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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
1998. - 2005.
S - Sports car
cabriolet, 2 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
1998. - 2005.
S - Sports car
cabriolet, 2 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4041 mm
1764 mm
1349 mm
220 liters
220 liters
56 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
3975 mm
1680 mm
1225 mm
144 liters
144 liters
50 liters
1998 Audi TT Roadster
1998 Mazda MX-5

Engine

Audi / Volkswagen
1.8 5V AJQ
Petrol
4 - Inline, 5 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1781 cc
180 hp
235 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1839 cc
146 hp
168 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1340 kg
8.1 s
222 km/h
11.2 l/100km
6.4 l/100km
8.2 l/100km
197 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1040 kg
8.5 s
205 km/h
11.4 l/100km
7.1 l/100km
8.7 l/100km
210 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1380 kg
8.5 s
220 km/h
13.3 l/100km
6.9 l/100km
9.2 l/100km
221 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

3100 EUR
Price from
4900 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 2-door cabriolet body style within the same 'Sports car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Audi and rear in the case of the Mazda). The first one has a Audi-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 20-valves 180hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 146hp engine designed by Mazda.

Safety

A starting point here would be to take a look at the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests which were performed on both of the cars, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the sports car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the German car offers a considerable difference of 29% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Mazda as a brand displays somewhat better results, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Audi with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Mazda badge with 4.4 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the German car rank it on average as 4.8, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.0 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Audi is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.4 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 222 kilometers per hour, 17km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 8.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (33 mpg), in combined cycle.


Verdict

Audi appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the German car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Audi offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Audi. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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