What have you done to your Miata today?

[princess peach]

It looks asian! (rlaugh)

BAZINGA

Apparently it's not, but I hope you're right. Aside from the looks, a 1.3L Skyactive engine? This car is not meant to be an economy, it won't be easy to mod for people who want to. Maybe they'll reduce the body roll a bit

 

[THE Phen]

I've heard 1.4L turbo Skyactiv.

Know what they're doing? Trying to go back to their roots. Lightweight, decent power... a balanced car. It doesn't need to be super powerful, and with a $28k price tag, it's going to be (and always has been) primarily older folks who buy them and don't give two s**** about modding.

 

[mx-p5]

do you also believe the rumors that the Miata might be going FWD? Or at least not soley RWD? (Possibly gas up front, electric to the rears)

 

[KZL_99ES]

eewww....it kinda looks like a bimmer Z3, at least the sides do...

 

[princess peach]

Car and Driver said 1.3L Skyactive turbo. Lighter is good, and I don't mind it having the same amount of power as the current one, but to me the Skyactive engine is geared towards fuel efficiency for regular cars. This car is not meant to be driven lightly and get good gas mileage, you're supposed to beat on it

 

[mx-p5]

agreed.. . . 19-22 mpg yo

 

[THE Phen]

Have you driven any of the Skyactiv cars? I drove a 3 and it was spritely enough for me... and I'm an opinionated asshole.

I do not believe the rumors of the bulls*** drivetrain layout. The MX5 was designed to be the next best British Sports Car. Simple, inexpensive, roadster, and actually starts every day. Mazda designers would be a bunch of boneheads if they did something differently.

Oh... and the early B6 cars... Beat the hell out of them and still pull 28 plus. You only get s*** mileage when you have a snail on it... which is unnecessary to be perfectly honest with you.

 

[thejeans]

Car and Driver said 1.3L Skyactive turbo. Lighter is good, and I don't mind it having the same amount of power as the current one, but to me the Skyactive engine is geared towards fuel efficiency for regular cars. This car is not meant to be driven lightly and get good gas mileage, you're supposed to beat on it

you do realize that the skyactiv motors were DESIGNED to get better fuel efficiency WITHOUT sacrificing any of the performance we have come to know in modern mazda motors... right??

more fuel efficient when driven sanely, still fun as hell when beating on it.... i dont see the downside to the skyactiv personally

 

[mx-p5]

i'm not gonna disagree with you on it being unncessary, but it does make me smile

Plus living in a state that's all flat, having that extra 100hp makes it that much better (Since it's all pretty much straight lines anyways)

Plus the ability to pass is nice


and I'll agree with Jeans, i'm all for the skyactive

 

[princess peach]

I have driven one, it's got a nice punch. I do know they were designed for that but this is the first Skyactive turbo I've heard about, and I wouldn't feel comfortable beating on a turbo car with such a high compression, unless they actually reduce it for the turbo version but that would go against the Skyactive model. Hopefully it'll have a boost gauge

 

[thejeans]

if they upped the compression in the diesel version and its ran fine, i got a feeling the turbo'd version will be fine too... now it might now like being modded that much but thats a totally different topic

 

[princess peach]

if the speed3\6 were touchy modded, these will be way worse. I may be talking out of my ass here, but I believe diesels will respond better than gas engines to higher compression. They should know what they're doing, I just feel iffy about it

 

[THE Phen]

ok, a couple things...

1) i doubt it will have a boost gauge. They didn't do it with the MSP, MSM, MS6, MS3. Extremely unlikely that they'll do it on a car that is primarily going to be purchased by retirees that have the money to put towards a car they're going to drive once a week. Let's face it... would you have bought your MSM new for $28k? Nope... neither would I.

2) diesels work on a different fuel / compression concept than gas motors. Diesels don't have throttle bodies, so all RPM control is done thru the fuel pump. Chances of having a range of AFR going from 9:1 to 300:1 is likely. Hence the reason most diesel engines are cast iron with forged internals... because they need it. Compression ratios are typically crazy high.

3) Speed3/Speed6 were different engines entirely. That's like saying that the MS3 would be a piece of s*** because the MSP blew engines left and right. s***, look at the 2.0L MZR in the NC and the 2.0L MZR in the 1st gen 3's. Different power ratings. Different drivability. Different purposes in life.

 

[princess peach]

true, the second gen Speed3 does have a boost gauge but that's no indication on this one and I won't pay that much for a car (again). My point was that the MZR responds well to mods, MS3\6 are touchy but it can be done, and given the Skyactive design it'll be even worse to mod. It will be done, but it will be very sensitive to changes (i think). As for diesels, I don't know that much, hence the disclaimer

 

[aMaff]

2) diesels work on a different fuel / compression concept than gas motors. Diesels don't have throttle bodies, so all RPM control is done thru the fuel pump. Chances of having a range of AFR going from 9:1 to 300:1 is likely. Hence the reason most diesel engines are cast iron with forged internals... because they need it. Compression ratios are typically crazy high.

Well yeah... they're compression ignition engines, so they have to be or they'd never get ignition. But what manufacturers are able to do these days w/ DI engines is getting better and better IMO. You can trim the fuel finely enough that doing very high compression with a turbo can still be done safely, and get great mileage. I remember the Porsche RS Spyders running ALMS were getting retarded mileage numbers under caution because they were cruising at relatively low speed and could lean the mixture way way out and just sip gas. Pretty neat stuff.

 

[THE Phen]

true, the second gen Speed3 does have a boost gauge but that's no indication on this one and I won't pay that much for a car (again). My point was that the MZR responds well to mods, MS3\6 are touchy but it can be done, and given the Skyactive design it'll be even worse to mod. It will be done, but it will be very sensitive to changes (i think). As for diesels, I don't know that much, hence the disclaimer

Well... **** modding?

But in all seriousness... oh wait... that was serious. I mean, Mazda's engines have had different personalities completely. The B6 / BP took great to mods, the FP / FS-DE's sucked at everything they did, the MZR and DISI engines act differently than the other two.

 

[mx-p5]

FS-DE sucked in general (mods or no mods) although both times i went boom, the car was modded (but intake, header, exhaust, MP3 ECU) but it didn't go boom due to mods

 

[Tungsten6]

I got 30MPG on my road trip to PSL. 72 the whole way.
But I really do like the look of it in this picture, sure as hell doesnt look like a miata.

oh, and you're suppose to do what my dad did and ditch the protege at 37k.
No problems

 

[PrinceValorum]

if they upped the compression in the diesel version and its ran fine, i got a feeling the turbo'd version will be fine too... now it might now like being modded that much but thats a totally different topic

if the speed3\6 were touchy modded, these will be way worse. I may be talking out of my ass here, but I believe diesels will respond better than gas engines to higher compression. They should know what they're doing, I just feel iffy about it

I thought they lowered the compression in the diesels and raised it in the gas motors. I haven't kept up with it in a while, but the preliminary stuff was saying they both had CR's around 14:1, although they were going to lower the gas motors to 13:1 because drivers in the US whine if they can't use 87 octane. I don't understand how the diesel can run with a CR that low, though... But I'm no expert in that field (or any, for that matter!).

 

[thejeans]

i thought they upped both to ease the start up on the diesel for cold starts... i may have that wrong since its been a while since i read the article