Mazda MX5 RF ND3 vs BMW Z4 M40i Manual - Rare Breeds! | Everyday Driver

This harkens back to one of the first reviews that Todd and I ever did at the birth of YouTube, the very beginning. It was 2007 when we compared the MX-5 Miata to the BMW Z3. It seemed like then these cars would always be around. The Miata, of course, is an icon. It's been around for, let's see, the 90s, 2000s, 2010s. It's been around a long time and it has defiantly stayed this recipe. Small, light, rear-wheel drive, manual transmission, convertible only. Of course, this is the RF, which is the retractable fastback. It's amazing that Mazda continues to build this in this new automotive landscape where manufacturers are pretty much trying everything except for building pure sports cars. One of the only real competitors forever has been the Porsche Boxster. Well, it has a somewhat uncertain future. We don't know what the EV version of that will be like, when they will release it. These are all unknowns. When you start thinking about front-engine, rear-drive, manual transmission cars that are also convertibles, the market is small. I'm so glad BMW has continued to refine this car, but that's not a really correct statement because it wouldn't really exist without the Toyota Supra. Good thing I like the Supra a lot. It's not just the convertible Supra, though. It's its own car. The BMW Z4 Hanschlatter package. It's the manual transmission for the Z4. That's what that is. They are surprisingly overlooked great convertible cars and an amazing alternative to the Porsche Boxster. Is there a market for BMW to invest in this? I mean, why should they continue this car? They're all about EVs, hybrids, SUVs, but when it comes to true sports cars, BMW has not forgotten how to build a proper one, which leaves this and the MX-5. Great cars, great roads, and all the reasons we love to drive. Road trips, comparisons, test drives, and podcasts. This is Everyday Driver. This is the ND3, that is the fourth gen Miata third revision. When this fourth generation, the ND, came out, we did an all four Miata comparison, and at that point when it was originally launched, this wasn't our favorite. I appreciate that Mazda made it smaller again, but the engine was lackluster and the body roll was immense. Over the next revisions, ND2 and now ND3, Mazda has steadily revised this car in all of the right ways. But this car doesn't cost what that one from years ago cost. As a matter of fact, this one is the most expensive Miata I think ever built. It's $42,000. When did a Miata become $42,000? Well, that's what the loaded ones cost now. You can still get them down in the 30s, low 30s, if you want to buy a base soft top club. The power is unchanged, 181 horsepower, 7,000 rpm, 151 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. Can we all just know and accept the fact that the Miata is not a powerful car? Can we be okay with that? Naturally aspirated, two-liter, four-cylinder. The party trick of this car is weighing a little over 2,500 pounds. This car is a thousand pounds lighter than that Z4. It's astounding to think how heavy that has gotten. The BMW is almost 50% heavier than this car. So it doesn't have much to prove. I've always enjoyed that 26 horsepower bump when Mazda did that for the ND2. Above 5,000 rpm, this engine actually has some power, some character, and it revs to 7,500, which is more than it did when it first came out in this car as the ND3. This is not a car for 0 to 60 sprints. What it is a car for is wide open throttle. You can drive this car with your foot to the floor so much, and it doesn't feel like, oh, I wish it had more. It just feels pleasing that you actually had the opportunity, the gift to be able to just floorboard it at any time you'd like. There's no question that many cars, including that Z4, are faster than this in a straight line. They would be faster than this on a racetrack, I get it, but very few people are going to need and use more power than this when thundering down a back road. The MX-5 is the king of speed maintenance. The shifter is unchanged, and that's a good thing. The MX-5 has already been superb. The shifting was already great. The short throw shifter, the crispiness of the gear, how it slots together. This gearbox has shorter throws than the BMW, and it feels metallic. You feel metal sliding against metal. There's none of the rubberiness that makes a BMW shifter. So why should you buy the Z4? Well, the power in a little car is pretty awesome. This is a great engine. It's just so smooth. It's the one that BMW gave Toyota for the Supra, and of course has always been used in this chassis. Remember when they first did that, and all the Toyota fans freaked out that BMW would use a straight six from Toyota? Except the B58 engine has proven to be durable, reliable, excellent. It makes lots of power. Tuners are getting absurd amounts of power out of this engine. Everybody was complaining about the B58 won't be reliable enough to be in a Toyota, and since then Toyota's made engines that have been