Toyota gets ready for a stoush with Mazda...interesting.

[deviant]

The Japanese tuning houses and race guys have already got turbo engines going in but I suspect there is a lot of re-engineering to be done to get it in. The bonnet line is very low so it looks like the racers are having to lower the enginer.

Stock engine bay:



D1 car:



Rumours so far are that there will be option for a TRD supercharger with full warranty.

No chance of seeing a turbo rotor in a mass production car. The MX5 has to be able to sell in California and all across Europe and a turbo rotor just wont cut it in terms of running costs and emissions. 1.6 petrol turbo, 4 cylinder seems to be the most popular rumour for the ND...needs the power though or it needs to be farking cheap! No need for it to NOT have the power and torque either these days.

[Apu]

Interesting...looks like changing spark plugs will be a challenge in itself. Kind of like in the Alfa 33...

[Bizi]

Interesting...looks like changing spark plugs will be a challenge in itself. Kind of like in the Alfa 33...

I never see Alfa 33s these days, while I do see old Japanese and Aussie cars from the 80s on the roads occasionally. I wonder what happens to old Alfas? Not all would be rusted or crushed.

Is Subaru going to be pushing its version or will the Aussie market be left to Toyoyta's marketing push to the RWD-loving Aussie youth market?

[JBT]

I imagine the beancounters had a lot to do with it.

Nope, it was designed that way.

[Mr Morlock]

people still bang on about MX5 being gutless- they are not - the vehicles are really in tune in many ways with a modern market. Watch over the next decade- smaller engines, lower weight, perhaps taxes on oversize fuel guzzlers. Mazda got it so wrong that they have made the most successful of sports cars the world has seen and maybe will never see again.

[Regie]

Saw a gt86 the other day at work...fresh off a flight. Was covered in that black and white camo finish

I'll get some pics off my phone

[Hammer]

Is it just me or does this look like a bit like an S2000?

To me it looks more like a 350z/370z. Especially from the 3/4 panel rearwards.

[CQYD]

Its a boxer engine isnt it?
Mazda needs to wake up and chcuk a boosted rotary in the mx instead of just spreading rumors.

Rotary engines are cheap. - gd for mazda
High on maintenence - better for mazda
And bloody powerful - happy non 86 converters

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk

Agreed. Mazda needs to to put a fixed roof on the mx5 and put a rotary in it, then sell it as a Mazdaspeed RX5,
Others do it like STI > WRX and Evo > Ralliart, surely if HSV and FPV can do it Aus domestic cars, it no problem for a world wide car like the MX5.

[miata]

Why? That would be against everything the MX-5 was designed to be.

[pcmx5]

Why? That would be against everything the MX-5 was designed to be.

But it if sold alongside the MX5 it would be an interesting alternative!!

"If the paradigm shifts and you don't"..... just ask the Swiss who invented the digitial watch and decided it didn't fit their concept of craftmanship or Kodak who didn't recognise the future was digital .

MX5's are great,could be better and could easily spawn a fixed hadtop coupe, not sure about the rotary given the remarkable abilty of manufacturers to all of a sudden discover huge gains in efficiency and power from other petrol (particularly) and diesel engines.The mx's current engine is a generation behind,Ford has a 1 ltr. engine ready for the Fiesta with something like 90 KW and great economy.

Not sure that Australia mirrors the rest of the world but with 2011 sales around 330 the MX certainly is a long way off its market penetration in the early 90's.More competition increases the need to be innovative and maybe share developement costs either over models or with other manufacturers as with Subaru and Toyota who seem to be doing bothwith the 86.

Peter.

[CQYD]

Why? That would be against everything the MX-5 was designed to be.

Honda is a perfect example, Integra Type R, S2000 & NSX, brilliant designs and cars of their time, but the market moved on and Honda has nothing to offer.

Same situation with the MX5, its still a good car, but look at all the alternatives in that price bracket. Where it once filled a niche, that niche has become more crowded. Two things that kills car models, volume and desirability, something that has been in decline.

If the 86 really goes on sale for $35k I'd find it difficult argue that the MX5 is $10k better car?

[miata]

Why? That would be against everything the MX-5 was designed to be.

Honda is a perfect example, Integra Type R, S2000 & NSX, brilliant designs and cars of their time, but the market moved on and Honda has nothing to offer.

Same situation with the MX5, its still a good car, but look at all the alternatives in that price bracket. Where it once filled a niche, that niche has become more crowded. Two things that kills car models, volume and desirability, something that has been in decline.

If the 86 really goes on sale for $35k I'd find it difficult argue that the MX5 is $10k better car?

Time will tell Grasshoper!

[Guran]

Not sure that Australia mirrors the rest of the world but with 2011 sales around 330 the MX certainly is a long way off its market penetration in the early 90's.

For the record, there were 315 sales in 2011. Don't be too surprised if sales in 2012 fall below the 1995 lowest figure of 197.


... and year-to-date for each month since Jan 1999 have been steadily falling about 100 per year (I'm missing data from 2009 - so you can't see the blip for the NC2 launch).

[deviant]

The mx's current engine is a generation behind,Ford has a 1 ltr. engine ready for the Fiesta with something like 90 KW and great economy.

Peter.

Think bigger...it is going in the Focus! 3 cylinders, 1000cc, petrol and turbocharged but has more torque and more power across more of the rev range than the current 1.6N/A and better fuel economy on top of that. The block is as big as a piece of A4 paper and the timing belt is inside the engine and runs through the oil in the sump.

Sorry..OT but I find these latest gen engines fascinating and cant wait to see what performance cars come out with them.

For that Ford engine it would be fun to see in a lightweight, mid engined application.

[pcmx5]

Thanks Guran,interesting figures with a definate new model spike for 2 years after the introduction of the NB and NC and then decline.Mazda thought they had a cash cow in the NA and prices went from around $29990 in 1989 to $50000 for a 96 Le which partially explains the NA decline

Agree Deviant,fascinating advances in technology.

All of which means the next MX5 is going to have to be leap forward and as it is being developed in the same time frame hopefully will be.

Peter