Mazda has given the Roadster PS an almost provocative place in the range: it costs just 77,000 yen less than the pricier RS. But that is where things get interesting. Unveiled at the end of June, the special edition is now part of Mazda’s current September lineup in Japan and costs 3.663 million yen. And this is about much more than a gray soft top — Mazda drew on its Spirit Racing program and fitted the car with a serious chassis package from the outset.
The Roadster PS gets specially tuned suspension with Bilstein dampers, four-piston Brembo front brakes with silver calipers, larger brake discs, a front strut brace and lightweight 16-inch forged RAYS wheels. Mazda says the setup benefited from knowledge gained while developing the MAZDA SPIRIT RACING ROADSTER. Still, it would be wrong to claim that the two cars use exactly the same suspension.
Now for the numbers. Compared with the manual S Special Package at 3.146 million yen, the PS costs 517,000 yen more. Yet the RS sits at 3.740 million yen, shrinking the gap to just 77,000 yen. That seems to make the choice obvious, right? Not quite.
On the RS, Brembo brakes and forged RAYS wheels come in a factory package priced at 330,000 yen. Add it and the total climbs to 4.07 million yen. Suddenly, an RS with comparable key performance hardware costs 407,000 yen more than the PS. The RS still has its own trump card, though: a richer cabin with RECARO seats and a Bose audio system, neither of which is offered on the PS.
So where does that leave the PS? In a very clever spot. It is more than a cosmetic special edition, yet it is not a full MAZDA SPIRIT RACING ROADSTER. It keeps the regular Roadster’s 1.5-liter foundation, but shifts the focus squarely to chassis tuning, braking and lightweight wheels. For drivers who care more about how the car feels on the road than RECARO seats and Bose audio, the math may be far more tempting than the price list first suggests.