under recall. It's a weird world, that's all I'm saying. If you think about it, this has a 50% bigger engine than the MX-5, but twice the power and torque numbers. The power output of this car, 382 horsepower, 369 pound-feet of torque, it's far faster than the Mazda. Pretty much everything is. The big news is the transmission. Now Toyota took a BMW transmission with this B58 and revised it for their use, and it is wonderfully metallic. The Supra manual turned out to be one of the better manual transmissions. It's really good. BMW has also refined it for their own use, for this car only. They changed the gear set, they changed the input shafts, the guides are different, everything about it is specific for BMW. And yes, it is less rubbery than a lot of other BMW manual transmissions. It's like they took the really perfectly machined metallic feeling one that Toyota is releasing and just covered everything in silicone. It's just got a layer of rubberiness around what is otherwise a fantastic six-speed manual. However, look, the manual exists here, and if you want a convertible Supra with a manual, you're buying this Z4. But just because it's a BMW transmission and it does have a slightly rubbery feel in comparison to the Mazda, that doesn't mean it's bad. As a matter of fact, having a manual transmission, just the fact that it has a manual, makes this better than every other car according to the internet, right? We've saved the manuals, everyone. It's still here. You can buy one now. It's a cool manual with precision, and it's well-engineered, and it's great to drive. With the manual transmission package, BMW gives you more than just the manual, however. They also revise the suspension. The suspension setup here is more aggressive than it is in the non-manual transmission versions. They're assuming you are a driver who wants to drive hard. On the Z4 automatic, there was this heavy, distant thudding from the rear. The rear suspension didn't know really how to keep sorting out the bumps and the camber changes. It seemed really unrefined, and good news, it is completely refined only for this car. BMW has added auxiliary springs, front and rear, to cure that problem, and they've changed the rear suspension mapping. When you're in sport mode, this car is astounding to drive. It is so quick. The body control here is excellent. The car stays incredibly flat without being punishing on most roads. Now, I've got it in sport plus now, so the adaptive suspension is cranked up. I feel like I can really control this car, and I can take these corners much faster than you first think when you climb in. You just keep building the speeds because the grip here is immense. It feels different than a Supra. It feels different than the other Z4. The automatic doesn't mean that's a bad car, it just it means this one is so sorted, and it's faster than it ever has been. One of the surprises and disappointments for me, though, is that with this manual transmission package, they did revise the steering in search of more feel, and I'm not sure that worked. I don't think there's really any more feel here than any other modern BMW that I've driven. Well, that's actually not true. There's a little more than some other BMWs, but it's minimal. It is extremely precise, but all you can do through corners is just simply enjoy how far you can dig the tires into the pavement and marvel at how hard it grips. You can't really feel anything else about the car. Look at that. Just dig in. This still has the very aggressive turn-in of all modern BMWs, but as far as any texture or awareness of the tires, that's still not here. This is essentially just a lever to direct the car, but it's not an information point. Okay, time for a dig. It just holds. It's beautiful, but I'm not feeling the road. I'm not feeling the difference between the tire and the road. It's a tool, but there's no detail coming through at all. You have to get that from everywhere else in the car. Now, luckily, the car does give you a lot of information. You can feel it moving around from the seat. The weight is very well controlled. The disconnect from the tire feeling does not mean this is bad to drive or it's not enjoyable. What's gone up is the speed. The control that you've got over the car, it's so precise. You can put this car anywhere on the road just like you can the Miata, but it never feels small, especially when you climb in this after the MX-5. There's no question that this is 50% or more greater car than that is. 3,600 pounds, I think we can agree, is a lot for a sports car. It's a lot for a convertible. I can't get over how easy this is to drive quickly. It does that BMW thing where it just swallows up the road, and you look down and cannot believe how high that speed is. It just scrims so hard. Dig. That's what's fun. Oh, my gosh. I can't believe I went through the corner that quickly. What a superb car. Everyday Driver is brought to you by Griot's Garage. Use the code DRIVER10 for 10% off your order when shopping at griotsgarage.com. That Z4 is