You pay more money and you get less car. This is the Mazda MX-5 superlegger edition

There is a certain group of people who like to convert the money spent on buying a car into kilograms of the car and into square meters of its surface. The Mazda MX-5 990S wasn't made for them. In it, for more money, we will get less car.

The Mazda MX-5 is a great and iconic car. Nobody has any doubts about that. It has always been said that one of its greatest advantages is low weight, thanks to which a car, even with a small engine, is an amazing fun to drive. The Japanese decided to give people even more fun - they slimmed down the Miata so that it weighed less than a ton.

Mazda MX-5 990S weighs exactly 990 kg

Mazda's engineers tried to shed precious kilos wherever possible. The soundproofing of the whole car was removed, lighter rims were used. But what touches me the most is that a lighter Brembo braking system was used, which allowed to take as much as 700 grams from the total weight. We will recognize the new version by black calipers with blue Brembo lettering, a blue (navy blue?) roof and air vents in the same color. Got rid of the navigation system and the Mazda Connect system. The center display is for radio only.

This is the video from the MX-5 fan meeting, where the 990S version was shown for the first time:

I like the solid journalistic work in this video - four minutes is a train ride to where Mazda is presented. Once we start shooting our own material, I will do the same - an hour and a half drive to Warsaw cannot be wasted.

Mazda MX-5 990S has an interesting feature that will help cornering

The car also features an all-new Vehicle Posture Stabilization system (other sources translate it from Japanese as Vehicle Attitude Stabilization Control). Its task is to control the lean of the car in corners. If the forces acting on the car in a curve exceed 0.3 G, the rear brake is applied (with minimum force) from the inside of the curve. This prevents wheel roll and wheel lift when cornering. Thanks to this system, curves are to be driven at a much higher speed and in a way that is more pleasant for the driver. The engine that drives the car is a 1.5-liter gasoline unit with 132 hp. The car has only one downside, which perfectly shows that Mazda is not focused on European customers - the MX-5 990S version will be available only in Japan.

Let's give the floor to Mr. Shigeki Saito, the engineer who worked on the Mazda MX-5 990S. When asked why it would not offer a larger engine, he replied that it did not make sense. The 2.0-liter unit is heavier - together with the additional structural reinforcements, it weighs 50 kg more than that used in this Mazda. He also added that more horsepower is not always more fun to drive. However, according to him, the lighter the car, the more fun it is. He knows what he's talking about, after all, in Japan they love cornering. And on this optimistic note I will end the description of this magnificence.