I drove the new 2024 Mazda MX-5, minor updates do nothing to dilute its old school charm

Steven Chisholm with the Mazda MX-5 near Almondell & Calderwood Country Park, West Lothian. Credit: Steven Chisholm | National World

Eastern Europe in turmoil, Arsenal and Liverpool duke it out for supremacy at the top of the English football pyramid and affordable two-seater roadsters have almost disappeared from the European car market. The more things have changed since the launch of the Mazda MX-5 in 1989, the more things stay the same.

The best selling two-seater sports car in history, the MX-5 has been an unmitigated commercial and critical success through the generations, yet here we are 30-odd years later and, once again, there’s nothing else quite like the little Mazda on the market.

Many have tried. When the current generation was launched in 2015, there was even a partnership between Mazda and Fiat which saw the rebirth of the 124 Spider as an engine-swapped and rebadged MX-5 assembled in Hiroshima. While production of the Italian-Japanese collaboration ceased in 2020, the MX-5 was refreshed in 2019 and it has had the same treatment again for 2024, with a long list of tweaks aimed at extending its appeal.

What’s new for 2024 MY?

On the surface, the changes are subtle. New light designs front and rear, some additional paint options and some trim levels have new alloy wheels. In the cabin, there’s a larger infotainment display, now 8.8 inches, and an updated instrument cluster. The USB ports are now USB-C and the demonstrator I took on a test drive featured new leather and Alcantara Recaro seats, exclusive to Homura trim.

Under the bonnet, or more specifically somewhere beneath the driver’s bum, the 2024 car features a new asymmetric limited slip differential design, there have been a host of minor adjustments aimed at improving the steering fluidity and accelerator responsiveness and Exclusive-line and Homura models feature a new track driving setting on the dynamic stability control system.

Interior and practicality

Practicality is unlikely to be your major concern if you’re in the market for a small two-seater like the MX-5. Our test car had a 130-litre boot thanks to its soft-top roof. Meanwhile, the RF version with its folding metal lid is slightly smaller at 127 litres. It’s big enough for three or four bags of shopping or perhaps the sort of suitcase you’d be confident getting past Ryanair without being sprung for a £50 charge.

A larger monitor with improved definition is the principle visual change to the interior. Credit: Mazda UK | Mazda UK

The driving position is very low and sitting in traffic it’s impossible not to be conscious of how small the MX-5 is compared with the majority of vehicles on the road now. That said, visibility is excellent front and side and while not great to the rear, folding the roof down will solve that (on a nice day at least).

The cabin feels really well built and screwed solidly together, although storage space is at a premium. Colour-coded door inserts, minimalist design and the three-spoke steering wheel feel like a throwback to the 60s roadsters that inspired the original car. Some of the plastics lower down feel a little behind more expensive cars it may draw comparisons with, like the Z4 or Porsche Boxter, but entirely in keeping with the price differential. In all the areas that matter, the materials feel pretty good and the largest expanse of dashboard (in between the dials and the vents) is upholstered to match the seat trim and door panels, which in our test car meant black Nappa.

The infotainment screen is one of the headline upgrades - now two inches bigger than it was - and it’s still controlled via the rotary dial behind the gear stick which works just fine once you get used to it.

Driving the MX-5

I took a 2.0-litre demonstrator on a test drive in West Lothian and, right from the outset, the familiar throaty rumble from idle, old-fashioned vibration through the steering wheel and pedals and slick, short-shifting manual gearbox had me smiling.

While none of the changes for 2024 have done anything to change my mind that the 1.5-litre engine is more fun, and better value, as a daily driver than the 2.0-litre variant, a bit more time experiencing the increased mid-range oomph and enthusiasm near the red line left me with the suspicion that a play with the new track settings somewhere like Knockhill might change my mind.

The 2024 model year gets new lights front and rear. Black BBS wheels are exclusive to Homura grade. Credit: Mazda UK | Mazda UK

On the motorway and quiet stretches, there’s no doubt you can feel the 2.0-litre’s extra poke and the extra performance makes the MX-5 look even more compelling as a budget competitor to more expensive models like the BMW Z4, but I still think the real lesson is that a car needn’t have a premium price and sub-seven second nought to 62mph time to be considered great fun.

The stiffer suspension on the larger-engined car compromises the ride somewhat over rough surfaces, the 1.5 feeling a little more pliant in normal driving. The benefit though, is less lean in cornering and the result is a car that’s perfectly balanced on twisting roads. The steering is as sharp as ever, the lightweight, rear-wheel drive set-up delivering the easy fun the MX-5 has become known for.

The 2024 model year MX-5's updates keep it relevant. | Mazda UK

Verdict - should you buy a Mazda MX-5?

Our top-spec Homura grade test car is just a shade over £35k and the retractable fast-back only adds around £2k to that figure, meaning even fully kitted out the most expensive MX-5 is still £10k cheaper than an entry level BMW Z4 or Porsche 718 Boxter. You can purchase the roadster in 1.5-litre form from £23k - frighteningly good value for this much fun. Which is why, despite 35 years of success, the MX-5 is still in a category of one when it comes to rear-wheel drive, two-seater sports cars.

There have been some high-profile casualties from the fleets of mainstream manufacturers recently, as icons like the Fiesta have been retired in the drive for electrification. That Mazda believes in its own bonafide icon enough to release this life-extending update is a sign that we needn't consign cheap, rear-wheel drive fun to history just yet.