excellent dynamically. It's very fun on this back road. However, every time I jump in this Miata, I prefer it. This is by far the better thing to drive. There's a lot of reasons for that. Besides some external tweaks and a few things here in the interior, the NV3 has revised the steering. It's a new steering rack with new programming to give you more steering feel. When was the last time you heard a car manufacturer describe their new sports car as having a new steering rack? New steering rack, everyone. Nobody else would care. With any other car, buyers would just simply say, okay, great, that's great. Does it turn into a corner? No, no, with this one, it's a car that deserves the best steering available on the market today. Now, we're still talking about electric steering rack. There's not an overwhelming amount of information, but the scale of this car and this new steering refinement is all improved. I'm aware of grip in the MX-5 in a way that most modern cars just hide from you. And this car proves again that lightness matters. What other car celebrates? New steering rack, everyone. Wow. I have never felt a more natural electronic power steering rack. Nice rack. Yeah, I know. It doesn't dive in as fast as the BMW. Don't care. Mazda also has a brand new limited-slip differential in this ND3 that has planted the back end a little better. So combined with this steering rack and the way this new limited-slip is engineered, the car just turns. You add more power through a corner and it plants itself. It's like the Miata grows roots through a corner. And this car is also equipped with the BBS Brembo Recaro package. You have to get the Brembo's package. That's these wheels, the good Brembo brakes, these Recaro seats. It is utterly worth every dollar of the $4,000 and change that it costs. It's worth it. That package comes on this RF Club. It keeps the Miata body roll that makes this car playful, that is something that Mazda very much wanted. However, it's not as extreme as it was. It feels much better control. It's like the prior car went to the gym, can still do everything, but just does it with more athleticism, just does it with a little more refinement. I am thrilled with this car. It is now peak Miata, peak MX-5. The problem that all this greatness introduces is the thought about what the next car could be. I hope it's not hybrid. I hope it doesn't get heavier. Mazda has made further proof that light cars are involving cars. And as cars get heavier and BMW, as electric cars kind of dull us to the pain of how numb things have gotten because they're really numb and heavy, but also very powerful. When you get into something like this, it almost feels like a different form of transport. This MX-5 is like flying in a tiny little Cessna and all of the cars we're used to, the SUVs are commuting in an Airbus. The difference is profound. This is a weapon and it's also comfortable enough for daily use. I'm so amazed that Mazda has continued with this car and defiantly built a one mode only car. Every other car in the market has adjustable suspension and steering that you can change and different throttle input. And that has made amazing cars. But this one is pure. If you understand how to drive fast, this car is ready. If you're learning how to drive, this car is ready. There may not be a more perfect driving experience available new right now than this. I know that's a big statement. I'm standing on it. However, there are still downsides. This car still bounces over bumps. It's still loose. It still has a softer setup than that BMW or then things like the GR86 or even a Boxster. One of the big downsides is the buffeting. I'm sure you can hear it in my audio. It's all right here. When you make a target top, it's almost impossible to get away without it buffeting a lot. There's a ton of wind noise here over my left ear. Anything above 60 miles an hour becomes almost deafening. Yes, I could roll down the windows. That doesn't make it better, just makes it different. Small has consequences. It does. And you can see them here. But small has benefits and you can feel them constantly when you drive this car. Oh, and I'd get a different color. This color is terrible. Mazda calls it Zircon Sand, but I am debating between two different names, Himalayan Gangrene or Smoker's Lung. I think either of those more accurately describe the color. This car doesn't deserve this. It deserves a happy, fun color. The styling is unchanged with the exception of the running lights up front. So take a look. They're no longer the LEDs that can't end. They're part of the running lights up here, and they've added a separate LED running light up there. Let's acknowledge the problem with the Mazda MX-5 Miata, whatever you'd like to call it. The problem is it's tiny. People my size. I'm six foot three. I've got a long torso. I just don't fit. As much as I like driving this, when I have the top up, it touches all the time. We're both six foot three. My torso is shorter, so I fit just barely. If you're any taller than me, you