We had an inkling the new Mazda MX-5 was a good deal when the prices were announced, but we didn’t know it was this good. According to an infographic commissioned by parts retailer MazdaPartsUSA.com, the MX-5’s numbers are quite close to those of the Porsche Boxster.
"In my opinion, a 2016 Miata offers about 90% of the performance of a new 2015 Porsche Boxster at less than 50% of the cost," says Frank Mitchell, parts manager of MazdaPartsUSA.com.
Actually, Mitchell is referring to the US prices of these desirable sports cars. Over there, a Miata costs $24,195 (P1,100,000) and the Boxster costs $52,395 (P2,400,000). But in our market, the MX-5 goes for P1,680,000, while the Boxster retails for P5,350,000. With those numbers, the Philippine-market Mazda roadster is actually less than one-third the price of the Porsche! If you do the math, you can buy three Mazda MX-5 MT units and still have more than P300,000 in change.
Here are some fascinating notes we were able to gather from the infographic:
* The MX-5 can’t stop as well as the Boxster (48.16m versus 44.2m), but the Mazda is about 226kg lighter, so its brake distance is within 10% of the Porsche’s.
* Despite the Boxster having a 2.7-liter engine against the MX-5’s 2.0-liter mill, the race to 60mph (97kph) sees the Mazda only trailing by 0.3 second.
* In a quarter mile, the MX-5 is only 0.6 second behind the Boxster.
Of course there are some things that can’t be measured by numbers: factors like prestige, luxury and brand cachet. There’s a difference in alighting from a premium German brand versus a Japanese marque.
In the end, what a car means to a driver is personal--especially models with fanatic followings like the Boxster and the MX-5. But in our eyes, the Mazda roadster just became more desirable than it already was.
