Five cars that tried to take on the Mazda MX-5 and failed
Friday, 7 June 2019
Many have tried, none have succeeded. To beat the Mazda MX-5, that is.
Mazda's iconic sports car is 30 years old and more than a million of them have been sold. Over the years there have been competitors, but none of them have come anywhere near the little Mazda's level of success. Today we take a look at five who have tried to knock the MX-5 off, but failed.
Ford Capri
Developed at the same time as the MX-5, Ford Australia's crack at the small roadster segment failed more spectacularly than most, with the car being beset by reliability and build quality woes right from the very start - it had a very leaky soft top and, while Ford quickly fixed it, the reputation for leakiness stuck.
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Reviving the revered Capri name on a Mazda 323/Ford laser-based front-wheel-drive roadster also wasn't a very good idea to begin with either.
Launched the same year as the MX-5, the vast majority of cars were sold in America as the Mercury Capri, with just 10,347 of the total 66,279 Capris built being RHD. During the Capri's production run Mazda built 341,418 MX-5s.
Lotus Elan
Taking the same somewhat misguided route as Ford Australia did by resurrecting a legendary name on a small FWD roadster, Lotus revived the Elan as a response to the MX-5's development, launching it 3 months after the Mazda.
While the Elan was regarded as a very good thing at the time of its release, it was considerably more expensive than the Mazda thanks to its huge development and production costs. In fact, Lotus never recovered the cost of the Elan's development over its lifespan.
Lotus built a total of just 3,855 Elans between 1989 and 1992, with a handful more during a brief run of Series 2 cars between 1994 and 1995. In that time Mazda built 373,268 MX-5s.
BMW Z3
Released in 1995, the Z3 was a rushed attempt by BMW to cash in on the MX-5's by-then-undeniable success. And it showed.
While the Z3 eventually became a very good thing, it was initially a very underwhelming thing indeed. An anaemic 85kW 1.8-litre engine was all that was available at launch, which was 10kW down on the Mazda's 1.8-litre engine that was introduced in 1994, while the Z3 was also a massive 200kg heavier as well.
The addition of six-cylinder engines made the Z3 much better, but moved it well away from the MX-5's basic, simple roadster recipe.
BMW built a total of 279,273 Z3 roadsters between 1995 and 2002, although only 134,056 were four-cylinder cars. Mazda built 323,186 MX-5s in the same period.
MG F
With Mazda's success in a segment once defined by MG, it made sense that the UK manufacturer get back into it.
The mid-engined RWD MG F was much lauded and impressively successful when launched, but little development and an alarming propensity to blow head gaskets saw it eventually languish, along with the entire MG Rover Group.
It was revived under Chinese ownership, but by that time was hopelessly outdated and quietly vanished from all but the Chinese domestic market in 2005.
116,665 were built between 1995 and 2005, with production continuing in China in tiny numbers until 2011. Mazda built 397,474 MX-5s between 1995 and 2005, with a further 163,187 between 2006 and 2011.
Fiat Barchetta
While it was only ever built in LHD form, the Barchetta was a legitimate (and fantastic looking) attempt by Fiat at capturing some of the MX-5's magic in 1995.
Like so many of the other competitors that were rushed into production to combat the MX-5, the Barchetta was developed and built on an existing FWD platform (the Fiat Punto), but was still roundly regarded as an excellent thing.
Weirdly, while it was only ever LHD, it was actually marketed and sold in Japan and the UK.
Fiat built 57,500 Barchettas during its run, compared to the MX-5's 397,474 in the same period.
Of course the Barchetta's eventual successor - the Fiat 124 Spider - is basically an MX-5 underneath and is an equally good thing.