This one is for the drivers. Here we have two lightweight, rear-wheel drive manual sports
cars without a turbo, supercharger or hybrid system in sight and both are designed to put
a huge smile on your face. But which does it best? Let us know your thoughts in the comments
below and like the video and subscribe to the carsales channel while you're at it.
The back to basics sports car concept isn't as popular as it once was,
but in a way it's more relevant than ever. In the blue corner we have the
new Subaru BRZ in coupe S manual, guys, and in the gray corner there's the Mazda MX-5.
Here as a base model manual for which you'll save around $4,000 compared to the Subaru.
Both are covered by five year unlimited kilometre warranties and five years of capped price
servicing. The Mazda is a little bit cheaper to service but also has shorter intervals. Whether or
not the new BRZ is good looking will be up to your personal taste, but it's definitely a more stylish
and aggressive car than its predecessor. Wheels up, 18's wrapped in 215-40 Michelin Pilot Sport 4
tires and behind them we've got two 94 millimetre disks and two piston calibers at the front,
two 90 millimetre disks and single piston calibers at the rear. One thing to note is that using
aluminum rather than steel for the front guards and roof does save weight and lowers the center of
gravity. The new BRZ weighing 249 kilograms tare or around 1300 kilograms with a full tank of fuel.
When it comes to lightness though, the MX-5 is king. This roadster weighs just 1058
kilograms. They must've of really went back to basics with the ND generation, shrink-wrapping
the car as much as possible. Wheels are an inch smaller than the BRZs and we 205-45 Bridgestone
Potenza tires. While brakes are two 80 millimetre disks and single piston calibers at both ends.
Both cars have four cylinder engines but whereas the BRZ is a 2.4 litre boxer,
so the pistons go like this, the MX-5's two litre is much more conventional. The BRZ is much
more powerful but in terms of power-to-weight, there's very, very little in it and both cars
should do just under six and a half seconds from zero to 100 K's an hour. It's clear
from in here that the new BRZ is an updated version of the old car. That's not such a
bad thing if the driving position is pretty good, though I would like this
wheel to come a little bit higher. All BRZ come with keyless entry and start,
dual zone climate control, digital instruments and sports seats. While
this S version adds heated seats and leather ultra suede trim instead of the basic cloth.
The BRZ's touchscreen infotainment is a fairly basic affair, a definite improvement over what
came before but not exactly cutting edge. The new digital instruments are pretty cool though with
a couple of different display modes and a design that evokes the BRZ's boxer engine. As you might
expect from the exterior dimensions the interior of the MX-5 is relatively snug. In fact, if you're
somewhat of larger stature, whether height or width, you're probably not gonna fit in here.
That said, Mazda has done what it can within these confines with a storage area behind the rear seats
and these cup holders, one of which fits down there and the other one just clips in there.
Thankfully, the wheel is now adjustable for both height and reach, but this being the base model
you do miss out on some niceties. The seats are cloth and not heated, there's no keyless
entry and there are only six speakers instead of nine. On the plus side, that's less weight.
The MX-5's seven inch touchscreen infotainment isn't actually touchscreen when you're on the move
which is pretty annoying. When you're driving, you have to use this dial which is actually far more
distracting. Overall, both these cars offer the basics and let's be honest you're probably using
smartphone mirroring most of the time anyway, but if you're looking for the latest tech, you're out
of luck. When it comes to safety, the Mazda is well catered for including all the basics as well
as traffic sign recognition and auto emergency braking in both forward and reverse. However,
the BRZ manual, like the WRX manual, misses out on virtually all of Subaru's EyeSight
active safety equipment. Most importantly, auto emergency braking. Only automatic buyers receive
these features. The BRZ does have backseats with ISOFix for baby seats but you're gonna
struggle to actually fit anyone back there so you're better off folding the backrest
down and expanding the boot. The boot is a bit compromised by the spare wheel but on the plus
side it's a full size alloy spare. You're also going to need a pack light in the MX-5. The 130
litre boot big enough for a couple of soft bags, but little else. But now we'll get to the crux of
the matter. Which of these two sports cars is the best to drive and for that we'll start in the BRZ.
You know when you make a recipe for the first time usually stuff it up somewhere. You skip a step,
you get a measurement wrong and subsequently, while it might still taste pretty good it's not as
good as it could be. That was the first generation 86 and BRZ. I absolutely loved them but that
doesn't mean they weren't flawed and weirdly for a sports car, most of the flaws were in the driving.
The engine was dead set ordinary, had this massive hole in the torque curve, so while
it felt okay at low RPM, had no mid-range, you had to rev the ring out of it to get anywhere.
