2016 Mazda MX-5 ND: Regular Car Reviews

what am i odd has got that mr2s don't a fourth-generation 5 2016 Mazda mx-5 nd Grand Touring mx-5 nd is pink floyd-- coming to terms with their legacy and performing the pulse-width full lasers a transforming disco ball and nothing but the hits wish you were here comfortably numb' breathe and brain damage which casuals think is a song called Dark Side of the Moon but like classic blue jeans the mx-5 had to get wider to let fans keep their rock-and-roll lifestyle we've come a long way from the cute mx-5 na the nd isn't dangerous feeling it doesn't bounce and scamper it doesn't kick out Rockette style the nd is a sure-footed Cruiser mm-hmm it has to be nd has to have taller overdrive gears because owners want to road trip nd has to be pedestrian safe with a blunt nose and crash protection with windshield support strong enough to support the car of your dumb ass flips it don't test this for Christ's sake but my point is the mx-5 had to evolve or die something the beautiful but terminal mr2 couldn't do angry headlights I don't like them Miata yeah you're you're 28 years old but you're still a Labrador on a greeting card not a pit bull on a rap album but I know why you're there angry headlights like your wide stance it's survival it works like this mx-5 fans are going to buy you anyway so you don't have to market to them too much muscle car enthusiasts want the new Camaro or snorting Mustang so it's pointless to try to break into that market the tuner market buys cars based on how much room is under the hood they're easy to please make sure there's enough space for a big turbo and a coyote motor and you good why didn't I say LS because if you make room for a coyote you automatically make room for an LS because LS motors are smaller the market you want is Miller Lite men who are looking at drop-top BMW z4 t sixes ephors you want them because they want to buy new but might have to buy use because of barbarian price points Miller Lite men want a little fun roadster as long as no one will say anything see he loves the groovy harmony and rhythm of closer to find by indigo girls but he'll change the radio station if anybody else is in the car he has a Memorex mix CD that he intentionally mislabeled Chad Reinhardt live because what's really on the CD is Purple Rain by Prince freedom 90 by George Michael a cover of 20th century boy by placebo Oh Lord by foxy Shazam which one of you queers going to suck my dick by wheel Walker jr. and night swimming by REM he's more cultured than he's ready to admit he just needs a beard for his lunch pail friends and angry headlights are just enough driving dynamics the mx-5 MD is slow car fast and it's the only modern car I've ever driven that does this the envy is the fourth generation mx-5 which debuted in 2015 for the 2016 model year it's slimmer than the third gen model with a shorter wheelbase and shorter ground clearance it also features improved visibility despite the fact that the seat is deeper in the car than previous years the exterior has a more distinctive modern shape in a way that almost doesn't look like a Miata it's a departure from the traditionally rounded crack pipe shape of the older Miatas it's got this angry butch look with a grille that looks like an uncle's open mouth shouting out racial slurs on the fourth of July and the back of the car is very Jaguar yeah yeah listen to might WI put in Jaguar whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa but Mazda makes up the difference with some of the improved interior features for the 2016 which include a new steering wheel center console and gauge cluster it's a clean setup even if the removable cup holders can only be moved from one place to another and that other places because behind the art just look at this the engine the car has a 2-liter SKYACTIV straight-4 makes about 155 horsepower which is less than 167 of its predecessor but the nd weighs 200 pounds less has a comprise of sorts coming in at roughly 2,300 pounds and it also ups its torque from 140 to 148 and this is very important look at this motor there is no plastic crap on top of it they did it the valve cover looks the same yep as the original n/a you did a good job make it why not show it off there's no stupid pile of this it's the traditional front engine rear wheel drive layout and coupled to a manual transmission that's paired with a shifter that has a delightful bit of feedback it even shakes when the car idles a little bit it's got this really satisfying knotch feeling to it it's short but not too loose and it's not too stiff either it's like moving a spoon through water this is Roland's daily driver he bought it a week before we filmed it making this the newest car we've ever done seriously it only had about it only has about 600 miles on it when we filmed this I mean it takes rolling about 40 miles both way to get to work and when you consider that Roland's previous daily driver was a ninth generation Civic Si from 2002 is a pretty big upgrade because he really could he couldn't help it after getting the opportunity to drive a Porsche Boxter during a trip to California Roland was bitten by the performance bug he wanted a car like the Boxster but something that didn't cost seventy thousand dollars and the 2016 mx-5 one car of the year from wheels magazine in 2016 says no surprise were Roland went with this he's averaging a touch over 30 miles per gallon although factory numbers suggest gas mileage as high as 34 on premium fuel the tank is small which makes it seem like it drinks more gas than it really does it's slow car fast it's fun I find the ride when the road gets rough to get equally rough with it that's really down to these wheels and there's not a whole lot of rubber on these wheels I guess they're going further either track or everything is doing narrow tuning in tires these days you look back at the original n/a there's a lot of rubber there so that's one thing DNA has over this thing but thirty years later we have a car that fits the bill the original n/a I'll be it with a higher standard of build quality placed upon it considering it carries the Miata name except surprise surprise it doesn't whether they're trying to sound futuristic or want the car to sound less foreign or maybe they think the word nod a little bit too feminine for the type of guys I was describing earlier you won't find the word Miata anywhere on this car it's just an mx-5 everywhere so I count WWE tries to get everybody to call the fans WWE Universe instead of just calling them fans but no one does that because who the hell talks like that except in every respect at least in North America this is still a Miata even as its exterior proportions change on one hand sports cars have gotten bigger over the years and they've taken us further and further away from the classic roadsters of the 1950's but Mazda thank you Mazda for keeping with the philosophy that slow car fast is always more fun than fast car fast Guzzi is one blind item to z I want an X Phi 1 Phi 1 2 X 5

