A few weeks back, I happened to experience what I thought was one of the best balanced sportscars in the world: the Porsche 718 Boxster. At the time, I thought Stuttgart’s effort would be hard to beat. That was, until I snuggled into the driver’s seat of a 2017 Mazda MX-5 RF. Now, I can unequivocally say that if I were in the market for an open-top two-seater sportscar (and had all the budget in the world), I would choose the Mazda.

That sounds like heresy given the 718 Boxster is no boulevard cruiser: 300 horsepower, a 0-100 km/h time of 4.9 seconds, and a top speed of 275 km/h. Yet, those numbers don’t mean a thing in the real world. Try driving it on EDSA (where you’ll be stuck 99 percent of the time anyway), and it’s like taming a wild beast. If the jumpy throttle won’t inadvertently launch you into a motorcycle’s backend, the continuous ruckus from the engine will deafen you. That or the choppy ride will cause you or your hot date to lose your lunch after an all-you-can-eat buffet. It’s tough and tiring.




In comparison, relatively no effort is needed to adjust to the MX-5 RF. Sure, the low seat height (lower than even the Porsche) means your view is limited to other cars’ bumpers. But overall, driving traffic is no different from driving a sporty compact.

The modestly-sized motor packs a rightly powered, balancing grunt with controllability, smoothness and a hint of throatiness. It’s all about linearity and being able to precisely control all of the available 160 horses every time. It’s more about the satisfying mechanical note that permeates the cabin, the volume knob of which is your right foot.




Packing a tweaked chassis compared to its soft top sibling, it’s relaxed and refined. The added insulation also adds a tad more quietness too. It’s surprisingly pliant over poor road surfaces and can absorb ruts *gasp* just as well as a Mazda3. It’s controllable, attainable, and forgiving. It’s a sportscar that’s not just for the Sunday fun run but for the daily commute as well. And oh, as an added bonus, chicks seem to dig this over the more expensive Porsche for some reason.

At times when you do get to sample these two roadsters on the few remaining great driving roads that the Philippines has to offer (in other words, the remaining 1 percent of the total driving experience), the Porsche will make you wet in your pants. It gets straight A’s in going fast, cornering, and braking. But it’s also an uncalculating, unblinking machine. And “machine” is the operative word here because that’s largely how it feels. It’s cold and unengaging—like a piece of appliance designed to go fast and corner even faster. It gives the same warm and fuzzy feeling as a fancy espresso machine. It delivers the intended results: a jolt of caffeine, but without the intricacies.



The MX-5 RF couldn’t be more different. It’s not going to get you to your destination any faster nor will it give you an instant jolt of adrenaline, but it’ll keep you satisfied longer. As you roll and lean it through corners, it’s like having your caffeine fix via a cafetière. It’s like having a slow-cooked meal next to the Boxster’s fast food fare. As you throw it into a corner, using only the kink of the front fenders as your guide, it becomes all about the foreplay than the orgasm. In fact, in everything it does, the MX-5 is about satisfying the senses. It’s always going to be about the journey. It’s about being able to drive the same familiar piece of road and yet getting a wholly different experience. It’s about making you feel every curve, every corner, every nuisance of the road. And even when you think you’ve known that road quite well, at the flick of a switch, you drop the top and start all over. It’s all about listening to the story of the road and you, not the car, becomes the center of attention.

As such, the MX-5 RF doesn’t reward slackers. It doesn’t offer Cliff Notes or an abridged version to people who aren’t interested in what stories the road has to tell. Yes, it does come replete with all sorts of features, some of them designed to drown out the hustle of the outside world, but each and every time you enter the cabin, you have to allow yourself to be molded into the intimate interior. It certainly isn’t for the tall, the wide, or the claustrophobic, but the limited adjustments reward you with a seating position like no other. This limits its appeal, but for the driver in all of us, you shouldn’t care.




Without a doubt, the Porsche 718 Boxster will wipe out the Mazda MX-5 RF on the racetrack. It’ll lap any circuit faster with its eyes closed and its hands tied behind its back. And yet, all things considered, it’s the MX-5 RF that delivers the more satisfying performance. Whether you’re in stop-and-go traffic or blasting on the open road, it’s the Mazda that offers food for the driving soul. It delivers an analog driving experience in an increasingly digital and detached world. In this day and age of instant gratification, that may seem like a surprise, but it mustn’t be forgotten that in the 25 years and four generations of the famous roadster, it’s always been like that. As the original one did, the 2017 Mazda MX-5 RF rewards with emotional sensations as opposed to cold, hard numbers. Countless other sportscars may offer better outright performance, but there’s only one that can give a truly personal bond. Only one can deliver the feeling of oneness between the car and driver, and that one is the Mazda MX-5.