The gearbox could be a pain when it was cold and while the handling was in general great
it was set up to fall into oversteer under load which was meant to make it fun but could
make it feel quite nervous. Anyway, the point is that this new generation BRZ is the second
attempt at the recipe and thus pretty much all the shortcomings have been rectified.
The engine is a massive improvement. Look, it's still not gonna go down as an old-timer but not
only is there more power, it's delivered smoothly and it gets stronger as you approach redline.
The biggest change though is the flexibility. You can now just press the throttle to go rather
than always having to shuffle down a gear or two. This is helpful on the spirited drive but
transforms the experience when just cruising in traffic. Combine this with a slicker gear
shift and genuinely compliant ride and the BRZ is a great daily with one very large exception.
This is one of the noisiest cars I've ever driven. To be honest,
this isn't something I usually ever notice, just turn the music up a bit, but if you're
at any sort of speed, it's like driving along with a seashell clasped over each ear going .
Thankfully the BRZ is so good to drive that you can easily forgive it.
A lot of the bits have been carried over from the previous car, but the combination of the stiffer
body, suspension tweaks and those Pilot Sport tires make it a much more serious proposition.
There's a lot more grip and traction so you can drive the car harder with greater confidence.
The flip side to that is you have to drive the car harder for it to come alive and do all those 86,
BRZ things. I suspect that the BRZ would be utterly brilliant on track,
but it's fantastic fun on the road too. But is it better than the MX-5?
I'm not sure, and that's a problem because that's the entire point of this video,
to answer that very question. In fact, they're so close that I'm trying to
avoid one of those awful sitting on the fence, it depends what you like verdicts.
The Mazda has a better engine. Seen a couple of people recently complain that the MX-5 two litre
is nothing special but I'm not really sure what more you could want from it. It's flexible,
though having only around 1100 kilos to move helps. It makes a better sound than the Subaru
and it revs harder too, pulling strongly well into the red zone. At higher speeds, the power deficit
begins to show and the BRZ gets the upper hand but the MX-5's by no means slow and has one of
the best manual gear boxes you will ever try so that's one point, just, to the Mazda. As
you can probably be here, being a soft-top means the MX-5 is even noisier than the BRZ,
though it's mostly wind noise rather than just road noise. It rides firmer too,
though is still perfectly acceptable. Where it gets really tricky to split these two is
in terms of driving dynamics, which might sound strange given their mechanical similarities.
If we return to the cake analogy the BRZ and MX-5 are the same type of cake but different flavors,
and that's the crux of the issue. Is vanilla better than chocolate? Well, depends what you
like. The BRZ is pretty straightforward. Now it's got decent tires, it drives pretty much how you'd
expect a sports car to drive. Agile, hunkered down and grippy. The MX-5 is basically the opposite.
For this latest generation, Mazda altered the recipe and made it quite soft so it
pitches and it dives and it rolls. The benefit of this is that you're always feeling involved.
The downside of the BRZ's greater composure is that you have to drive it harder to make
it really feel like it's doing anything. No such problems in the Mazda. Even at moderate speeds,
it's moving around. The downside of the Mazda is that at higher speeds or on bumpy roads,
it can feel a bit skittish but in tighter corners it is brilliant.
As you build confidence you can then use this body movement to your advantage. Adjusting the
car amid corner using the pedals as well as the steering wheel. It's the pure essence of driving
though it won't be for everyone. There will be those who wish for a little more stability.
In an effort to appease these people this latest MX-5 has something called kinematic posture
control which keeps the rear end more stable. Though, to be honest it's something you feel a
lot more on-track than on the road. You can watch a video all about it elsewhere on this channel.
Regardless of which flavor of cake, sorry, sports car you prefer, both these cars are
winners. I mentioned at the top that they're more relevant than ever and that's because they're
an antidote to the majority of cars that keep getting faster and more powerful and heavier.
Both are fun sensible speeds and while, yes, both are exclusively petrol-powered
you have to work pretty hard to even approach 10 litres per 100 K in either,
especially the featherweight Mazda. They're light on consumables too.
The MX-5 also has the trump card of being able to drop the top in a flash should the mood take you.
It is a fantastic sports car but it's the BRZ that gets the win partly because it's the easier car to
recommend with more space and greater comfort. But crucially, it is the better car to drive. Faster,
yes, but also more confidence, inspiring and controllable. Long may it live.
Thank you for watching. If you have enjoyed this video please give it a like, subscribe
to the carsales channel and leave a comment down below with the cars you'd like to see us review.