Bwarrrrrp

A coupe/hardtop should knock off the rest of those kilos.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Yup they cited cost as a reason they couldn't make it happen. More expensive materials/processes likely required.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

true. Mazda is very good at making a light, yet strong body/frame structure, look at the FD, we can basically double the stock power, and grip, and the body/suspension is completely fine. stuff might wear faster, but you don't get catastrophic failures. actually all the Rx7's do ok with big tires

we've road raced an integra for years, and a set of sticky tires, and the body shell, WITH A CAGE, shows signs of bending/failure. our last one was popping spot welds, and the strut towers were tearing. obviously i'm comparing sports car to econobox, but i'm not sure honda knew how to do anything else

obviously the NSX is pretty early going for an aluminum frame car too, but stock FD vs NSX and the FD driver will be so far ahead they can stop for pizza....

its the brochure way to explain handling . the Rx8 for example, is also balanced side to side, and they spent a lot of time on how the roll centers interact with each other in a turn.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

in the late 80's bicycles went from a chromoly steel to aluminum, and i had an early AL bike, which was just a steel bike made from aluminum, and it was pretty floppy.

in the weight dimension the steel bike was a little heavier, but not nearly as much as you'd think.

AL bikes needed different construction (bigger diameter, but thinner walled tubes) to take advantage of the aluminum

Julian

iTrader: (14)

Yes a responsible designer needs to consider strength (yield and ultimate), material stiffness, toughness. When geometric stiffness is an issue along with strength (frames car or bike) you must compensate with increased geometric inertia to make up for a more flexible material.. add wall thickness and weight or more efficiently larger tube with thin wall. Look at a Lotus frame - big box beam to climb over, stiffness .. huge

fmzambon

That article mentions Chicago 2015, but on the miata.net forum there is a recent post by Mazmart who clearly hinted at an imminent debut. It could indeed be Chicago 2014.

There is already a spy photo of the rear suspension of one of the miata mules here, if anyone is interested in how the rear suspension of the new Rx-7 may look like.

Andrea.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Yea this article here is what said next month. I guess we got clarification now since they updated it yesterday afternoon.

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/2015-maz...185224431.html

Tem120

iTrader: (5)

Thats a very nice miata.... I must say if the original product is anything like that .. thumbs upp

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

Not a fan and as someone else pointed out it looks like a lexus

https://www.google.com/search?q=lexu...le%3B588%3B441

The more I look at it the more I see a catfish

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

I thought this one was cooler—sort of Z3/Z4 ish:

2014 Mazda MX-5 Miata – Future Cars – Car and Driver

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

Yep, if you're going to copy something at least copy something that looks decent

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Photos: 2015 Ford F-150 at NAIAS
"Less weight, more aluminum"

Read more: 2015 Ford F-150 Live - Photos - Road & Track

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

7 Favorite Cars from Detroit - 2014 NAIAS in Detroit - Road & Track

The more I see this the more interested I become.

In the near term I'm seriously thinking about a c6 Z. There should be some awesome deals this year and next. I'd like to get the CF edition.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

^^^

I agree, they look cool—but you're going to have a similar problem with tire and brake pad costs (and property taxes) that you did with the 997 GT3.

MisterX

I remember those AL bikes - in the mid 90s a steel hybrid bike still felt more solid than an AL one, and it was a good bit cheaper.

Is it true that for a given weight AL is actually stronger than steel? Seems counterintuitive because we always associate AL as a softer metal; therefore the corresponding thickness of it would have to be huge to simply match steel's strength.

Tem120

iTrader: (5)

hah you're right about the look alike . but then again thats only a rendering . we'll see what mazda comes up with if it will be anything good or just another safe bet ..

I personally hate the current miata's asthetics so anything's better then that in my eyes LOL

Going to have to find a way to strike this thought from your mind . cant have rotary stig defecting to the chevy side!

RCCAZ 1

iTrader: (10)

My thoughts exactly! Gonna have to start a SAVE FRITZ FLYNN fund! . Try saying that 10 times quickly

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

I've been saying the same $hit for 10 years

Also finally bought a GT3, sold it, bought another one and that one is for sale.

Meanwhile the FD is getting some cage work and a paint job so no worries

fdracer

the new 7 just needs to drop the rotary altogether. just make a small light agile car with a turbo 4 cyl. make about 300-320ish bhp, sell it for around $40k and be done with it. a turbo 4 will be lighter, simpler, more reliable, more fuel efficient, cheaper, more powerful, and torquier than a rotary. in fact, their skyactiv line of engines is a great platform to build a higher performance engine from. mazda underpowers them in todays cars for the sake of fuel economy, but trade some economy for performance, add forced induction, and the sky's the limit. mazda keeps throwing r&d money to overcome the limitations of the rotary but to what end? they will never sell enough rotaries to recoup the cost.

mazda has to look at the car as basically a front engined cheaper cayman. the target buyer would be the typical buyer of a boxster/cayman or lotus, but who doesn't want to pay the exclusivity premium. moderate power but super light, nimble, tossable, and will outhandle anything on the road. this has to be it's niche; that's the only way it's going to be a viable product. they will literally have no competition, as no one makes a car like this at this price point anymore. mazda doesn't need to worry about the hp wars. the minute they start trying to benchmark aspects of the vette, m3, z, etc, is when they will get lost in the shuffle and die. who cares if those cars overpower the 7, that's not the raison d'être of the 7 anyway.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

this statement needs a little elaboration. the skyactive is cutting edge in compression ratio peaks in a gasoline powered engine. knowing how turbos work in conjunction with high to extreme compression ratios in gasoline engines this simply won't work.