Channel: RegularCars

Views: 601,118

Rating: 4.9211597 out of 5

Keywords: Regular, Car, Reviews, The Best, Miata, Regular Car Reviews Miata, Miata MX-5 ND, ND Miata, Mazda Miata Grand Touring, Road Test miata, Road Test New Miata, Test Drive 2016 Miata MX-5 ND, Miata Review, MX-5 Review, Miata MX-% Review, Regular Car Reviews

Id: -vektlaHd8A

Length: 8min 34sec (514 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 17 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/toolet]

video felt a bit understated for a rcr, can't really put my finger as to why

maybe its just me

[u/[deleted]]

I test drove a 2017 ND Grand Touring and a 2017 BRZ Series.Yellow recently and definitely preferred the ND; the BRZ's clutch just felt too vague. That being said, I'll still probably just keep picking up clean NA Miatas until they appreciate to the point where it doesn't make sense not to get a new one, because UPDOWNUPDOWNUPDOWN.

[u/ridger5]

Thank god I don't like any of the songs you listed...

[u/ashowofhands]

I find the ride, when the road gets rough, to get equally rough with it

Ahh, so nothing has changed in the last 20 years!

[u/Philo_T_Farnsworth]

Kind of surprised that /r/RegularCars didn't make mention of the fact that the ND Miata has no glove box. It has what looks like the outline of one, but there's nothing there. To compensate for the lack of a glove box, there is a larger and more cavernous center console between the seats that reaches back pretty far. The cupholders are kind of ridiculous too, almost like I'm inserting an Atari 2600 cartridge. I understand this was all done in the name of weight savings, but I wonder how practical an ND is as a daily.

My NC doesn't bear the Miata name anywhere on the body either, I think Mazda has been de-emphasizing that name for a while now. I still call it a Miata, and everyone I know calls it one too, but it's curious that they wouldn't put the nameplate on them anymore. Not sure when that started, but I want to say with the NC and newer.

Kind of sad to hear about the gearing being taller in the ND. I'm able to get ~30MPG on a good day in my NC, my average is somewhere in around 27. I understand the tradeoff in driveability but it's nice having those shorter gears when you want/need them.

Overall I think the ND is a well made car for all the reasons mentioned in the video, but I am quite happy with my NC. They have a reputation as being "portly" that I think is undeserved. The NC has the best balance of creature comforts and performance IMO. And you can get one for cheap that's in good shape. I bought mine used. Love it.

[u/playingwithfire]

What exactly is the difference between 2017 MX5 and 2016. I mean the soft top model. I can't seem to find out.

[u/[deleted]]

That was tamer than usual.

[u/subzero800]

The Civics from 2002 were the 7th generation, /u/RegularCars. The Si from that generation was the EP3 and looked totally different than non-Si Civics at that time.

[u/fiah84]

I can't believe he didn't mention the stupid sound tube