Mazda MX-5 evolves again with new technology

[taminga16]

https://www.msn.com/en-au/motoring/news ... 9064&ei=44

[Roadrunner]

Ohh yay another shade of grey...

Mechanical upgrades look good. The track mode/street mode steering is interesting and need to have a better read of that. It limits how far or quick the steering wheel can be turned?
Limited Slip Diff will be nice. Don't like the connected services thing. Yet another subscription creeping into every day life...

[rascal]

The new track mode sounds more marketing than anything really useful.
Every mx5 I’ve dríven is significantly quicker on track with all the electronics turned off .
They tend to just limit your ability to rotate the car how you need.

It might be easier or safer for the driver, but it certainly isn’t quicker

[bruce]

I really dislike cars which are constantly connected. GPS, etc, etc, what happened to privacy? I guess that all disappears when you click OK, I AGREE on the screen.

[Rocky]

All of that just moves even further away from what I want in a sports car. I am happy I bought what I did, when I did, because like Jimmy sings "You got nothin' I want, you got nothin' I need."

[Rocky]

Now THIS is more like it styling-wise.
They just need to make it with a Rotary or RICE motor and a manual gearbox. None of this Hybrid or EV 5h1t.
Unfortunately it looks like an RX7 level car not MX5 and would probably sell against the Toyota Supra/Nissan Z car.

[StillIC]

.....Unfortunately it looks like an RX7 level car not MX5 and would probably sell against the Toyota Supra/Nissan Z car.
....

What I don't understand is why it is only very expensive cars that look good (in my eyes that means low slung sports car, e.g. FD RX7, NSX, 911, Lambo whatever...). The metal work is not any more difficult to press, the steel costs the same (or possibly less), I imagine car companies would sell more reasonably priced sporty models if they did look better. Why can't an MX5 looks as good as the next Z/Supra/RX7/NSX? I agree with you Rocky in that I think that's what the car above is more likely to be, but I just can't understand why.

[93_Clubman]

People will pay for, and will be made to pay for, desirability (whatever it may be in that particular instance).

[bruce]

Would you buy a sexy looking car with crap drivetrain, suspension and interior for a budget price. No. That's where the costs balloon.

[greenMachine]

.....Unfortunately it looks like an RX7 level car not MX5 and would probably sell against the Toyota Supra/Nissan Z car.
....

What I don't understand is why it is only very expensive cars that look good (in my eyes that means low slung sports car, e.g. FD RX7, NSX, 911, Lambo whatever...). The metal work is not any more difficult to press, the steel costs the same (or possibly less), I imagine car companies would sell more reasonably priced sporty models if they did look better. Why can't an MX5 looks as good as the next Z/Supra/RX7/NSX? I agree with you Rocky in that I think that's what the car above is more likely to be, but I just can't understand why.

I think the current MX5 shape is very good, and well proportioned for its size. I think it is a contender for the best looking shape of them all, possibly better than my favourite, the NB8A (especially in Grace Green). For that reason, and because the whole package is sound, I could see myself in one, though not any time soon, and only if they do something about the abysmal colour range on offer.

[StillIC]

Would you buy a sexy looking car with crap drivetrain, suspension and interior for a budget price. No. That's where the costs balloon.

I read your question as "Would you buy a sexy looking MX5?". My answer is "yes", not no.

I mean, the MX5 simply has a mass produced 4 cylinder engine, no turbo, with a modern but not particularly special transmission. The chassis is a steel monocoque like most cars on the road. The interior is no more advanced than any other Mazda. The MX5 goes some way to my "reasonably priced sporty car that looks good" goal, probably closer than any other reasonably priced car, but does not look as good as a Lambo, Ferrari, Aston or even RX7, NSX etc. to my eyes.

[Rocky]

Everybody knows that I am not crazy about the looks of the ND - everybody to their own.
I don't think they got it terribly wrong - I just think that with a few styling changes/tweaks it could have been really good - like the NB8B
I'd have thought it made a lot more marketing sense to offer an MX5 that looks like the previously posted RX7 styling exercise and sell a million of them, than to relegate that styling to a model that will sell a tenth of that number and have to compete with the Supra, Z Car. M2 etc.
If the styling exercise above was available as a conventional MX5 with a manual gearbox I would be saving for it now.

[greenMachine]

This could be a foretaste of our future

Not cheap, be interesting to see an Australian price - available in 4WD and RWD. Very easy on the eye too.

Couple of other vids on YT if you want a different take.

[rascal]

This could be a foretaste of our future

Won’t be a taste of my future. Chinese build quality and driving dynamics, no thanks.

I bought an mx5 as there’s very little this side of $200k that will keep with it through the twisties.
Everything I’ve seem come out of chinese MG seems to have no connection between road and driver
so I won’t be (over)paying for something like this anytime soon even if it does look much better than previous offerings.

[greenMachine]

This could be a foretaste of our future

Won’t be a taste of my future. Chinese build quality and driving dynamics, no thanks.

I bought an mx5 as there’s very little this side of $200k that will keep with it through the twisties.
Everything I’ve seem come out of chinese MG seems to have no connection between road and driver
so I won’t be (over)paying for something like this anytime soon even if it does look much better than previous offerings.

I wasn't suggesting that that particular car was our future, just that electric sportscars are on the way, and our traditional expectations of them were going to have to adapt.

Hopefully someone like Mazda can 'do' a BEV 'MX5' that can make the transition more palatable for us traditionalists.