ON FRONT PAG E N O R T H E AST V I C TO R I A , A L P S A N D H I G H CO U N T RY
DECEMBER 24 - 31, 2015
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Shaped for the 21st century, the all-new Mazda MX-5 is no longer an evolution of the first three generations.
Mazda MX-5
brilliant little sports machine ROAD TEST By EWAN KENNEDY As well as the standard MX-5, simply called the Roadster, there’s an upmarket one, the Roadster GT. The GT gains 16-inch wheels, black doormirror housings, a seven-inch touchscreen with satellite navigation, internet radio, automatic lights and wipers, climate control on the air conditioning, and keyless entry and start. Our test machine was a 1.5-litre Roadster GT. Shaped for the 21st century, the all-new Mazda MX-5 is no longer an evolution of
Santa has a new sleigh...
the first three generations, it’s a clean sheet design. It comes as no surprise that the MX-5 uses the Kodo design that’s been so successful in other models in the current Mazda range. Just look at the TV commercial to see the brilliant little roadster leading a V-shaped group of Mazda cars and SUVs. For the first time, the Mazda MX-5 is offered with two engines. A 1.5-litre, four-cylinder unit with a modest 96 kW of power, and 150 Nm of torque, and a 2.0-litre (118 kW / 200 Nm). The two engines are obviously closely related and feature Mazda’s SkyActiv technology that lets them run a very high compression ratio to provide excellent
efficiency. Mazda offers the MX-5 in fivespeed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. In the early days Mazda Australia is finding buyers are going for about 60 per cent manual gearboxes. A wise decision to our way of thinking, though the auto is a sporty little unit it does take the edge off the driving experience. Unless you’re sentenced to spend most of your commuting life in heavyduty traffic why not enjoy the excellent gearshift and improved control a ‘real’ gearbox gives you?
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At last we’ve had a chance to spend a week in a Mazda MX-5. We were a bit slow at putting up our hands to borrow one to drive on our home territory after the successful media launch drives early in the year. When we say slow, we are talking about being a few seconds late off the mark. The tiny Mazda roadster has proven as popular with the motoring press as it has with owners. Close to 200 MX-5s with the ‘big’ 2.0-litre engine were sold before the first ship even arrived in the docks downunder. Which might explain why we were given the 1.5-litre to test. Ah, well, it gives us the excuse to get into a 2.0L later.
Paul Davenport 0408 057 837 Michael Henderson 0418 512 531 Kylie Stevenson 0428 215 677 Noel Gilbert 0438 597 200
(03) 5721 5677 THE TEAM AT ONE MILE MOTORS WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS & A SAFE & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
10 Templeton Street, Wangaratta www.onemilemotors.com.au LMCT1060