MX-5 RF VS Toyota 86

2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF vs. 2017 Toyota 86 - Head 2 Head

With the Hellcat a full 10seconds slower

Great, great video. Pleasantly surprised as to the quality of these videos lately.

86 for me. Tall people things.

86 for me - simply a far better value at $10,000 cheaper.

it surprised me how much better they like these than the previous iterations of both cars

Various articles I've read have failed to identify much significance in the miata suspension tune change. H2H made a lot of fuss about it. Others have indicated the changes to the 86 made it better, but again H2H makes it sound very significant. It's good to hear that they're both still great choices. Now if they could compare them to a V6 Camaro 1LE and I'd be really happy. :)

The change in the RF suspension - especially the steering - is quite notable. There are few folks (ahem, GRM) who somehow missed this, which is a shame. You can feel it in the first 100'.

(tangent)
An interesting take-away from last years SCCA Solo Nationals was that the top 2016 MX-5s were nearly a second faster than the top FRS/BRZ/86s they were classed against in C Street. However, even the CS winning MX-5 was more than two seconds slower than the '99 Miata that won E Street.
(/tangent)

Keith Tanner wrote: The change in the RF suspension - especially the steering - is quite notable. There are few folks (ahem, GRM) who somehow missed this, which is a shame. You can feel it in the first 100'.

Do you know if the changes to the MX-5 RF suspension bits will make their way to the convertible?

Eventually. Not for 2017.

I did check, the steering rack cannot be programmed with the new settings. I'll know in a few months if the racks can simply be swapped out.