My new 2018 MX5 Ltd ED RF

[madmort]

Come on ..... Pete bought his Mrs a car, he ought to be pleased. It is for her isn't it?

[Pete]

I had a very touching experience today, and I think unique amongst mx5 owners. I was showing a friend various aspects of the Ltd Ed RF, when behind us, an elderly lady approached. In a gentle tone, she asked, who's car is that? I replied it belonged to my wife. She said the car looked beautiful, and despite not being able to drive, she said she had an appreciation for all beautiful things. How lovely was that. Perhaps she regretted not owning a beautiful sports car and all the experiences that such a car entails.

The car got a full detail today, even though it's literally just off the production line! From here on in, it'll get a detail every three weeks, whether it needs it or not. The car was nicely presented by John Newell, but it looked stunning after the detail. I used all mothers products. The wax was carnauba cleaner wax. It's simply an outstanding product, giving a beautiful finish. I can't be bothered giving the car a polishing step, after the wash and before the waxing. I save time by using the carnauba cleaner wax and doing the two steps in one. Again, it's a great product, giving wonderful results.

One more experience is worth relating. I was coming out of my drive way and a young couple were nearby. I saw that he elbowed his girlfriend to check out the sexy car. It was great!

This car is everything I wanted in a high end MX5. It's a supercar condensed into 155hp.

[greenMachine]

Is that you Craig?

[JBT]

Thread title is wrong: Should be "Her new 2018 MX5 Ltd ED RF" or "The Missus' new 2018 MX5 Ltd ED RF" or "My wife's new 2018 MX5 Ltd ED RF"...but, then again, do I really care?

[Luke]

Had a look at a LE today as I was passing by a dealer that had one out front.
Straight away before I got out of my car I was wondering where is the body kit, more on that below.
Brembos look great. Nice and beefy size callipers and pads, I need these for track use. The rotors look much the same though.
Same ride height as stock and I guess the same springs. That's a personal preference thing. I would have preferred they did something like NB SE's which had a decent suspension upgrade by being slightly lower and stiffer than a normal NB.
Recaro seats look alright. The car was still locked and not ready to be presented yet so I did not get to sample them.

Now what I saw wrong with it.
The body kit comes in a separate package to be fitted by the dealer. Did they tell you that Pete? Seems sneaky to me.
I have seen some kits fitted to regular MX-5's by dealers and can say that the fitment is not always the best. Probably done by the apprentice on a Friday afternoon. This should be done at the factory to factory quality for such a special car.
They still have the ugly black pedals. Being a LE it should have the alloy ones like every other LE MX-5 in the past. So I guess that's extra on top if you want them.
From what I could see no aluminium scuff plates installed on the door sills either. Again every LE MX-5 and even a lot of standard NA, NB and NC's had these as standard. The ND ones a are crap stick on ones.
Oh and no soft top which we all knew already. I want light weight performance, not a heavy folding roof.


It looks nice and has some expensive quality items, but I still can't see 55K in value or 7K over a RF black roof for wheels, callipers, dampers, strut brace, seats and body kit.
I know if you were to buy these items separately it will cost more, but at over inflated Mazda prices only. At a factory level it costs them less as they are merely using different parts, and from an aftermarket point of view can be done cheaper and better(subjective again) as well.

I would mostly be pissed if I got one of these by the likely arrival of the ND2(is that what we will call it???) and only because of the possible power upgrade. That will just devalue this LE which is just plain wrong.

[Pete]

Had a look at a LE today as I was passing by a dealer that had one out front.
Straight away before I got out of my car I was wondering where is the body kit, more on that below.
Brembos look great. Nice and beefy size callipers and pads, I need these for track use. The rotors look much the same though.
Same ride height as stock and I guess the same springs. That's a personal preference thing. I would have preferred they did something like NB SE's which had a decent suspension upgrade by being slightly lower and stiffer than a normal NB.
Recaro seats look alright. The car was still locked and not ready to be presented yet so I did not get to sample them.

