2015 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sports Navigation | PH fleet

Of course, the raw excitement of a fast Caterham or Lotus is pretty much the most fun you can have with your clothes on, but as an all-round sports car the fourth generation Mazda MX-5 is hard to beat. It’s affordable to buy and maintain, the customization and customization options are endless, my kids love it as much as I do, and (with a few adjustments) it’s absolutely brilliant to ride at any speed. Coming in last winter, I was thinking about keeping my 25^e Anniversary edition for another year; there is no doubt whatsoever about GY65 GMO.

However, the factory wheel alignment was the first thing that had to change, along with the 10 year old tires from the factory. Both combined led to a pretty sketchy drive home when I bought the car over the summer. The balance never felt quite right, the traction control lit up for fun and the car felt unpredictable when over five-tenths. Suffice to say, if you’re driving a standard ND MX-5, don’t be put off by the way it drives.

Being a Michelin snob, I could easily opt for a new set of Michelin PS5s, and I headed to Performance Link in Gloucestershire to sprinkle some of their magic sauce on the wheel alignment, along with some brake adjustments in the boot. The wheels pretty much all pointed in opposite directions, so that explained why the handling was so awful. With nothing but some fast road geometry, some braided brake lines, and EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads, I headed home, and the difference was immediate.

The car immediately felt more planted. Heading into a nearly 90-degree bend not far from the Performance Link HQ, I turned in aggressively, fired it up and the rear rounded beautifully – whereas before it would have gone from oversteer to understeer and tried to throw me into a ditch. Bingo. Next stop was the Curborough sprint course to give it a proper try and see how it compares to my NC from the year before.

With traction turned off, the rear wheels were cheerfully lifted off the line to get some heat into the PS5s before sliding out of the first corner. With such an approachable amount of power, you never feel like you’re being pushed off the track at ridiculous speeds, forcing you to push harder and harder through each corner. Sure, there’s a fair amount of roll on the stock suspension, but that’s nothing that some coilovers and thicker sway bars can’t dial out in the future.

The ND has an electric steering rack compared to hydraulic in the NC, which some criticize. But for Luddites like me, unless you drive them back to back, I can barely feel the difference, with the ND turning in sharper and feeling more agile. It will come as no surprise to hear that the manual gearbox is the main highlight in the MX-5, with the throw boosted for maximum smiles by the heavy IL Motorsport shift knob.

The Michelin’s dig into the asphalt and give you confidence, while still allowing plenty of controllable slip when encouraged. It is probably hardly noticeable to the spectators, but you still feel like a hero behind the wheel, and that is of course the most important thing. The EBC Yellow Stuff pads bite better than OEM in the cold and pull the car up faster as they warm up, with no squeak in sight (or earshot). The only thing that’s a bit disappointing is the soft beeping sound of the limiter as you approach the redline. Fortunately, a hard limiter is something that can be mapped out, which will be done in the new year as part of a remap and an aftermarket exhaust manifold, which should see the MX-5 produce around 200 horsepower.

It’s no surprise that I’m excited to get the ‘5 out of the garage with the roof open in the spring. It’ll keep me busy in the meantime as I’m planning to retrofit Apple CarPlay when I’m not eating pies, have the steering wheel retrimmed in Alcantara and I’ve already swapped my silver roller covers for gloss black ones with a PHer at the Thruxton Sunday Service. Luckily my Dacia Duster has now been sold and I’m embracing the winter weather in my Ford Fiesta ST, romping around the local B-roads like Elfyn Evans. So there’s plenty to look forward to in 2026, and maybe for once that doesn’t mean buying another car…

Auto: 2015 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sportnav
Run by: Ben Lowden
On fleet since: July 2025
Mileage: 6,129
Changes: EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads, HEL braided brake lines, Motul RBF660 brake fluid, IL Motorsport gear knob, Fyralip trunk spoiler, Abarth 124 Spider speedometer