can't buy this car, and I wish you could. The driving position for the driver is excellent, but it is a solo driving experience. I pity the soul who has to sit here. There's just not enough legroom for actual people unless the actual people are small as well. The Miata's real trick with the interior is all the stuff you expect in a $30,000 to $40,000 normal car is in here just at three-quarter size. These Recaros are superb, and they're heated. This makes me want to have Recaros in every possible car on the planet. It also has a small trunk, but that's to be expected. I can't believe they have this retractable fastback that does all of this amazing geometry and still have a trunk at all. BMW has taken great care to make the manual version a different car, and the styling looks really great. Proportions look great everywhere you look. I want to point out a particular line to you, and it starts just behind the rear wheel. It's a twisting line from a vertical surface to an almost horizontal surface that ends at the taillights, and it defines what the taillight shape does. It's beautiful. It's the defining crease of the car. The headlight shape is distinctive enough without being too bland. There's no beaver teeth, and check out the wheels. Staggered fitment, 19-inch fronts, 20-inch rears, only on the manual Z4. The big key about the interior here is the space, because I actually fit with the top up, top down. I could put a helmet on and drive this car. I actually have real space to work with. This has actual passenger space. It is genuinely a comfortable two-seat car. It's current BMW, so it has all the same trapezoids and weird shapes that they use on all their screens, but it is individual screens. It's not the curved television screen that you're seeing in the M2 and some other places. One of the surprises, though, is this center console. Toyota solved it a little bit differently, but with all of the buttons and everything necessary to put the manual transmission in the middle and have all the buttons around it, the console is now protruding into your leg area of the driver's side of the cabin. Otherwise, it all just works, and it does feel like a cabin of a fairly expensive car. $75,000, I don't know, but it is a nice place to be, and these seats are wonderful and pretty as well. How can you not like the Z4? This amount of power, how hard it grips through corners. Okay, the price is something to not like. I get that. When I first looked at the price on this car, $77,000, I thought that's entirely too much, and it is. That's quite expensive, but when you start looking at the competition, it becomes more interesting because it's faster than the base Boxster. It's more luxurious than the base Boxster. In fact, it's faster than many of the Boxsters unless you climb well over $100,000, so at that point, you're getting a lot of car here for the money. This is an overlooked excellent car in the market, and I think the price and the fact that the Boxster exists causes people to just brush right by it, but in this form with the manual, it is worth the look. It's an excellent car. It is versatile. Trunk's pretty large, great convertible, plenty of space for two people, two actual humans, yeah, and it's enjoyable on a road trip. It's big enough and powerful enough. It almost feels like last of the breed like the MX-5. Superb brakes, great chassis, great refinements. This is a worthy sports car. It's just really expensive. I've said before that the Supra is the best car BMW makes right now. Some people find that controversial, but I'm revising that. This is the best BMW being sold. It's excellent. It's everything we like about the three-liter Supra in convertible form. Unless car manufacturers want in on a piece of this kind of goodness, we're never going to see these kind of cars again. We never thought that years ago, a couple of decades ago when we were driving these for the very first time and reviewing them. This is a car I want everybody to drive because I think you would understand why we love driving so much. I hope Mazda makes this forever. I hope they continue to stand up defiantly and say a small, lightweight sports car for drivers is something that sells. I'm thrilled BMW keeps making the Z4. Let's hope the next Boxster is good. I don't know, but this is the best the ND has ever been, and I think it may be the best the Miata has ever been. I just wish I could fit so I could buy one. The ND3, if you've been waiting to buy an MX-5, Mazda has built the purest expression of driving. I think this is the best driving experience you can buy currently on sale. My respect and love for Miata's MX-5s is at the same level as Porsches. Our life has a lot of other things we need to do instead of just drive for fun, and in that place, the Miata's a sacrifice. But in driving, wins. Wins. We're running windows up today so that we can actually be heard. Helps with buffeting. That window is filthy. I'm sorry about that. New rack, everyone. So when you get complimented on your rack, people mean it.