With the hard-top up, it is everything you would hope an MX-5 coupe would look like, except with even more imagination. Just check out those irresistibly chic buttresses. No other volume-production car since the Jaguar XJS has had the cachet to attempt such a styling flourish, let alone the grace to pull it off. Black-painted panels to mimic rear three-quarter windows beautifully complete the look.
It makes sense that the RF is stunning, of course. The ND model is the first MX-5 to appear deliberately styled – all preceding generations have almost been wilfully anti-fashion.
The two-section canopy of yesterday’s RC therefore looks purely functional – the occupants need shelter; there you go.
Even the controls inside today’s RF reflect this newfound aesthetic ambition. Flick the silver-trimmed rocker switch to operate the roof and it is accompanied by a full-colour representation of the act in your instrument binnacle. The RC makes do with nothing more flamboyant than two plastic buttons (open, close) and a red-lit icon alongside.
The Singapore sun finally sneaks behind a fat cloud, giving me an opportunity to drop the top of the RF. The buttresses lever upwards, two roof panels and the rear glass fold away, and the buttresses retake their place, connected by a plastic hoop.
Dropping or deploying the top takes 12 seconds and can be performed at speeds of up to 10km/h. So much as go near the throttle pedal at that speed, and a bong will sound to tell you you’ve exceeded the limit, freezing the roof action partway.
The RC takes the same length of time to do its Roadster-Coupe conversion, but it can only be done when stationary.
Unlike the RC, whose roof completely disappears to offer the full 360 degrees of a convertible’s wonderful openness, the RF’s B-pillars remain present. Despite not getting in the way of checking your blind spot prior to lane changes, those upright pillars still hover in your peripheral vision like the greasy head of that tall gentleman who just had to sit in front of you at the movies.
That might be an acceptable compromise if it meant better cabin isolation at speed. Unfortunately, despite the rear windscreen retracting and leaving a hole for air to pass through, the remaining structures still kick up a swirling vortex behind your head at speeds above 100km/h.
An MX-5’s cabin with the roof down is, of course, never less than blustery – this is not a Bentley Continental Convertible. However, far from being merely windy, the resulting percussive beating of air against your eardrums in the RF is particularly obtrusive.
The RC doesn’t have this problem. Mazda’s first motorised solid-roof MX-5 does not stray far from the original formula, with the NC RC providing more protection and a smidgen more refinement for those who need or want it. The new ND RF has undergone a bigger evolution, being a bit more “coupe”, a bit less “convertible” and a lot more gorgeous, but also a bit more compromised.
Mazda MX-5 ND Retractable Fastback 2.0 (A)
ENGINE 1999cc, 16-valves, inline-4
MAX POWER 160bhp at 6000rpm
MAX TORQUE 200Nm at 1750rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT 150.5bhp per tonne
GEARBOX 6-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 8.6 seconds
TOP SPEED 209km/h
CONSUMPTION 11.6km/L (combined)
CO2 EMISSION 201g/km
PRICE INCL. COE $185,800 (no CEVS surcharge)
Mazda MX-5 NC Roadster Coupe 2.0 (A)
ENGINE 1998cc, 16-valves, inline-4
MAX POWER 160bhp at 6700rpm
MAX TORQUE 188Nm at 5000rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT 124bhp per tonne
GEARBOX 6-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 9.2 seconds
TOP SPEED 194km/h
CONSUMPTION 12.6km/L (combined)
CO2 EMISSION 188g/km
PRICE INCL. COE Not applicable
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