling corners really well. the combination of having an engine at the front with power being sent to the rear wheels with very little weight creates the perfect combination for an exciting drive. Then if you add a short shift gearbox and snug seats which give a good driving position, you will be laughing. I felt that the 1.6 petrol was plenty for the car giving me 110bhp able to drift around roundabouts quite easily.
interior wise, it’s very compact and sometimes I felt a claustrophobic in it even though I’m not the tallest of people. once you drop the roof the interior opens up and all the controls are within reach. hand brake and gear lever seem to meet my hands with little effort. very typically japanese. anyone over the age of 40 should not be seen driving this car otherwise you will look like you have failed in life and tried to buy a sports car in your mid-life crisis.
mileage isn’t too bad with it returning 32mpg. this dropped considerably when revving it over the 4000RPM mark. This started becoming a habit when the engine revs freely through the gears urging you to push it harder.
To be honest I forgot to take a photo so I’m posting a stock photo found off the internet.
if you really want one of these little pocket rockets they range between £4500 and £6500 on auto trader.
SCDW 