Now what I saw wrong with it.
The body kit comes in a separate package to be fitted by the dealer. Did they tell you that Pete? Seems sneaky to me.
I have seen some kits fitted to regular MX-5's by dealers and can say that the fitment is not always the best. Probably done by the apprentice on a Friday afternoon. This should be done at the factory to factory quality for such a special car.
They still have the ugly black pedals. Being a LE it should have the alloy ones like every other LE MX-5 in the past. So I guess that's extra on top if you want them.
From what I could see no aluminium scuff plates installed on the door sills either. Again every LE MX-5 and even a lot of standard NA, NB and NC's had these as standard. The ND ones a are crap stick on ones.
Oh and no soft top which we all knew already. I want light weight performance, not a heavy folding roof.


It looks nice and has some expensive quality items, but I still can't see 55K in value or 7K over a RF black roof for wheels, callipers, dampers, strut brace, seats and body kit.
I know if you were to buy these items separately it will cost more, but at over inflated Mazda prices only. At a factory level it costs them less as they are merely using different parts, and from an aftermarket point of view can be done cheaper and better(subjective again) as well.

I would mostly be pissed if I got one of these by the likely arrival of the ND2(is that what we will call it???) and only because of the possible power upgrade. That will just devalue this LE which is just plain wrong.

Thanks for your detailed post. It was a great read. You made a significant omission in that you forgot to mention the Bilstein shocks, which is a very very nice piece of kit. Don't forget, this is my wife's car, so it's the RF or forget about it. I might here mention, because it's so cool, she drives manual. Also, for us at least, the Ltd Ed RF is, for the money, a very whole and complete car, not lacking in anything, including power. All the special parts on this MX5 are very high quality, with some of the best names in the business.

I got the scruff plates installed for free. I can get the alloy pedals, but they are just covers that would fit over the top. Pointless I think. Yes I knew before hand that the aero kit was not factory install. Yeah, the apprentice at john Newell did a perfect job on Friday morning, in fact, so as to give himself ample time. No rush job here!

According to the mazda website a top of the range machine grey, black roof, manual RF is $49,497, which is a difference of $6293. I think this was justifiable. I'm certainly not complaining about the quality of the parts. They are great and finish off the car perfectly. I regard the parts as essential to a genuine, bona fide, sports car! Our pearl white car looks sensational, classical and timelessly beautiful.

I'm due for a new car at the end of the year. My guess is that I'll probably get the Nismo 370z. Mazda will most likely have already announced the 2019 car, before I get the Nismo, so I'll know where I stand. Unless the 2019 MX5 is something crazy special, like an MPS version, then I'll go for the Nismo, a car which belongs to a different stratosphere, no matter what the next MX5 may be. However, a crazy special raucous MPS MX5 might sway me towards it. As you can see, there is no reason for me to feel pissed off about buying the Ltd Ed RF. We love just the way it is.

[Luke]

Same ride height as stock and I guess the same springs. That's a personal preference thing. I would have preferred they did something like NB SE's which had a decent suspension upgrade by being slightly lower and stiffer than a normal NB.

It looks nice and has some expensive quality items, but I still can't see 55K in value or 7K over a RF black roof for wheels, calipers, dampers, strut brace, seats and body kit.

Thanks for your detailed post. It was a great read. You made a significant omission in that you forgot to mention the Bilstein shocks, which is a very very nice piece of kit.

Nope, no omission, dampers are the Bilsteins, I picked out the parts of my post where I alluded to them. You can't miss them on the car, they are bright yellow like they were on our NC LE. Still like the stealthy look of the Silver ones on the NB SE though. Well at least they are stealthy on a Silver car.

[apsilon]

I think I read somewhere the bodykit is made and supplied by a local company so makes sense for them to be a dealer fit item though certainly something to check upon delivery. The real worry is are they going to be available as spare parts long term?

