2022 Mazda MX-5: 1.5-litre engine axed with update, amid slow sales

Mazda has discontinued the entry-level 1.5-litre version of its iconic 2022 Mazda MX-5 roadster, as part of an updated range due in showrooms in January or February.

Positioned as a more affordable option for Mazda roadster buyers on a budget, the 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine is available solely in the base soft-top Roadster grade, priced from $36,060 before on-road costs – $5340 less than the most affordable 2.0-litre variant, the MX-5 RF hardtop, which costs $41,400 before on-road costs.

However, with outputs of 97kW and 152Nm, most buyers just paid extra for one of the 2.0-litre variants – just nine per cent of MX-5 buyers have opted for the 1.5-litre engine since late 2018, when an update for the 2.0-litre engine brought increased 135kW/205Nm outputs (up from 118kW/200Nm) and a 7500rpm redline (from 6800rpm).

"With customer demand for the more powerful 2.0-litre Skyactiv-G powertrain surging since its October 2018 update, the 1.5-litre Roadster will be resigned. The 2018 upgrade gave the 2.0-litre the same free-revving and lively characteristics that enamoured drivers with the 1.5-litre," Mazda Australia says in its press release.

Introduced with the fourth-generation 'ND' MX-5 range in 2015, the 1.5-litre SkyActiv-G engine – which developed 96kW and 150Nm, prior to a late 2018 update – opened the roadster range on price, attracting a starting sticker of $31,990 before on-road costs – $2500 less than the most affordable 2.0-litre.

It was also only $2440 more expensive than the original 1.6-litre 'NA' MX-5 upon its launch in 1989, priced from $29,550 – though after inflation, that original car comes out to just under $60,000, in 2015 money.

Australia and Europe were some of the only regions to receive both engines, with the US offering the more potent 2.0-litre only, and Japan the 1.5-litre (in soft-top Roadster guise, as the RF gained the 2.0-litre). The 1.5-litre mill will live on in other markets.

Since the 1.5-litre MX-5's Australian launch, the model range has been slimmed down – now available in a single base 'Roadster' grade, rather than two variants at launch – and the price has crept up, with today's 1.5-litre variant priced from $36,060 before on-road costs, equating to $33,443 in 2015 money.

While equipment levels have also risen – with a 7.0-inch touchscreen (rather than a push-button radio), climate control and a suite of safety technology being added to the base model over time, following the 1.5-litre GT grade's axing in 2018 – demand for the 1.5-litre engine has been in "steady decline" since launch, Mazda Australia says.

As a result, with the 1.5-litre engine accounting for only nine per cent of sales since late 2018, Mazda Australia has used the 2022 update to discontinue the model, swapping the larger 2.0-litre mill into the most affordable Roadster grade. For more details on the updated model, click here to read Drive's full story.

The new entry-level model will be bestowed with more safety technology than before, adding lane departure warning, driver attention alert, rear parking sensors, rear autonomous emergency braking, an auto-dimming rear view mirror and LED daytime-running lights.

Entry prices are likely to rise, with the new 2.0-litre Roadster base model expected to sit somewhere between the $36,060 before on-road costs of today's 1.5-litre Roadster, and the $44,020 before on-road costs of the 2.0-litre Roadster GT.