"here's your skyactiv turbocharged car!", "and here's a map to the sources where you can buy race fuel to get to work and home with."

a basic search came up with a compression ratio of 14:1(generally where lower compression diesels start and end at nearly 25:1), which i have never heard of in combination with forced induction outside of diesel engines utilizing regular fuel off a pump. i'm sure it is possible but the boost pressure would be limited to a rediculously low level with near 0 tolerance of modification.

Julian

iTrader: (14)

Mazda needs the Rx-7 as flagship technology cars just as GM positions the Corvette. It does not need to be a huge money maker but then it cannot be a warranty sinkhole either. They have the Miata line to provide affordable sports cars, the RX-7 used to compete with 911, NSX, M3 when first introduced while costing about the same as a ‘vette. Today we don’t need another $30k 300 Hp car, we need world class performance as we were given in ‘92.

some development quotes: "Kobayakawa had taken the reins of the RX-7 project from Akin Uchiyama in January 1986, and been responsible for the direction of the program from that date forward. He had joined Toyo Kogyo in 1963 as a junior development engineer assigned to Kenichi Yamamoto's rotary engine program, and had been on hand at the US Mazda facilities during the First Great Oil Crisis and observed first-hand the company's dilemma.

The 1993 RX-7 represented a new level of maturity for Mazda's rotary sports car; the shape was as pure
as they come. Pure function: the vents in the front fenders really let hot air out of the engine compartment. Zevolution is that's what they called the tendency of a lean and hungry sports car to grow fat and lazy, typified by the 240Z's mutation from elemental sports car to boulevardier. And Zevolufion is what Takaharu Kobayakawa wanted to avoid at all costs.

Almost immediately after taking over the RX-7 program, Kobayakawa began work on the next generation. And while there was total freedom over the powerplant choice for the new sports car, the rotary was selected, first for compactness and power potential, but also for heritage. Said Yamamoto: "To forsake the rotary would be losing our identity. The RX-7 could not and would not exist without the rotary." While Mazda had experience with mid-engine designs, from the R16A of 1965 to the Le Mans prototype racers of the 1980s, it was decided that the "front mid-engine" layout of the previous generations would be retained. Again, that's just what an RX-7 was. "

Another quote I remember intent well but cannot find the actual words was ether from Kobayakawa or Yamamoto and was declaration of war by Mazda against the super cars of the day. They Mazda would build and win against the best the world could offer; now maybe they were talking more of the eventual 787 and its win of LeMan, never know; but they did shack the beliefs on track and street.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

world class has outgrown the rotary engine, sadly.

imagine the issues that would arise with a turbocharged 4 rotor producing 500-600hp, not to mention the pricetag associated, or the deafening sound that would keep the car from ever being legally produced.

pushing the limits of the engine will likely have to fall on the shoulders of the enthusiasts. because with that comes the acceptance that things can and will break, often.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

I agree with the target/positioning, but not the "no rotary" part. If it's not a rotary, why do we care? I'll buy a used Cayman.

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

With Mazda at the helm of the rotary engine you are absolutely correct.

Piston engines have come a long way in the past 30 years and the rotary hasn't changed much in efficiency or power.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

they have and haven't, i was going to give examples of major efficiency improvements but in almost all cases they are mainly derived from forced induction. efficiency on the other hand has come a long ways. it's not like GM is greeting their competition with a naturally aspirated engine, they dominate it with a supercharged V8 large displacement engine which is only barely touching the taps on power potential and eliminating weight by no longer using steel/iron.

but how has the rotary engine done in the efficiency department? it has stagnated even with the introduction of fuel injection. i could envision the rotary engine would develop less detonation related failures with direct injection but i doubt the performance or efficiency will rise all that much.

when it comes to boost and rotaries, you just never know what results lie ahead. i doubt mazda will ever accept compromising their cast iron seals for power potential. a large displacement rotary just doesn't have much place anywhere except in a wealthy rotary enthusiast's garage, and they are so few.

smaller displacement piston engines are the ones that have made leaps and bounds in all areas, but now you're seeing the market enveloped by big muscle cars with 5-6liter engines, even the japanese have started to adopt this mentality. if mazda could build a 400-500hp rotary for $70-100k i'm certain they would sell but still in limited numbers. it would basically be the FD version2, except it wouldn't be similar to a new vette since it would be pushing the engine near it's limit to even compete.

even in the middle market a 300whp rotary sport's car might manage in the $40-50k range. but they will have to make the 16x work, no more dicking around with 13B's. anyone who wants a brand new designed rotary car for in the $25-35k range is just living a pipe dream.

they could run them on "green" fuel... hippies unite! higher octane fuels, forced induction and more displacement are about the only way to remain just below the shoulders.

now picture more faces on a rotor, or ditch the current rotor altogether. there's many ways to build a rotary engine and that is what makes them so unique. mazda is like porsche in this area, they simply cannot move away from their original concept.
http://www.technologyreview.com/vide...engine-design/