Tuesday 2nd November 2010

Tech Details Of Next Mazda MX-5 Revealed

New roadster will draw engineering inspiration from Ibuki concept

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New MX-5 will take engineering from this...

The next-generation Mazda MX-5 will use engineering ideas from the RX-8 - and a seven-year-old concept - in a bid to create a better-balanced, lighter car, according to reports on the web.

The new car, due to be revealed at the 2011 Tokyo motor show, will have a 'twin-backbone frame' construction similar to both the RX-8 and the Ibuki concept first revealed at the 2003 Tokyo show. Apparently, Mazda reckons that this design will allow it to create a soft-top with all the structural rigidity of a coupe.

The next MX-5 will also use the RX-8 and Ibuki's trick of putting the engine as far back as possible in the nose, effectively creating a front mid-engined layout.

...and design cues from this

The new MX-5 won't look like the Ibuki, however. As anyone with eyes (oh all right, and an interest in cars) will know, the show car's visuals were a preview for the current generation of MX-5 that's been with us since 2005.

Instead, the next MX-5 will take its visual cues from the Mazda Shinari concept (right) that was unveiled in Milan in August, which was the first car to showcase Mazda's new 'Kodo' design language.

The new MX-5's oily bits will most definitely draw inspiration fro mthe Ibuki's layout, however. As one Mazda engineer told Autocar, who first broke the story, "The Ibuki was not a one-off future concept car. It contains crucial aspects of the next-generation roadster."

[Mr Whippy]

Must check speeling!

Should be a nice refreshing looking car. Lets just hope they return to the old cars size/weight. The new one really is a bit of a bloater in comparison... and that isn't what made the old one so special for so so long!

Dave

[Riggers]

Mr Whippy said:

Must check speeling!

Should be a nice refreshing looking car. Lets just hope they return to the old cars size/weight. The new one really is a bit of a bloater in comparison... and that isn't what made the old one so special for so so long!

Dave

What, you've never heard of the word 'nose4'?!

on a more serious note, there are murmurs that the new car will come in at less than 1000kg - which would be nice.

[S3K04]

Interesting

[TimmmyT]

Hope they make it look a bit more aggressive. I've always been tempted to run one of these for a bit but can never quite overcome the image that comes with it. Bit more performance wouldn't go a miss either.

[300bhp/ton]

Riggers said:

Mr Whippy said:

Must check speeling!

Should be a nice refreshing looking car. Lets just hope they return to the old cars size/weight. The new one really is a bit of a bloater in comparison... and that isn't what made the old one so special for so so long!

Dave

What, you've never heard of the word 'nose4'?!

on a more serious note, there are murmurs that the new car will come in at less than 1000kg - which would be nice.

And one up, or rather 100kg down on the forthcoming Elise!

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Tuesday 2nd November 11:37

[300bhp/ton]

TimmmyT said:

Hope they make it look a bit more aggressive. I've always been tempted to run one of these for a bit but can never quite overcome the image that comes with it. Bit more performance wouldn't go a miss either.

I quite like the looks tbh, the MK2 with a hard top looked like a little TVR Chim from some angles.

More power - never understood why Maxda have never offered a higher performance variant to me it seems such a mis-guided focus by Mazda.

MPS MX-5 and an RX-5 would be most welcome IMO.

[450Nick]

300bhp/ton said:

TimmmyT said:

Hope they make it look a bit more aggressive. I've always been tempted to run one of these for a bit but can never quite overcome the image that comes with it. Bit more performance wouldn't go a miss either.

I quite like the looks tbh, the MK2 with a hard top looked like a little TVR Chim from some angles.

More power - never understood why Maxda have never offered a higher performance variant to me it seems such a mis-guided focus by Mazda.

MPS MX-5 and an RX-5 would be most welcome IMO.

Yes the mk2 does have several similar lines to the TVR Chim... I heard a while back that when the Chim was unveiled there were a lot of Eastern types asking a lot of questions and taking a lot of photos at the motorshow so perhaps the Chim really did come into the MX-5's design process. A bit like how the Cerb was used as a testbed for the Merc SLR!

[J.P.W.]

I dunno so much about the "bit more performance." It's not essential to getting the most out of the MX-5 concept. As well as the handling, convertibleness and all that, much of the MX5's appeal is its accessibility, in terms of acquisition price, tax, insurance and maintenance.

And not just when the car's new. Mine's 21 years old and its mechanical simplicity allows me to keep it running well without the big bills that so often come with higher power.

I'm hoping this one will retain/increase the simplicity - and that any performance gains come from weight reduction (OK so a bit more performance after all maybe!).

Looking forward to getting one in about 2030 .

[Matt UK]

Mr Whippy said:

Must check speeling!

Should be a nice refreshing looking car. Lets just hope they return to the old cars size/weight. The new one really is a bit of a bloater in comparison... and that isn't what made the old one so special for so so long!

Dave

When you say bloater, do you mean the styling. Only reason I say that is that the old NB weighed in at 1,065kg and the new NC weighs in at 1,095kg.

So whilst I agree that weight is going in the wrong direction, the new car is not as heavy as it's looks suggest it should be.

[esudfu]

J.P.W. said:

Mine's 21 years old and its mechanical simplicity allows me to keep it running well without the big bills that so often come with higher power.

