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I've heard the old lotus Elan's being compared to the NA Mx5 quite a lot, I thought I may of heard that they shared a chassis or something? Could someone let me know why they share so much in common?
Thanks!


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Learn about Lotus Elan here

The MX5 was inspired by the Elan and It’s more of a comparison to the formula the MX5 uses rather than it sharing anything - 2 seater convertible, front engine, rear drive, lightweight, good handling etc..

It also shares some styling cues like the pop up headlights.

Basically the NA was at the time a modern Japanese interpretation of the Elan.

2 seater convertible, front engine, rear drive, lightweight, good handling etc..

This is about all it has in common with the Elan. Books by the engineers who designed the MX-5 make no reference to the Lotus Elan. Many Mazdas around that time had pop up headlights. The MX-5 "face" design was based on the Japanese Noh mask. It is coincidental that it is reminiscent of the Elan.

JBT wrote:

2 seater convertible, front engine, rear drive, lightweight, good handling etc..

This is about all it has in common with the Elan. Books by the engineers who designed the MX-5 make no reference to the Lotus Elan. Many Mazdas around that time had pop up headlights. The MX-5 "face" design was based on the Japanese Noh mask. It is coincidental that it is reminiscent of the Elan.

Plus a twin cam engine .
Peter.

pcmx5 wrote:

JBT wrote:

2 seater convertible, front engine, rear drive, lightweight, good handling etc..

This is about all it has in common with the Elan. Books by the engineers who designed the MX-5 make no reference to the Lotus Elan. Many Mazdas around that time had pop up headlights. The MX-5 "face" design was based on the Japanese Noh mask. It is coincidental that it is reminiscent of the Elan.

Plus a twin cam engine .
Peter.

...but with a steel body.

a pic from the Devonport car show earlier this year.

I was there with the Lotus guys but when the Elan parked next to the NA breifly, I had to take a pic.

And then, around the time of the MX-5's birth, Lotus brought out the M100 Elan - FWD with an Isuzu motor...



You wouldn't want to associate the MX-5 with it all if you were Mazda.

Zoom made a bunch of elan style bits for the mx5.


So if you really want your mx5 to be an elan jump on yja.

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I was under the impression, when they were deciding on the suspension set up, they took a bunch of old sports cars around some mountain to get feedback. The majority of designers agreed that the Elan was one of the most fun to drivre. Therefore they pretty much copied the suspension set up from that.

Is that a myth?

Not sure where I read that. in a book or maybe it was Bwob saying these things on Miata.net. cant recall.

They certainly did not copy the rear suspension - thank God! Neither did they copy the Lotus' legendary reliability

It may have been one of the inspirations, but they had more sense than to follow Chunky down blind alleys. I believe they were looking at standards, how a car should handle, stop, etc - and how others achieved that. Then Mazda set about doing it their way ... and the rest is history.

Speaking of which, I had not appreciated how the M100 paralleled the NA, at least its release date. Less than 5000 sold ... oops!

Myth I believe Stan.

Regarding the chassis/suspension the brief was that "as engineers, we were convinced - and felt it obligatory - that the car should have the best possible features in this area of the design"
"responsive handling in all situations creating an appropriate level of tension for the driver"
"enable the the driver to control the car with his driving technique, such as controlled power slide, for pure driving pleasure."
"enable the driver to feel direct contact with the road (road dialogue) whilst reducing jolts and harshness to a minimum."

They were quite fond of various British sports cars (MGA, MGB, Triumph TR3 and Spitfire-cough) but decided that they could well do without the associated issues of unreliability. oil leaking out and water leaking in.

smy0003 wrote:Zoom made a bunch of elan style bits for the mx5.


So if you really want your mx5 to be an elan jump on yja.

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Imagine rocking up to a Club Lotus day in one of those

Biggest difference is a Elans appreciate and MX5 depreciate wish I kept my Elan

They looked at the British sports cars and they also took a very close look at the Alfa Spyder of the day i.e. 80's car. Lotus was one of the cars that the engineers looked at. Bear in mind that the MG's and TR's etc were already cars of the 60's. Lotus was positively not the sole inspiration for the MX5 and if it had been they would have called it an exasperation. Styling wise the MX5 does look quite like a Lotus but the latter car is much smaller.