Filed under: Diesel, Hybrid, MPG, Mazda, Lightweight
Mazda MX-5 to get lighter, alternative engines?
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Mazda MX-5
It may be tougher than you think to produce a simple roadster like the Mazda MX-5. Mazda is currently hard at work on the next generation of the sporty little car, and the automaker is concerned with its efficiency. To help matters, Mazda wants to lighten the engine's workload by making the entire car at least 10 percent lighter. If that happens, the new MX-5 would be just about as lithe as the original Miata, which was introduced all the way back in 1989. Aluminum won't be used for the chassis, though, as it's just too expensive for a car that needs to sell at a specific price point.
To go along with the weight savings, the sportscar could get some sort of alternative powerplant, either a diesel or hybrid. While those options would surely make a big difference, a diesel engine is much heavier than its gas-powered counterpart and a hybrid would need a battery pack stored somewhere. Since either option would make it difficult for Mazda to achieve its necessary 50/50 weight balance, a downsized gas engine, possibly fitted with a turbocharger and direct injection, seems much more likely for the 2011 model year.
Sources: Autocar, Drive]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gorr 8:48PM (10/10/2008)
It will cost them ton of money in investments just because gas is high and people realized in the last couple of months that manufacturers are incompetant ranting persons and they don't have solutions abouth high gasoline price and pollutions. So consumers are not just looking for smaller cars, they are looking of not buying anything. So these invesment are wortless, especially a hybrid ' economic sport car' . Hybrid add 10 000$ to the cost.
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ryan 9:43PM (10/10/2008)
Gorr makes a really decent point. The world economy is tanking, and so whether people understand finance or not, they will probably choose to hang on to the car they have. That or buy used. It almost always pays to hold on to your current car as long as possible, unless you would be getting triple or quadruple the fuel economy from your new car purchase.
Again, whether people realize this or not is irrelevant. People the world over are going to start tightening their purse strings and riding out the storm. $40,000 unproven designs that are projected to start making money for their designers are going to take quite a while to turn a profit.
When I personally see new technologies on the horizon, the car geek in me gets excited, but then I think about depreciation and how I could better spend my money. The end result is that I will continue to buy insurance claim vehicles at a quarter of their retail value and drive them.... when I drive at all.
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Tony Belding 8:47AM (10/11/2008)
Hmmm. . . If their goal is to make the car as lightweight as the original 1989 model, why couldn't they just use the same materials and the same 1.6L straight-4 engine that they used in 1989?
Oh, wait. They have to meet newer safety standards, and compete in today's horsepower wars. Nobody wants to drive a tinfoil rolling coffin with a squirrel-and-treadmill under the hood, like our distant ancestors did way back in, um. . . 1990.
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Peter L 9:02AM (10/11/2008)
Guess why I have a 1990 model in my stable.
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Paul Sallmen 1:04PM (10/11/2008)
Excellent comments everyone. I agree, the world economy will dictate that people will hang onto their old cars. It's true that you're usually far better off keeping and maintaining your old car. I have a run-of-the-mill 1991 Honda Civic sedan. It is a very light car (under 1000 kg) has a very modest engine (1.5 L, 92 hp) but it gets great fuel economy. If I keep acceleration reasonable, I regularly get 7-8 L/100 km in the city! Except for the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, VW diesels and Smart car, what other new car sold in North America can beat that? Europe and Japan, on the other hand, have a lot more choice.
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Doug 9:47AM (10/15/2008)
They should use the Supergen i-hybrid design.
http://www.integralp.com/HyperGenIHybrid.aspx
According to the company, SuperGen i-Hybrid can achieve 170bph and accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 7.7 seconds while with CO2 emissions of 120g/km (.62 miles) in a C class. More importantly, though, the engine only cost a third of current hybrid systems and can be fitted into today's current vehicles.
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gerry 11:10AM (10/15/2008)
Mazda has already been making Miller/Atkison cycle engines (Millenia S and Mazda2) which are lighter, more powerful and more fuel-efficient than regular gas engines. Why not just develop a 2.0 Miller for the Miata?
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