New Mazda MX-5 meets EV-converted original: which is best?
Similar in size, money and ethos. Yet wildly different in application
Electric NA or all the bells-and-whistles ND: on which MX-5 would my £35,000 (ish) go? Honestly, it’s the new one. But it’s closer than I thought it would have been.
The ‘NA’ you see here is indeed an electric car. When I wrote about it before, it garnered fury from the world of car bores. “Not a propa MX-5,” sang the chorus of middle-aged men in the online comments. But it ’s the real McCoy, rather than a soyboy.
The good folk at Oxfordshire based Electrogenic have ripped out the old 1.6 -litre four-banger and replaced it with a single electric motor powering the rear wheels. It makes 160bhp and 229lb ft of torque. Range is said to be in the region of 160 miles and, no, it ’s not a manual.
The ND Mazda MX-5 here is top banana in the range, called the Homura. To recap, up front is the familiar 181bhp 2.0 -litre atmo engine.
Similar in size, money and ethos. Yet wildly different in application
www.autocar.co.uk