I like the car, I briefly considered one, but I think they're priced too high like most new cars. The MX5 to me has always supposed to be a fun car and these days $55k can get you more fun elsewhere. If they'd received a decent power bump then maybe but I went the other way and bought another NA instead. Maybe I'll look at the ND2 when the lease is up on my daily.

[track_addict]

Does it have an LSD? Any bona-fide sports car has a proper diff in it after all....


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[Pete]

Does it have an LSD? Any bona-fide sports car has a proper diff in it after all

You can bet the family jewels it does. Together with the strut car and bilsteins, the car behaves more like what you'd expect it to. The previous MX5s were, to me, somewhat idiosyncratic in their behaviour, with their excessive lean and soft springs. Not that the wife complained.

[Pete]

Nope, no omission, dampers are the Bilsteins, I picked out the parts of my post where I alluded to em. You can't miss them on the car, they are bright yellow like they were on our NC LE. Still like the stealthy look of the Silver ones on the NB SE though. Well at least they are stealthy on a Silver car.

Strange I didn't pick up on that, my bad. We owned an nc3 for over 5 years and it was soft, leaned a lot and was slow on the turn in. Not very sporty at all. I think the additions to the Ltd Ed have made significant improvements to the handling, much more to my liking. Having said that, don't expect it to corner like a nismo gtr.

Many are complaining about the price, but I think $50k is too much to pay for the regular black top rf, that's missing so many high end components, and which flatter a sports car. It's true though that the Ltd Ed lacks a titanium exhaust but I can live with that!

[track_addict]

So this is basically the Clubsport model that the Americans got just after the release of the ND into the US? I was wondering when it would be released here.


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[Luke]

Nope, no omission, dampers are the Bilsteins, I picked out the parts of my post where I alluded to em. You can't miss them on the car, they are bright yellow like they were on our NC LE. Still like the stealthy look of the Silver ones on the NB SE though. Well at least they are stealthy on a Silver car.

Strange I didn't pick up on that, my bad. We owned an nc3 for over 5 years and it was soft, leaned a lot and was slow on the turn in. Not very sporty at all. I think the additions to the Ltd Ed have made significant improvements to the handling, much more to my liking. Having said that, don't expect it to corner like a nismo gtr.

Many are complaining about the price, but I think $50k is too much to pay for the regular black top rf, that's missing so many high end components, and which flatter a sports car. It's true though that the Ltd Ed lacks a titanium exhaust but I can live with that!

Yep can agree on any RF being overpriced but to me it is overpriced for all RF models.
There is a 5K premium for one where as when NC hardtops were around it was only a 3K premium.
That is part of what is making the LE overpriced to me. If it was a soft top it would be 5K cheaper which would bring it into line with previous NC softtop LE prices which were generally around 50-52K drive away.
What has changed though is the base MX-5 is now significantly cheaper than they were in the past. This is what makes the ND LE look like such a rip off.
For example in 2007 a base MX-5 was $42870 + on roads. A LE was $47630. Equivalent hardtops were $3000 more but there was no LE hardtop in this model, so let say if there were a 2007 LE hardtop would have been $50630. So ~$8000 difference.
A base 2.0L ND MX-5 now is $35350, 1.5's don't count. The LE is $52210 before on roads. ~$17000 difference.
I just can't get over that price difference.
I will acknowledge this ND LE has more performance stuff than before. NC LE's only had 2 performance parts, not 4 like the ND, Bilsteins and BBS rims, but they had unique interior trims, colours and all the shiny aluminum bits as standard which are optional on the ND LE. Plus all NC's already had strut bars.

I just don't get why Mazda didn't do both the RF and softtop in LE. Then again marketing people make no sense to me either.