I'm hoping this one will retain/increase the simplicity - and that any performance gains come from weight reduction (OK so a bit more performance after all maybe!).

Looking forward to getting one in about 2030 .

Funnily enough I've just bought a 1990 MX5 and I'm amazed at how sprightly it is for something with so little power. Alright, I've only had it a couple of weeks but I haven't found myself wishing it had more grunt (yet), when the handlings so sweet.

I've had Caterhams and a VX220 in the past (better financial times) so wasn't expecting meaningful performance from my £1k MX5, and I suspect a lot of buyers of new buyers are the same (including enthusiasts rather than just hairdressers ). It's not really what the car's about - high powered sports cars are a fairly modern phenomenon, the MX5 is more in the mould of the Lotus Elan, MGB, etc. - the right grip/power combination at the right price.

Edited by esudfu on Tuesday 2nd November 11:42

[Mr Whippy]

Matt UK said:

Mr Whippy said:

Must check speeling!

Should be a nice refreshing looking car. Lets just hope they return to the old cars size/weight. The new one really is a bit of a bloater in comparison... and that isn't what made the old one so special for so so long!

Dave

When you say bloater, do you mean the styling. Only reason I say that is that the old NB weighed in at 1,065kg and the new NC weighs in at 1,095kg.

So whilst I agree that weight is going in the wrong direction, the new car is not as heavy as it's looks suggest it should be.

Well, I'd love to see one of each on the scales with a driver and fuel, rather than 'manufacturer' figures.

But either way, the old one is smaller, lower and with even a slight weight benefit it'll result in a lower inertia value, and better to place on the road than the larger taller fat looking new one.

I'd never own a new shape one, but I quite like the late model last shape ones... especially when people have breathed about 350bhp into them

Dave

[FD_Henning]

The old ones are 1.6l and 1,8l and the new ones are 1.8l and 2.0l which makes up for the slight weight gain.

The MX-5 demonstrates that you don't need buckets of power to have fun in a car.

[havoc]

The one thing that I found a let-down about all 3 gens of MX-5 was the engine. The 1.6 didn't have enough grunt, the 1.8 didn't want to rev (which feels all wrong for a sports car), and the 2.0 while competent still feels straight from a saloon, and can't carry a tune to save it's life.

If they can finally fit it with an engine that'll do the chassis justice (fat change of that in the current emissions-dominated climate), then I'll be jumping for joy...

[Snoggledog]

havoc said:

The one thing that I found a let-down about all 3 gens of MX-5 was the engine. The 1.6 didn't have enough grunt, the 1.8 didn't want to rev (which feels all wrong for a sports car), and the 2.0 while competent still feels straight from a saloon, and can't carry a tune to save it's life.

If they can finally fit it with an engine that'll do the chassis justice (fat change of that in the current emissions-dominated climate), then I'll be jumping for joy...

Would be interesting to see if they could drop in the engine from the Furai concept. That would sound nice.

[Gizmo!]

So, it'll look a bit like this then?



Looks OK to me.

Edited by Gizmo! on Tuesday 2nd November 13:50

[MIP1983]

So... people want an MX-5 like roadster, fairly light, with great balance and handling, with some kind of x-bone like chassis technology that gives it the rigidty of a hard top, with a revvy (possibly award winning) sporty engine putting out a reasonable amount of power, say 240bhp ish, that's not too pricey, reliable, and reasonbly cheap to run.

That'll be a Honda S2000 then (post 04 facelift so it doesn't use oil, pre 06 so you don't pay too much tax).

[Pearcy]

MIP1983 said:

So... people want an MX-5 like roadster, fairly light, with great balance and handling, with some kind of x-bone like chassis technology that gives it the rigidty of a hard top, with a revvy (possibly award winning) sporty engine putting out a reasonable amount of power, say 240bhp ish, that's not too pricey, reliable, and reasonbly cheap to run.

That'll be a Honda S2000 then (post 04 facelift so it doesn't use oil, pre 06 so you don't pay too much tax).

But they're about 1/4 ton too heavy...

[Snoggledog]

MIP1983 said:

So... people want an MX-5 like roadster, fairly light, with great balance and handling, with some kind of x-bone like chassis technology that gives it the rigidty of a hard top, with a revvy (possibly award winning) sporty engine putting out a reasonable amount of power, say 240bhp ish, that's not too pricey, reliable, and reasonbly cheap to run.

That'll be a Honda S2000 then (post 04 facelift so it doesn't use oil, pre 06 so you don't pay too much tax).

I'm not knocking the S2000 here but if they were so great why did Honda stop production?

[durbster]

300bhp/ton said:

More power - never understood why Maxda have never offered a higher performance variant to me it seems such a mis-guided focus by Mazda.

Since it's the best selling sports car of all time I can't see how anybody can label Mazda as misguided. The fact that they've stuck to the spirit of the car for 20 years deserves huge praise in my book.

What I find more bizarre is that other manufacturers haven't copied them. It seems in every other segment manufacturers fall over themselves to copy the competition; yet small, fun-to-drive, cheap-to-run roadsters are pretty much in a league of one.

[Some Gump]

Durb, what about the MGF? They at least tried to copy it =)