Photographs are garbage. Sorry, photographers, you’re all wonderful people, but life happens in Three Dimensions.
In an image you can see the language behind a design. You can decide whether, in principle, you like it. Just like skim-reading a book, you can get the gist of what’s going on with a single glance. Of course, the better the photo, the more information you get, and the better you can appreciate the details, but you can only see something from the same perspective of the photographer. Stop me if I begin to state the obvious.
When I saw the photos of the New MX5 I was all, like, “Oh”. But now I’ve walked around it, touched it, been inside, I’m all, like, “Mmmm”.


Original MX5 was Right. Yes, yes, blah blah Lotus Elan blah Copy blah. But the Elan was one of the very finest lightweight sportscars of all time, it was about bloody time somebody imitated it. Looking back at the first MX5 today it seems almost too simple. The hyperactive and short spanned of attention might call it bland. In a way, it was. Certainly there was nothing there that didn’t need to be. No silly garnish.

It also ended up being a blank canvas. So many Eunoses found themselves “improved” (or “ruined”, depending) with more power, more sophisticated suspension setups, the lot. Today it’s rare indeed to find one which doesn’t vary at least a little from factory issue.

I was worried when Mazda started talking about “Kodo” design language. My concern was that the stylists might get carried away and that our beloved sporty little baby would become some overwrought, twisty-turny design nightmare.
So when I saw the new one, the first thing I thought of was “Feed me, Seymour”, with that big daft hungry-looking, gaping grille, and that was my decision made. I didn’t really like it. The MX5 looked like a new product to replace an old one, not a work of genius nor a continuation of a near mythical bloodline.
Now, all of a sudden, it’s turned into something else.

Walking around the MX5 I became acutely aware of the shortcomings of photographs. Now, live, in high-resolution, real time 3D I was able to properly decode what it was I was looking at. I know there’s nothing particularly complicated going on, but I’m now relieved that, well, there’s nothing very complicated going on. They haven’t over-designed the MX5. They’ve simply reborn it.
I like the headlamps. Yes, they’re squinty, but at least they aren’t doe-eyed or cutesy. They clearly acknowledge the fixed sidelights on the original. Shame pop-ups can never come back, but that would only be any good for the sake of nostalgia, anyway.

I like the rear lights even more. Far less generic than any others previously fitted to an MX5, yet not exactly ornate. Just clean, crisp and somehow rich-looking. Actually, the more I looked at them, the more I thought them to be little works of art.

I also think they lend the car a bit of a scaled-down Jaguar F-Type appearance. Am I the only person who sees this? The F-Type is conceptually miles apart from the MX5 ethos, but looks good, and this looks good. So it doesn’t really matter either way. Whatever, it looks muscular and determined, without looking pumped-up. Or over-ornate.

I really like the cockpit.  They’re still acknowledging historical MX5 cues like the round air vents, and it’s not as much of a button-fest as we might have feared.  Plus, the gear shifter looks oh-so-operable, the handbrake looks really well placed for acts of wanton playfulness, and there are body coloured accents which create the illusion of letting the outside in.
I love it when the inside of a car expresses the exterior. A sports car shouldn’t conceal its driver from the reality of what they’re piloting. It should be an extension of the outside of the car. The MX5 achieves this.
I’m itching to drive this car. My only hope is that the fashionably big wheels haven’t brought about an all-grip-no-feel driving experience. The old car was HILARIOUS even at only 4o mph. I only hope the new one can offer just as much easy fun.
(All images copyright Chris Haining / Hooniverse 2015)