Already a lightweight sportscar, Mazda has put is fourth-generation MX-5 on a diet again, helping it shed even more weight for 2022. The result is this Japan only Roadster 990S—a new special edition that weighs just, as you guessed it, 990 kilograms.
To put things into perspective, the MX-5 990S or Roadster 990S, if you prefer its Japanese name, is just 30 kilograms heavier than the original MX-5 NA from 1989. And that’s already considering that the current-generation MX-5 has to comply with stricter safety regulations.
The secret to the MX-5 990S’s weight loss is down to the same “gram strategy” employed by Mazda in the development of its roadster.
The MX-5 990S gets forged Ray alloy wheels which cut 3.2 kilograms all in all, aluminum Brembo calipers (from iron), a more basic audio setup (no Mazda Connect or Bose sound system here), and the deletion of sound deadening from the dashboard and hood as well as the DRLs.
Visually, setting the MX-5 990S apart from other members of the MX-5 family is its navy-blue top matched by navy-blue air vent surrounds, and special floor mats.
Although the MX-5 990S’s development chief Shigeki Saito said doing these changes to the global 2.0-liter are possible, they don’t fit well with the character of the larger displacement MX-5. With that, the MX-5 990S remains a Japan exclusive and is powered by a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder making 132 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 152 Nm of torque at 4,500 rpm.
Per Saito-san, “Horsepower and fun are not proportional, but lightness and fun are proportional, and if horsepower is increased, the body and the like must be strengthened, so it will inevitably become heavier. The lighter the car, the more fun the car is, and I think this Roadster is the best now if you enjoy driving.”
The Mazda MX-5 990S goes on sale in Japan towards the end of the year.
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