I’ve never been much good at reading the small print in car launch invitations. In 1989, I thought Mazda was inviting me to drive a then unknown car called Em-Ex-Five (or something similar) on one of those remote, exotic islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Turned out that we only touched down in my idea of paradise for an hour to refuel the plane, whose final destination was Japan… where our MkI MX-5 cars patiently sat. In those days, you see, London to Tokyo just wasn’t doable on one tank of aviation fuel. thus the stop at the pumps on the Pacific landing strip.
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Wind forward 25 years, almost to the day, and it seemed fitting that I – an MX-5 veteran and fan – was invited to the reveal of the all-new version.
• new Mazda MX-5 revealed: all you need to know
Sadly, there are very few inexpensive models in showrooms that are genuinely unique. but the little (yet large enough) roadster has been exactly that for much of the past 25 years, and probably will be for the next 25. Sure, the likes of MG and Fiat bravely took on – and were comprehensively beaten by – the MX-5 in recent decades. and bruised and battered Fiat will be having another pop at Mazda, but this time with a little bit of help… from Mazda itself.