What's Wrong With Miata RF
 

Nice piece! I've owned three, so far, and was kinda on the fence regarding whether or not a new one would be an RF. But he makes excellent points and convinced me; should I ever buy another, it would be the pure convertible.

I am glad the article reached the right person. Cheers !

I wouldn't call that an overly complex dissection. I would call it spot on. I test drove one a few weeks ago and didn't really understand the car. It is OK, but it really does nothing as well as it could be done. If I eventually get an ND, it will be a soft top.

It's target market is short elderly men and women. Oh and hairdressers of course.

I like the Targa style roof better than the convertible. Regardless the car needs more power.

It's a replacement of the PRHT. Buyers who wants that hardtop security and year round capability will get the RF.
I used to like the RF alot. But after checking it out, I would get the classic soft-top and pocket the change.

Which is why adding 113 lbs and paying a $3k premium for it is a really, really bad idea, but then as 9k pointed out the avg joe/jane street dufus could care less. A hammer or a piece of metal in a sock will take out a window a lot faster and be easier for a grab & go than using a knife through a soft top. No car is ever really secure hardtop or not, though the people who either buy them or break into them are not always very informed.

Really what is this Journalist talking about..
EVERY MX-5 has gone through the 'Gram' strategy in design to lose weight, it is nothing special in the ND.
Where it has lost the weight is the use of UHSTS (Ultra High Strength Tensile Steel), 6% more use over it's predecessor, the NC.
Diff Carrier is now Alloy instead of cast steel.
Front Steering Knuckle Brackets is also now alloy instead of cast steel.
No hydraulic power assist Steering, now all electric.
6 MT Transmission is also lighter and many ND Transmission failures on the early builds.
No Glove compartment.
No steel bracing in Seats, now all foam moulding.
Then you get to the Platform engineering..
The NC was engineered off the RX-8 platform and shares many suspension parts in the physical dimensions, but somewhat lighter in construction as the NC does not carry the same Horse Power as the RX-8
The ND does not share any platform (apart from Fiat) for another model so is engineered as such.

The RF over the PRHT.
Well the fact was Mazda was originally going for a full PRHT, but this could not be achieved as they were originally going for a Fully Manual Retractable Hardtop, the design Patents (are in this forum I think somewhere or maybe Miata forum), but the MRHT was not born, and 'easier' RF was born.
Personally I love the look side on, but the rear bumper and curve up I don't like, I believe it needs larger Tail Lamps. I drove the Aussie 2.0 RF against my PRHT (my salesman was trying to sell me one), while it was great to take a new car for a spin it just is not enough for me to change.
PRHT is way better as it fully retracts, RF gets a lot of buffering noise.
My PRHT with RX-8 S2 Sway Bars handles a lot better, way flatter and just sharper.
RF has the typical (since NC) Body Roll, but not as bad as NC, which gets sorted with better sways.
Brakes are slightly better in ND, off line speed is initially faster, but through the gears the NC Gearbox feels better/stronger as does the Steering, NC revs harder and feels like it has more grunt, (which it has by 6 HP, but the power to weight is only slightly better in NC, really no difference) personally I think the MX-5 all electric steering has taken some of the feel out of the road, more like the RX-8., maybe over refined.
Love the interior of the ND, way way better than the NC (even though the NC is fully functional, it looks/is cheap compared to ND). But no Glove Box in ND, so even less storage!.

The face-lift ND will be the one too look out for IMO, I still wish Mazda made a factory MX-5 (RX-5) with a Rotary Engine, maybe one day before I die I will put the spare brand new Renesis S2 engine and Gearbox and Diff I have and install in my NC...anyone want to help.

If only Mazda would give in and finally make a rotary powered RX-5, I would sell my sti and get it instantly. Missed my rx8 greatly

Amen man, as I have said, OH just a few times here Mazda's reluctance to install a Renesis in the NC was just stupid (IMO) it would have sold like hotcakes, it would not have taken sales from RX-8 as that is a larger 4 door 4 seater, A RX-5 would be a 2 seater and would have cost more than the NC 2.0l and would have taken some sales from 2.0l NC, but the NC like all Miata's can do with more unit sales.

2 Seaters are not exactly huge sellers and are expensive to engineer and make, this is why many car makers do not touch them as market is limited and the Miata is king...
Unless you want to spend Porsche money...

Anyway...