New Mazda MX-5 meets EV-converted original: which is best?

It gets Eco, Normal and Sport modes that dispense differing levels of performance. Eco gives roughly the same zap as a regular petrolpowered NA; Normal is a bit like a 2.0 -litre NC; while Sport offers enough pep to keep up with the ND – on paper, at least. 

Off paper, the instant shove from the motor overwhelms the tyres if you dare use more than 50% throttle on anything other than bone-dry Tarmac.

With the ND, you have to work a lot harder for the power, which frankly is quite a lot more satisfying. You really need to hit 7000rpm to get the most out of it, and of course you get to shift through the six gears to keep the engine in that sweet rev band.

It’s slightly ironic that the dinojuice car is more technologically advanced. It has a slippy diff and a clever track mode – which in the winter, on the short circuit at Bicester Heritage, really flattered my driving. I’m no great drifter, but you may have been fooled. It lets go progressively and only really steps in if you’re getting very, very loose.

The electric NA will spin an inside wheel for days (I’m certain that I could lay a one-tyre fire for the entirety of its 160 -mile range), whereas the ND grips and grips and loosens gradually.

Truth be told, both MX-5s were extraordinarily fun to rag around a tight circuit on a greasy day. But both are pretty different to drive from one another and different again from the original NA.

There’s little sense running this as a strict either/or scenario, because the cars are so dissimilar. They both offer something unique.

The EV is absolutely absurd. At the time of writing, I still don’t know how much it costs, but it’s likely to be even more than the top-spec, brand-spankers ND and probably the price of six or seven really nicely sorted regular NAs. And it will do only 160 miles on a charge.

It’s probably a touch quicker, but it ’s less fun and satisfying than the ND, because there are no gears to change, no engine to rev and no delayed gratification. It makes some nice, industrial-sounding whirrs and, believe it or not, it feels quite mechanical. Plus digitisation is kept to a real minimum, with neat touches such as the battery gauge tucked away in the glovebox.

This comparison is all a bit academic, of course, because the ND could be a one-car solution, whereas the EV isn’t even a second car; it’s a third or fourth one.

Most importantly, though, the light, communicative steering, judged-to-perfection seating position and near-50:50 weight distribution I love about MX-5s are found in both of these cars. Phew.