Taking it all the way back, would cover the open spaces on either side of the folded roof, besides giving the car a nice sleek look. Taking it back just behind the head restraints, would allow you to raise/lower the roof without having to remove the tonneau cover, which could be useful if you were caught in a heavy shower, whilst sitting or crawling slowly in traffic.
When I bought my first car, a MG TC Midget, many, many years ago, it was fourteen years old and the roof was completely rotted away. In view of this I had to rely on the full length tonneau cover, which I came to realise was a very convenient and useful piece of equipment. Since then it has been my very good fortune, to test a lot of very good roadsters, some with really excellent folding roofs, but I still miss not having a full length tonneau cover.
To my way of thinking, there is not much point in buying a roadster or convertible, then driving it with the top erected, on the basis that it may rain. As everyone knows, in Ireland, if you can see the trees or mountains, it is going to rain and if you cannot see the trees or mountains, it is already raining. That is why a a simple roof that goes up or down quickly is so important. Convertibles have a more difficult problem, as they need bigger roofs and these naturally take longer to operate. Roadsters are smaller and need a simple design roof, that is quick and easy to operate and, that goes up or down in a matter of seconds. Having to get out of your seat to open or close a fixed tonneau cover, is just not an acceptable solution. Likewise a folding hardtop, that requires the car to be standing still with the handbrake applied and the gearlever in neutral, before it takes plus/minus fifteen seconds to complete the operation, is just not acceptable. Designers need to think about these things, before going ahead with some fancy solution, that weighs a lot, takes up a lot of storage space and then is so cumbersome in operation, that you only drive top down, when you are guaranteed uninterrupted sunshine, for the duration of the whole day.
Roadsters, by their very definition, are compact, lightweight cars, that offer a sparkling performance, are fun to drive and economical in their use of fuel. They need to have an adequate luggage space, so two adults can tour in reasonable comfort, without having an estate car to go on ahead with the luggage. This Mazda MX5 probably gets by on that score, but I am not happy that it only manages to do so, by eliminating the spare wheel. A bottle of latex and a plug-in air compressor, is not a solution that I like or trust.

The instrument binnacle, behind the steering wheel has three small analogue dials for fuel, oil pressure and engine temperature. The two larger dials are for engine speed (tachometer) and road speed (speedometer). There is also a small digital panel for trip and total distance recorders. The centre console houses the audio equipment controls, with the three heating/ventilating rotary controls below. Additional controls for the audio equipment, are on the left hand horizontal spoke of the steering wheel. Besides the large lockable glovebox on the passenger side, there is a smaller, lockable storage box, on the rear bulkhead between the two seats. Switches for the two electric windows are on the centre tunnel, behind the gearlever, with a small closed storage space immediately behind.

The purpose of a roadster, is to offer supreme driving pleasure. It does not have to be the fastest projectile on two wheels as “how it does it” is every bit as important as “what it does.” It needs to have excellent roadholding and handling, it needs to be comfortable and entertaining and naturally it needs to send a sense of pleasure and satisfaction all through your system. This latest, third generation Mazda MX5 roadster, certainly does that for me.
Its leather covered steering wheel has a premium quality feel to it. The steering itself is pleasantly direct and positive, with 2.7 turns from lock to lock. The double wishbone front suspension, in combination with a multi-link rear suspension, gives a good ride, without being either too soft and sloppy, or bone shaking rock hard. The driver enjoys that confident feeling, that he or she can put the car exactly where they want it at their chosen speed. While I am not wholly convinced that the gearchange is as fast, smooth and utterly precise, as that in the second generation model, it is still good by modern standards. On a percentage scale, driving pleasure is still right up there at around ninety eight percent.

Acceleration from 0-100 kph, takes 9.4 seconds. Now before you yawn and say, “So what !”, as I mentioned before, driving pleasure is as much about how it does it, as what it can do. Sitting there in the open fresh air, it feels absolutely superb and more than sufficiently fast to be utterly enjoyable. It is a whole lot more pleasurable than sitting inside a fully enclosed car, totally insulated from your surroundings and watching the scenery flash by in a multicolour blur. If you do happen to find an open road, without a maximum speed restriction, the MX5 will gallop up to a top speed of 196 kph (121 mph), which will feel absolutely exhilarating in the open fresh air. This is a people friendly car and while it may make your friends and neighbours envious, it will not make them antagonistic.
Cruising around a stop start urban environment, you can expect to get around 28 mpg, (9.9 lt/100 km), while out on the open road this will improve to a very satisfying 48 mpg (5.8 lt/100 km). That gives a combined cycle average of 38 mpg (7.3 lt/100 km). I find that to be highly satisfactory. The only difficulty you may encounter, is that because it is so utterly pleasant to drive, you may be tempted to do a lot more driving, which naturally means, you may be visiting your local filling station on a more frequent basis. Still, if you can afford it, it is worth every penny of the cost.