Soft Top or Power Retractable Hardtop: Choosing the Right 2026 Mazda MX-5 for Saskatchewan's Changing Weather

A Saskatchewan afternoon can start sunny, turn windy by 3 p.m., and end with an early frost warning before the drive home. For most vehicles, that just means checking the forecast. For a convertible, it's part of the decision at the dealership, and it's the main difference between the two MX-5 body styles Mazda offers.

Both the soft top and the RF (retractable fastback) share the same engine, the same chassis, and the same driving character. What changes is how each one manages open-air driving when Saskatchewan's weather doesn't cooperate, and that's worth understanding before deciding which one to test drive first. Neither one is the "correct" choice across the board — it comes down to how a driver expects to use the roof through a typical week.

How the Soft Top Handles Prairie Weather

The classic MX-5 soft top uses a black cloth folding roof with a glass rear window and defroster, operated by hand rather than a motor. It's simple by design, which is part of the car's appeal, and it keeps the MX-5 at its lightest.

• Manually operated cloth top, quick to raise or lower without waiting on a motor
• Glass rear window with defroster for clearer visibility once temperatures drop
• Lower curb weight than the RF, at 1,076 kg with the manual transmission

That lower weight also keeps the MX-5's power-to-weight ratio at its sharpest, which is part of why the soft top remains the version most associated with the car's original driving character. For a Regina driver who wants the roof down whenever the weather allows and doesn't mind folding it back by hand, the soft top keeps things straightforward.

What the Power Retractable Hardtop Adds

The MX-5 RF trades manual operation for a power-retractable hardtop that opens or closes in about 13 seconds at the push of a button, giving it the profile of a coupe with the roof up and a targa-style opening with it down. That hardtop adds a more sealed cabin when closed, which matters on a windy prairie highway or a cooler fall evening.

That added structure comes with a small weight difference. The RF weighs 1,116 kg with the manual transmission, about 40 kg more than the soft top in the same configuration, since both share the identical 181 hp, 151 lb-ft Skyactiv-G 2.0 L engine. For a driver who splits time between open-top days and cooler, windier drives across open highway, the RF's ability to switch between the two without pulling over is the main appeal.

Shared Features Regardless of Roof

Whichever body style ends up in the driveway, the underlying car doesn't change. Both the soft top and RF include Kinematic Posture Control to help manage body roll through corners, along with a full i-Activsense safety suite: Mazda Radar Cruise Control, Smart Brake Support Front, Advanced Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, and Lane Departure Warning. Both also use the same 8.8-inch Mazda Connect touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

At a Glance

Learn More at Regina Mazda

Both versions of the MX-5 are built around the same driving experience, so the roof is really the question that's left. Visit our team right here in Regina to sit in both the soft top and the RF, and see which one suits how you actually plan to drive it through a Saskatchewan year.