If you've ever ventured up the tortuous road to Niseko, Japan's most prestigious ski resort, in winter, I'm guessing that you'll probably be looking forward to a dip in the onsen hot springs, the demolition of some steaming noodles and maybe a few glasses of Sapporo. You're probably not wishing you were behind the wheel of a Mazda MX-5 when snow is blowing horizontally at you and 4x4s are falling down the camber of the road into ditches. Drive the road in summer, however, and there are few more rewarding companions.

While it might at first seem a little odd to name the latest limited edition of the MX-5 after a ski resort, Mazda is keen to stress that the MX-5 isn't just a plaything for high days and holidays, instead stressing its usability on an everyday basis. Of all the roadsters currently for sale, the Mazda seems to be the most dependable. It's mechanically fairly simple, it's been developed to a finely honed point and it can take a good thrashing and come back for more with out eating brakes and tyres.

The Niseko models are about as varied as MX-5s get. Two versions are available, a soft top with the 125bhp 1.8-litre engine that's priced at £17,995 or the plusher 158bhp 2.0-litre roadster coupe with folding hard top that weighs in £19,995. Special exterior features of the Mazda MX-5 Niseko include unique 17-inch alloy wheels, a body-colour finish for the style bar trim, front fog lamps, a chrome pack (door handles and headlamp bezels, and surrounds for the side-repeaters, front grille and fog lamps), special edition 'Niseko' badging on each front wing, plus dark brown premium cloth for the fabric roof on the soft top model. To hammer home the winter theme, both cars are available in a unique Icy Blue metallic paint finish with Sunlight Silver metallic also available.

Inside, both Niseko models feature unique dark brown heated leather seats with co-ordinated door trim and icy blue stitching, plus dark brown leather steering wheel, gear knob and handbrake. They are also equipped with a dark-silver dash panel, stainless-steel scuff plates and Niseko-branded interior mats, with a suspension strut tower bracing bar beneath the bonnet. As with any special edition model, it's worth consulting the price guides to figure out just how much that little lot is going to add to the price of the standard models and in the case of the 2.0-litre car, you'll be expected to fork out around £400 more for what Mazda somewhat optimistically pitch as £2,000 worth of extras. Still, that seems a fair return for getting a car that's a little different and which looks and feels a little more special.

"A lightweight, rear wheel drive car which focuses on driver enjoyment is a story that doesn't really get old.."

Part of the essential joy of the MX-5 is its predilection to be ragged within an inch of its life. Neither of the car's two engine options produce straight line performance that you could call blistering but, in common with many Japanese petrol units, they urge drivers to push the revs to the red line in each gear. The reward for adopting this 'foot in the corner' policy should be a high-pitched growl from the engine with a rich exhaust accompaniment. Mazda conducted extensive sound tuning on the car to perfect the acoustic experience but the 2.0-litre 158bhp unit still sounds duller than you might hope. The 125bhp 1.8-litre alternative is far sweeter and rewards hard driving more vocally.

With a 0-60mph acceleration time of 9.4s, there's plenty of scope to explore the 1.8-litre MX-5's potential without entering licence confiscation territory. Neither car will trouble any of the top-line hot hatchbacks that are currently available in a traffic light face off. The entry level model has a 122mph top speed compared to 131mph in the range-topper. Both of the MX-5 Niseko's engines use a double overhead camshaft, four cylinder, 16-valve configuration but the 1.8 does without the sequential inlet valve timing system found on the 2.0-litre. The performance difference isn't too dramatic, although the 2.0-litre feels significantly stronger through the mid-range thanks to its 188Nm torque rating at 5,000rpm - the 1.8 manages 167Nm at 4,500rpm.

The 2.0-litre engine is no thing of great beauty. It never was, but it's functional and does enough to punt the MX-5 Roadster Coupe to 60mph in 7.9 seconds. The MX-5 - in any guise - was never about raw figures: instead, the joy of the car came in the feeling of fun and tactility it afforded. This model is no different. Although the hardtop doesn't signally improve the car's torsional rigidity when in the raised position, it does give a little more in the way of noise insulation, but otherwise it's almost impossible to tell you're not driving the soft top.

The roof retracts in three sections with no impact on boot space and adds just 37kg to the weight of an equivalent soft top MX-5 roadster. Raise the roof and it sits a mere centimetre taller than its fabric-trimmed sibling. Although it's tempting to think of this car as 'just a roof', a lot of thought has clearly gone into it. The spring and damper settings have been subtly revised to take account of the hard top car's marginally altered weight distribution. Thankfully, the roof retracts to a position within the wheelbase of the car so that it doesn't detract too much from handling agility.

Park the Roadster Coupe and the MX-5 soft top next to each other and it's possible to see the subtle way in which Mazda has teased out the shape to accommodate the folding roof. The rear deck of the car sits 40mm higher at the rear window line and 20mm higher at the trailing edge of the boot, giving it a slightly more hunched and powerful look than the soft top. It's really a very minor change and tough to discern in isolation.

Whereas the average duration for a roof operation of this kind tends to be around 22 seconds, Mazda has whittled that time back to a mere 12 seconds for the MX-5 Roadster Coupe - making it the fastest folding hard top in the world at the time of launch. The driver must unlatch a centre lock and then press a button to operate the roof but it can easily be done while waiting at lights. The roof itself is composed of three panels; a front roof section, a middle roof part and a window assembly. Highly formable yet stiff plastics were required to keep weight low and durability high.

The bottom line with this Niseko model is that you'll be shelling out a few extra quid to get the custom paint finish and unique alloy wheels. That in itself seems like money well spent. The rest of the Niseko pack is just window dressing but gift horses should never be looked in the mouth. The MX-5 formula works as well today as it did in 1991. A lightweight, rear wheel drive car that's not overladen with nonsense and which focuses on driver enjoyment is a story that doesn't really get old.