2023 MX-5NE - The next step?

Mazda is experiencing record sales in the USA this year, so this will help them stay independent.

However we know they are collaborating with Toyota already with a factory in America.

I dont mind EVs as everyday cars, will make the air quality a lot better.
Just as long as we can still drive our classics and sports cars a few thousand miles a year out of clean air zones.

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Which ee vee did you buy with your own money?

Prices are still high at the moment for EVs, but I think it’s an interesting time with cars at the moment.

I agree with that 100%. They are pretty much en route to banning everything which isn’t an ‘ee vee’ and all new car purchases will have no clutch, no manual trans, no engine sound, pitiful driver interaction. I wonder just how many current car enthusiasts, really, who brush aside the virtual signalling, woke platforms, are actually really looking forward to that…

I’m actually looking forward to an electric car.

Whilst for me the whole engine noise, manual transmission and driver interaction matters most, I do feel that as the next generation of motorists come along, they’ll find some things to love not obvious to us petrolheads… though can’t think what to be honest…! :thinking:
Rob

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Nothing yet, still 2 petrol cars, not even driven an EV yet. I’m a ‘late adopter’.

I can see the benefits, if you just want to pop to the shops you don’t need a sports car, save that for a more special drive.

What it will do is un-democratise the car, because of the high prices it will become elitist again, like when cars first began.

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When are you getting one? Part X your MX-5 towards one?

Indeed, you don’t need a ‘sports car’ to pop to the shops, but does one need an ‘ee vee’ to do that? Plenty of other petrol cars which would suffice.

Personally, MX-5 or otherwise, I hope never to have to purchase an ‘ee vee’ transportation pod. ‘Unfortunately’ though, I’m a little too young to be able to ride it out (no pun) until my time comes to leave life on earth, unless I go prematurely of course lol
I recall very vividly all the conversations I had batting off the then-latest eco brainwashing fad of the diesels, which ended in a spectacular failure. As stated, everything crossed, that the latest fad goes the same way too. Back then, many rolled with the ‘oh, it’s different this time’ rhetoric regarding that diesels would eventually wipe out the petrol cars. As previously stated, how did that one work out :smiley:

Anyway, fingers crossed, after my experience of ‘ee vees’, I won’t ever be in a car showroom trying to convince myself to shell over 25K plus of my hard earned for a rollercoster transportation pod which probably will still resemble something out of the film Communion :alien:

There is nothing wrong with either petrol, diesel or electric as a power source. Each has it’s positives and negatives, and I wouldn’t say any one was the ultimate answer.

I did work at a BMW dealership about 5 years ago for a few months, and drove a few i3’s, and their from rest to about 40mph was very impressive and was very suited to the roundabouts and grid system around Milton Keynes during rush hour times… Was all-too-simple though and that is why the driving is impressive, over and above involving, which it certainly is not…! One thing I will say, that transitioning from an automatic petrol or diesel car to an electric would be less of a step-change than going manual gearbox to electric…
Rob

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The answer is always a Miata.

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I looked at a Tesla 3 to replace my Golf GTI, but decided that in the not too distant future I would HAVE to have an EV if I wanted a new car, so bought the ND instead.

Just about to take the long way home from work, with the top down, just to have some fun and unwind after a long day in the orifice. Would not be doing that if I had bought a Tesla as I would want to preserve as much range as possible and its just not fun- efficient yes, fun, no.

Enjoy these last 8 1/2 years of freedom!!!

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A fact that has just come to me… I drove an electric car long before one with a petrol engine… Back in the black and white days of the 1970’s…! :slight_smile:
Rob
35fef89a988053094092e6d504ade3f7

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Who is going to stockpile a few petrol cars before 2030?
If you look after a car well it can do 20 years can’t it?

Providing petrol is still readily available.:rage:

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The ban is on sale of new cars. Likely the price will plunge in the run up to 2030. Some car makers will get with the project, others will fall by the wayside because they failed to anticipate and prepare for the change.

Over in the States, Ford look to have knocked it out of the park with the Maverick minitruck, where the cheapest model ($20,000) is a hybrid

Completely flipped things; previously you’d pay a premium for a hybrid, and by extension, EV. Got the right look, great colours. I like it but apparently it won’t be coming here. I would not be surprised that Ford eventually drops

I expect over the coming years, there will be more restrictions on where you can use a ICE car, without coughing up a fee.

Mazda had the opportunity in 2005; they had the Ibuki concept, which was the inspiration for the NC, and that car was engineered to be a Hybrid then, no ICE-only option. But they went safe with a Ford Focus engine instead. They put all their stall in a future based on hyper efficient ICE engines (aka Sky Activ). Bit like Jaguar who thought the future was Ingenium, and blew a bunch of money on a new engine plant, just as diesel fell out of favour. Thats a few billion they will never get back that could have gone on a next generation powerplant. Instead, Jaguar may well end up using Mercedes powertrains. If they survive.

Mazda sales up, slightly, in the US, down elsewhere.

Reminiscent of the lean burn engines in the 80s. Rover and other car makers were convinced the future for lowering emissions lay with lean burn engines, such as the K-series, not add on catalytic converters, and tried to influence European governments not to adopt the catalytic converter. Didn’t work, and the K-Series ended up a blip; a very efficient engine, but all for nought. 10 years later, Rover was using BMW engness, and in a few models, Indian-made PSA engines.

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All part of the future Davos ‘build back better’, i.e ‘better’ than what? Better than when you didn’t have to wear masks; could fly without multiple tests and quarantines; didn’t have fear of your car being taxed to the hilt if you dare not change to a transportation pod; didn’t have to walk on the road when someone was coming towards you; when you could try clothes on in a shop; could play grab your mate around his shoulder? lol