[Pete]

Yep can agree on any RF being overpriced but to me it is overpriced for all RF models.
There is a 5K premium for one where as when NC hardtops were around it was only a 3K premium.
That is part of what is making the LE overpriced to me. If it was a soft top it would be 5K cheaper which would bring it into line with previous NC softtop LE prices which were generally around 50-52K drive away.
What has changed though is the base MX-5 is now significantly cheaper than they were in the past. This is what makes the ND LE look like such a rip off.
For example in 2007 a base MX-5 was $42870 + on roads. A LE was $47630. Equivalent hardtops were $3000 more but there was no LE hardtop in this model, so let say if there were a 2007 LE hardtop would have been $50630. So ~$8000 difference.
A base 2.0L ND MX-5 now is $35350, 1.5's don't count. The LE is $52210 before on roads. ~$17000 difference.
I just can't get over that price difference.
I will acknowledge this ND LE has more performance stuff than before. NC LE's only had 2 performance parts, not 4 like the ND, Bilsteins and BBS rims, but they had unique interior trims, colours and all the shiny aluminum bits as standard which are optional on the ND LE. Plus all NC's already had strut bars.

I just don't get why Mazda didn't do both the RF and softtop in LE. Then again marketing people make no sense to me either.

You know, please appreciate that some of us don't have to penny pinch. We can simply afford the asking price. Until you understand the paradox of a base ND as being too expensive and the Ltd Ed RF as not, all I can say to you is that it was worth it to us. The other cars which were appealing to the wife was an Alfa 4C spider, which is a about $130,000, with some cool extras and the upcoming Alpine A110, which will probably sell for around $100,000. So I do think the Ltd Ed RF was expensive but reasonably priced. In fact, the price was entirely expected and predictable.

If you're complaining now, get ready to pay through the nose for the rumoured uprated MX5 for next year. Brace yourself when Mazda ask you to pay $65k for an MPS MX5!

[Luke]

You know, please appreciate that some of us don't have to penny pinch. We can simply afford the asking price. Until you understand the paradox of a base ND as being too expensive and the Ltd Ed RF as not, all I can say to you is that it was worth it to us. The other cars which were appealing to the wife was an Alfa 4C spider, which is a about $130,000, with some cool extras and the upcoming Alpine A110, which will probably sell for around $100,000. So I do think the Ltd Ed RF was expensive but reasonably priced. In fact, the price was entirely expected and predictable.

If you're complaining now, get ready to pay through the nose for the rumoured uprated MX5 for next year. Brace yourself when Mazda ask you to pay $65k for an MPS MX5!

Ok so you have money, and you and your wife spent it on what you wanted to. I'm pretty sure everyone reading your posts has figured that out.
Paradox, now you gave me a good laugh. There is nothing to understand so read on for another past history lesson below of why this price gap is too large for a LE.

We already had a MX-5 MPS it was called the SE here in 2004 or Mazdaspeed in the USA.
They asked $4800 more over a base MX-5, $38 930 vs $43 690 plus on roads.
And you got a lot of stuff over the base car. In fact far more than any other LE model ever sold. Something in the order of over 200 parts were changed, from a factory point of view major engineering changes were made. I guess you could call this model the ultimate LE released thus far.

Complaining??? I'm just pointing out how absurdly high the price gap is for the ND LE in comparison to past generation LE cars.

I don't think that the ND2 will be much more $$$ than the current ND, at least if they actually want to sell cars. I would take a guess and say 1K more. They may even drop the slow selling 1.5L here for all I know which would make a price increase of a 2.0L look ridiculous. They will have their rush of the early birds who will pay top dollar for on roads and dealer delivery, then it will be business as usual with cars sitting around dealers that they just can't move on quickly as the car appeals to such a limited market.
Then you end up getting deals like I did for my ND GT. I paid less for it with 550kms on the clock than a base 1.5L should have been. Admittedly it was a 1 year old traded in mistake buy for the 1st owner that was sitting at 2 dealers for 11 months, but I wouldn't call a car with 550kms on it used. Sure I can afford full price, but I would never pay full price for pretty much anything, I'm happy to wait and pay the true market value, not RRP.