“Both the MX-5 and the Alfa Romeo Spider will be sold with their own range of engines. Mazda reportedly intends to fit its MX-5 with a new naturally aspirated 1.6-litre SkyActiv engine, which develops around 130bhp, as the staple unit. A diesel engine option is also being considered.”
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/scoop/2015-mazda-mx-5-spotted
It says wider and longer, but previous reports have said they were trying to reduce the frontal area and get the size down after the relatively bloated mk3. Strange.
It looks wider and longer due to the false body panels.
I think the fact the wheels are now 4-stud and what appear to be smaller brakes hints the overall weight is down
Low profile tyres give a harder ride and almost always weigh more than a smaller wheel and taller tyre (4lb in the case of my 17" and 16" wheels, both fairly airy Mazda OEM designs). Heavier wheels crash over bumps more. Given the choice, I’d have 16" wheels on a Mk3.5 anytime - the car came with 17" because it’s a special edition.
It’s all about looks and filling the arches. Even that can be taken too far, and black cars in particular can end up looking like upturned prams.
Back on topic, I would be very unhappy if Mazda increased the external dimensions; many MX-5s are garaged and not many modern cars easily fit into a standard UK garage these days.
Maybe Mazda have been reading all the lowering topics on this forum then
It’s definitely going to be named the ‘MX5 Kimosabe’.
It’s going to be sprayed metallic deep purple with extra silver glittery bits, have a silver unicorn leather interior, stylish purple and silver furry dice, preprogrammed and unremoveable hi-fi with late 60s to mid 90s rock, instant rock music news radio updates, fewer cup holders for weight saving, free global puncture repair or new tyre fitting for the life of the car, a BMW-esque 24/365 personal comms button linked to mazda tech support, only run on 99RON or higher.
Now end all your futile speculation and stop fantasising about the weight if a tyre for the truth art here… man.
A diesel was first mooted in 2001, when they were designing the NC. I know, because I was speaking to Peter Birtwhistle at Mazda’s European Design Centre in Frankfurt at the time, while looking at the NC concepts.
The diesel was favoured by engineers, but they cited the high cost of a diesel (because of the price point and low volume, there is little profit in the MX5) and that a diesel would adversely affect the balance of the car.
The stick up rear brake light repeater looks absurd. I suppose this is due to some EU regulation about a minimum height or something.
Perhaps Mazda could make it retractable so we don’t have to look at it when the car is parked?
Modern diesel cars can be very quick,sometimes quicker than petrol engines and loads of torque even from 1.9/2.0 tdi,ie mondeo 130 or VW/sKODA UP TO 170BHP ARE ONLY BRILLIANT.nOT SURE SO MUCH ABOUT aLFA DIESEL ,WOULD,NT BE MY CUP OF TEA,in saying that Mazda diesels are crappy ,oily,and blow up around 90/100k,thats why you can not get good used mazda diesel engines in any breakers.Thay just laugh at you asking for say Mazda 6 TDI engine and if they do have one its 1200pounds with no guarentee!!
Or it means nothing, given the only visible panel on the mules that will end up on the ND is the scuttle. The panels on the boot are faux, covering a very small rump, which you can see on the white car (look at the fuel filler).
To my mind, it is sad that Mazda have not gone back to basics with the new model. ‘Improvement’ seems to mean more size and more weight, and more complication. It is said of a 1930’s US aircraft designer that he described his design philosophy as ‘add lightness and simplicate’. While his control of the English language was shaky, his ideas were right!
To be really radical, Mazda could make do with one road wheel at the back instead of two, dump all the fancy interior trim, hang a big V-twin engine on the front and - oh no, you end up with a Morgan. Still, one of those at a sensible price would be a seller.
Autocar allegedly have more details;
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/week-autocar/autocar-magazine-8-january-preview
Saw the Autocar article today. No substance or new information. Seemed just a made up story.
Just more press speculation and made up stuff agreed, but for about the first time the artist has managed to draw something that looks OK. So fingers crossed this bloke is a bit nearer than some of the other guesses most of which have been awful looking things…
More 'ring test pictures…
Will be interesting to see if the side indicators carry on into the ND to keep that little link across the generations!
looks like its getting close now, think I will hold off on the possible purchase of the new 5 for now just to see what comes up this year.
Autocar expects an official reveal in February 2015, at the Chicago motorshow, a choice of 1.5 or 2.0 engine, no turbo. Europe is likely to get a folding hardtop only. The Autocar article included numerous direct quotes, what is referred to, in the trade, as primary research. Secondary research is what you find trawling the internet. The author was certainly in Japan in October/November. He has pretty good contacts; he scooped the folding hardtop MX5 in November 2005. New information included that the mazda 6 and 3 grill shape will not be used on the ND. Also, though maybe tongue in cheek, seemed to intimate that the design was pretty much done, probably at the time Alfa Romeo signed up; which makes sense, because the NC3 wasn’t supposed to happen. The NC3 is an interim solution to avoid loss of EU type approval (ND should have been out in 2012-2013) through the addition of the explosive bonnet bolts. Then when Alfa had a stab at their version, Mazda went back to the drawing board, and came up with an apparently cleaner version.
Mazda and Fiat went public on their partnership in May 2012; likely they were in comms during 2011. In 2001, I saw what was likely a quarter scale NC prototype in Frankfurt. 2004; NC prototypes were being seen, at about the same state as the ND mules are now (early 2004; NC prototype appeared with a mixture of NB outer panels and a RX8 front, by late 2004, the mules were more obviously NCs with padding on. ND mules are currently draped in hacked NC panels, so 2015 looks likely, and probably the basic redesign done in 2012-2013
I believe you may be correct about folding hard top only, that will in my opinion not be a good thing…
So it just has to be that Minter Mk1 you have always talked about.
You must always remember that they could be fed some info that is incorrect to wrong foot competitors.
The competitor being…? There isn’t one. MG is staying out of convertibles for the time being, concentrating instead on their new SUV. Kia might have something in the works, but they’ve been saying that for years. The VW is unlikely to go ahead, because they need to sell 40,000 per year to break even; the MX5, with no competitors, is barely breaking 20,000 a year.
Manufacturers these days don’t leak misinformation. They instead tease. Its no coincidence that photographers were let onto Chrysler property to snap the mule. Ditto the 'Ring photos. All to keep us interested. No manufacturer is going to change their product development because of something they read in Autocar or Autoexpress. If they don’t want the world to know, they stay schtum. If they do want us to know, they’ll tell, in an oblique manner. Hence the NC3 revised nose was in plain site, at SEMA, 6 months before the car was even launched. There’s lots of things they can’t keep secret, like the new manually operated folding hardtop, or the reverse seatbelts, because that is all now in published patents. The Europe Trademark office also gets to publish the new external designs.
