MX5 Future

Someone could offer me an eevee for free and i wouldn’t want it.

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No, the objection is they are naff. I can only go by my experiences and after driving two, returning home, reflecting on ‘that’ eevee ‘experience’, and thinking they may well be the ‘future’. I thought that if I had been a vulnerable type, I may have been looking to see how many paracetamols were in the cupboard.

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No soul?
Depends how one cares to define it.

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If it’s faster than an ND, and my ND is faster than my old NC that was also faster than my very old NA then I’m in…

Where do I sign up

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That’s an objectionable statement.

A close friend of mine killed himself, using a poison. No one knows why. Pretty sure it wasn’t about joking around over a car though.

It’s how I felt.
i guess I could find objectionable statements and real-life comparisons in every other line of people’s posts, if I looked hard enough.

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Looking at post nos. 14/27 , 16/27 and some comments proves that there are some really WEIRD people around! :nauseated_face: :face_vomiting:

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The Miura is in my eyes one of the most beautiful cars ever!

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We don’t know what Mazda will produce with an electric MX5. They like to do things a little differently to the rest of the car industry so who knows what they might come up with.

EVs are well suited to a lot of what I love about by NA when compared to my bland VAG company car. Instant throttle response and ability to optimise the weight distribution and centre of gravity (by positioning the battery pack) are a couple that come to mind. Sure, it won’t go “broom broom” but it could have plenty of plus sides.

Obviously some IC engines offer a degree of driver involvement and aural delight and an EV cannot. But for a daily driver I don’t care if my car is powered by volts , petrol or unicorn tears . The emotional objections to EVs might make more sense if the engine in the typical Qashqai or 3 Series behaved and sounded like a Maranello V12 or Chevy small block. But so refined and anodyne is the typical , default issue straight four turbo fitted to nearly everything that it makes no impression on the driver and adds nothing to enjoyment .

But who cares ? I don’t want a howling , crackling beast of an engine in a SUV - I just want peace and quiet and a small fuel bill.

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I would imagine the very first drivers of engined cars felt less connected after coming from the horse and cart. :smiley:

I have yet to drive an electric car but imagine they will develop a feel and character all of their own depending on their intended use.

What we will actually lose is the skill to change gear properly as all cars become automatics. Grandads will be trying the explain to bored kids what a gearbox and heel & toe was etc.

And I am still waiting to hear how the government intends to recoup the lost billions from fuel tax. Sadly, it eventually has to be through pay-per-mile and that’s only ever going to go one way.

Our predecessors probably bemoaned the fact that spoiled baby boomers like me were indulged with heaters, radios and synchromesh gearboxes. We didn’t even have to decoke our engines. …

I heel n toe because I like it but the number of people who do it has always been tiny. Some IAM worthy will doubtless say it saves wear and tear on the gearbox but who last had a gearbox break? (ND owners need not reply )

H n T is a useful skill if you are really pressing on , such as on track and it certainly can aid a smooth entry into a corner , with no risk of lock up on a wet track from a clumsy downchange . I watch a lot of motorsport and I am appalled at some of the clumsier efforts to change down .

But with a DSG etc - who cares ?

I agree with you entirely there John. For my daily driver I would not object to an EV per se (as, as you say most daily driving cars are pretty boring anyway) but I would want to see a better EV infrastructure in place first. I would also like to be more confident in the fact that the batteries would be recyclable at the end of their life rather than becoming more toxic landfill. However, for all round driving enjoyment I would still prefer an sports car with a decent naturally aspirated engine such as the ND.

My ND2 2.0 is my only car… Can’t call it a daily as I’m retired, so is my shopping car and toy…!
And living alone like I do, is practical enough too… :slight_smile: Will keep it for as long as 1) I am able enough to get in and out of it, and 2) Can operate all 3 pedals…!
Rob

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Never much liked the expression “living alone”.
My son describes himself as a “Domestic Isolationist” :grin:
( So does his GF, who adopted my expression and who has her own home 70 miles away) :wink:
She runs her lovely Scooby with circa 350 bhp (Traffic Police!) so it does not take long come down for the weekends…

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We’ve moving towards cars that are remote controlled, tracked and maybe even publicly shared (unless we are wealthy enough to own a charging and parking spot).

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Yep certainly the ‘democratisation’ of the car is coming to an end, i.e. readily available cars at all price points new and used.

All travel will be more controlled and private cars a luxury if you can afford one, car clubs and shared ownership will be more widespread.

Some talk here of an electric version of the next MX-5

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i was recalling and indeed having a great source of amusement y’day reading ‘news’ reports and ‘archived’ forum posts where much of the same stuff was said about ‘diesels’. The ‘advisors’ and ‘scientists’ said those were the way to go, too lol

With a bit of luck, the transportation pod, fairground ride eevves will go down the same toilet.

Anyone buying a diesel next week? :roll_eyes:

I’m liking the hydrogen fuel cell cars more and more, seems far superior to batteries and less damaging to the environment.

Just needs the hydrogen gas stations and maybe Toyota will put it in a normal car, not that strange looking Mirai model.

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Not all EVs are without soul. Most people that say this haven’t driven a good one. The performance can also be astounding. I built my 450kg sports car to be the ultimate in driver involvement and has nearly 400bhp/ton but, it’s still slower than a Tesla Model S to 100mph. After driving it, It makes our two MX-5’s (and my previous Lotus Elise) feel like a bus. The MX-5 is still a great fun car though and much more practical. Everything in life is relative :smiley:

The challenge Mazda face is to make a fully electric MX-5 fun to drive, without the noise associated with a petrol engine. There are many factors that go to make a good sports car and manual gear shifting isn’t really that important. Having built a car with a manual paddle shift (connected to a 6-speed sequential gearbox), I don’t like gear levers so much now. You have to take your hands off the wheel to use them! :flushed: Most EVs have one fixed gear, so your are always in the right one :slight_smile: The key thing for me is the seating position, the connection to the car through the seat (the most important driver interface in any car) and the steering wheel. You have to feel connected to the car, at all speeds.

I really hope they don’t make a hybrid as this will be a huge compromise (for tax reasons) and involve carrying around two sources of power and fuel :frowning: The future is pure electric and there will be many exciting battery technology developments between now and an electric MX-5 being launched.

If Mazda screw it up, someone else will be along to make a fun, practical and relatively cheap fully electric, 2-seater, soft-top sports car. Mazda are just well placed to do a good job first. My key test will be what it feels like when I throw it into that first corner.

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