2017 MAZDA MX5 MIATA ARRIVES AT DEALERSHIPS

TDN NEWS: 2017 MAZDA MX5 MIATA ARRIVES AT DEALERSHIPS

Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today announced pricing for the 2017 MX-5 Miata soft top, which will arrive at dealers nationwide this month.

Following its resoundingly successful launch as a 2016 model, becoming the only vehicle to ever win World Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year awards in the same year, MX-5 retains its $24,915 base MSRP^[1], providing the best thrills-per-dollar ratio of any car on the market today.

For 2017, the only packaging changes include adding Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA) as standard equipment for MX-5 Club models. Previously, these features were exclusive to MX-5 Grand Touring.

There are three MX-5 trim levels from which to choose, including the entry-level MX-5 Sport, leather-lined MX-5 Grand Touring or harder-edge MX-5 Club. Rather than a typical “good-better-best” trim strategy, MNAO has sought to provide three distinct flavors of MX-5 to cater to different customers.

Perhaps the purest distillation of the original formula of MX-5 that graced U.S. shores in 1989 as a 1990 model, MX-5 Sport comes with black cloth seats, bright-finish 16-inch wheels, one USB port in addition to standard Bluetooth phone pairing and audio streaming, six-speaker audio system, leather-wrapped shifter and handbrake, cruise control and power mirrors and windows and LED headlights and tail lights, in addition to many other features.

MX-5 Club builds upon those features with red stitching on the seats, steering wheel and shifter, a limited-slip differential and shock tower brace in models equipped with the six-speed SKYACTIV-MT manual transmission, a front aerodynamic body extension and spoiler and a Bilstein suspension. Optionally available is the Brembo/BBS Package, which further upgrades MX-5 Club models with side still extensions; lightweight, forged BBS wheels; and front Brembo brakes that have greater heat tolerances in addition to red-painted brake calipers on all four corners.

Shared with MX-5 Grand Touring models, MX-5 Club also comes with a nine-speaker BOSE^® Premium audio system, featuring headrest-mounted speakers and MAZDA CONNECT^TM infotainment, which makes phone, SiriusXM satellite radio, audio and infotainment controls accessible through a seven-inch commander control knob and touchscreen interface. Both MX-5 Club and Grand Touring also feature LED running lamps.

MX-5 Grand Touring substitutes cloth seating surfaces for leather in addition to picking up three-stage heated seats, automatic climate control, automatic headlights, High Beam Control with Adaptive Front-lighting System, auto-dimming rearview mirror, navigation, rain-sensing windshield wipers, additional sound absorption material in its cloth headliner and Advanced Keyless Entry. Advanced Keyless Entry is standard on all automatic-transmission-equipped models and a $130 option on Sport and Club models equipped with a manual transmission.

The fourth-generation MX-5 returns for its second model year approximately 150 lbs. lighter than its predecessor through greater use of ultra-high-tensile steel as well as aluminum construction. A testament to Mazda’s “Gram Strategy” and the innovation of SKYACTIV Technology, it is approximately 25-percent more efficient than its predecessor in EPA testing, yet it’s also quicker and more refined with technologies customers expect in today’s cars. All North American MX-5 models come equipped with a quick-revving, 2.0-liter SKYACTIV-G engine that produces 155 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. It sends power to the rear wheels via a standard six-speed SKYACTIV-MT six-speed manual—currently accounting for 60 percent of MX-5 sales—or an available six-speed automatic that comes standard with paddle shifters.

The approximately 2,300-lbs. roadster embodies Mazda’s “Jinba Ittai” philosophy—translated as horse and rider as one. And, it sets the pace for all of Mazda’s current- and next-generation cars and crossovers. For 2017, it is joined by the MX-5 RF—retractable fastback—which went on sale in November, and imbues MX-5 with coupe-like style and sophistication.