Comparison Review: Mazda MX-5 GS vs Mazda MX-5 RF - Soft-top or Hardtop?

hello my name is mike and in this video you join me in the 2020 mazda mx-5 and you also join me in the 2020 mazda mx-5 rf now it's done but of the two which one is best well let's go for a drive and find out [Laughter] [Music] under the hood is a 2-liter naturally aspirated 4-cylinder that produces 181 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque that doesn't sound like a whole lot of power but when the car only weighs 1065 kilograms you really don't need that much power i mean do you really need a v8 under the hood scratch that you do need a v8 under the hood and there are v8 conversion kits but that's a story for another time this one though 181 horsepower is enough it's actually more than when this car first came out this current generation first came out because when it came out i think it only had about 155 or 150 horsepower but a lot of enthusiasts complained about that so mazda listened and bumped up the power as for the hard top well it's exactly the same you still get 181 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque from the same 2-liter naturally aspirated 4-cylinder you think that you get more power with the hardtop because it is a little bit heavier than the soft top but it's only about 51 kilograms heavier than the soft top which is like i don't know having a beautiful model sitting next to you the entire time that's the best analogy i can give you honestly you're not really gonna notice that much of a difference between the two cars in terms of acceleration in terms of fuel economy they are rated at seven liters per hundred kilometers on a highway and nine liters per hundred kilometers in a city with this manual transmission i can tell you that those numbers are very achievable because during my time with both of these cars i've been averaging around 7.3 liters per hundred kilometers on a combined almost 50 50 cycle for both of them actually made it to both of them is a six-speed manual you can get a six-speed automatic but why would you i mean it's a sports car they're meant to have manual transmissions and this one is fantastic it is one of the best manual transmissions of any modern day sports cars on the market right now with every shift oh it just feels so amazing and you always get it into the correct gear it's like a perfectly tuned machine it works brilliantly and the clutch 2 is very light it has a very good bite point so you know exactly where the clutch engages and you can put your foot on it in everyday traffic and not get tired at all but if you want to know how a sports car should feel and go around corners then these are the cars to drive steering is very precise and very quick to respond to driver inputs it provides excellent feedback as to what the front tires are doing there is a bit more body roll in the soft top than the hardtop due to the rf receiving bilstein bill stein built bilstein bilstein bilstein shocks on all four corners the mx-5 responds very well to smooth steering inputs but can quickly become twitchy at higher speeds if you toss it into a corner thankfully the back end is very easy to catch if the 205 tires do let go and they will let go even with 181 horsepower [Music] while these are sports cars they are very livable on a day-to-day basis yes the rf's ride is a tiny bit stiffer due to the bilstein shocks but only over big potholes or really rough roads that it becomes unbearable over 95 percent of roads or highways both cars are comfortable as for the interior space well it's a two-seater convertible and i am six foot four so those things don't really go together that very well i do have plenty of headroom granted the roof is off right now but with the roof up either the soft top or the hard top my hair doesn't brush up against the roof but the problem that i have though is leg room so my knee hits the dashboard every time i break and i have the seat all the way back with and reclined as far as possible and my knee will still hit the dashboard every time i'm braking so it's not really designed for someone of my height if you're let's say six feet or less then you'll have no problems fitting inside the mazda mx-5 because of the limited space mazda's engineers had to get creative with small item storage there is no traditional glove box but there is a cubby between the seats that is lockable there is also a tiny amount of storage underneath this center armrest for coins and the cup holders are interchangeable with two positions between the seats and one next to the passenger's knee trunk space is not too bad for a convertible with the soft top offering 130 liters of cargo while the rf hard top is only 3 liters smaller at 127 liters of cargo as for noise in the mx-5 well obviously the soft top is going to be the louder of the two there's a whole lot of wind and road noise coming from this area for obvious reasons as for road noise in the hard top well it is a bit better than the soft top but obviously it's not perfect the most abundant noise is the road noise from the tires but you also do get a bit of wind noise around here where the windows meet the roof it's not too bad but like i said it is a bit better than the soft top as you would expect [Music] the biggest gadget on the mazda mx-5 rf is the metal folding roof the top can go up or down in 13 seconds and up to a speed of 10 kilometers an hour it's just one toggle of a button to raise it or lower it so anyone can do it but compared to the mx-5 soft top which is a manual operating top and can be taken up or down in about 5 seconds 13 seconds for the rf feels like an eternity also 10 kilometers an hour is painfully slow try it the next time you're driving it's a lot slower than you think but apart from the hard or soft tops the 2020 mazda mx-5 and mx-5 rf come well equipped with standard features such as heated seats apple carplay and android auto connectivity forward collision alert lane departure warning push button start keyless entry and exit and led headlights as for the blind zone on this side it's not so bad because every time i turn my head i'm pretty much looking through the back window to see my blind zone but as for this side well it does have a much bigger blind zone thankfully there are side blind zone sensors which are standard feature as for styling well over the decades the mazda mx-5 has earned a reputation as being a car for only women due to its small and cute looks with this fourth generation mazda tried to make it a bit more masculine with angry looking headlights and sharp lines in the front bumper the sides and rear though have smoother flowing lines with the rear taillights mimicking the center mounted air vents on the inside overall i like the design and to me it doesn't look like it's a girl's car i'd be happy to drive it all day with the top down if i can fit in it so of the two which one is best well it's a case of eenie meenie miney mo cause they're both amazing to drive but there are a couple of differences though and i'm not just talking about the roofs although that is the biggest difference this one starts at forty thousand dollars canadian whereas this one starts at thirty three thousand dollars canadian but if you're going to buy an mx5 as a year-round car then you probably want the rf because the hardtop roof not only does it provide you security and peace of mind but during the winter months it can hold the heat in the cabin a lot better than this one can but if you're gonna buy an mx-5 as a second car or as a weekend toy then save yourself seven thousand dollars and get this one regardless of which one you choose though you're gonna have a fun time in either of them and a big smile on your face but if you want to know more about both of these cars i wrote a comprehensive review of them over on my website you can find the link in the video description and as always i will see in the next car or truck or probably going to be an suv next time thanks again for watching and see you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: M.G. Reviews

Views: 77,314

Rating: 4.8356614 out of 5

Keywords: 2020, MAZDA, MX5, MX-5, MIATA, mx-5 rf, miata rf, hardtop, metal folding roof, review, convertible

Id: 39hNg25g8v0

Length: 10min 35sec (635 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 10 2020