Through four generations beginning in 1989, the Mazda MX-5 has been the perennial open top sports car for the mass market, and consequently the most popular, always staying true to its founding philosophy of light weight effervescence.
True to the occasion, Mazda have revealed the 30th Anniversary Edition and will only be making 3000 examples, all of which will be done with this new Racing Orange exterior, an exclusive shade. The special edition is due to make its official public appearance at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show, the same venue to where it was revealed for the first time on February 10th, 30 years ago.
Each is based on the GT variant of both the Roadster and hard top RF, but have been fitted with some very welcome feature adds that elevate the driving experience over the standard car, specifically a set of Rays (ZE40 RS30) forged alloy wheels, Bilstein dampers, and upgraded brake callipers from Brembo and Nissan painted in the same Racing Orange.
Inside, the colour treatment follows with contrast stitching and seat piping to match the door trim and steering wheel. There are also Recaro sports seats and Alcantara trim on the door, dashboard, and seat centre.
The engine and transmission package, though, remains unaltered with a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated SkyActiv-G petrol engine producing 135kW and 205Nm mounted longitudinally up front and sending power to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox (an automatic option will also be offered). It’s also worth noting that Japanese buyers can spec their 30th Anniversary Edition MX-5 with the 1.5-litre four-cylinder, but only them.
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