People do and probably will critisize Mazda for taking that much time to get it into the marketplace, but Mazda will do it properly like they always do and not rush it. And, like all their products it will have bulletproof reliability and quality.

@ reckless1: A 1998 Mazda protege came standard with drivers airbag and a/c, and if you stepped up to the astina you got dual front airbags (depending on model grade). Also the picture is of the current MZR engine.

@ AAA: 20% better real world fuel economy! Really! Maybe if you compare a Corolla Ascent to an SP25, but then that would give the Mazda a more than 20% power advantage!

If you compare similar models the official fuel consumption figures show a difference of only 0.2-0.5 litres. In the real world i would bet the Mazda would equal or even beat the Corolla as that 1.8 engine has to be revved quite hard to get the car motivated.

In the end the difference would be negligible, but power advantage goes to Mazda. Toyota really need to upgrade the Corolla’s engine, they’ve fallen behind the rest of the group.

But, your 1998 Mazda had no airbags and no aircon. The same car today, even if it were the same outside dimensions, would be 150-250kg heavier just from the airbag canisters and the aircon unit.

I still wonder why the new engine could not be retrofitted – the picture shows a completely usual east-west engine layout, it has a normal flywheel, it will presumably run on petrol. Sounds like it may be some bluff for some unknown reason.

Also, I am keen to see what Mazda do with the Rotary in the future…

I think its fair enough, they want to do a good job on these and they want returns. Retrofitting engines doesn’t give them the publicity they want for the technology, especially to the average joe.

I just wish they’d shave 200-300kg off the MX-5 (its getting terribly fat) and shove a 1.6 twincharged/1.6 supercharged/1.3 rotary engine in it! Oh the wonders.
And I know its not about power and all, but as far as ive heard, not much else can be improved. Besides, have a few extra guts every gone astray? (p.s. besides Mercedes and the SL65)
Course, thats impossible, but we can always dream.

I must be the only person in the world that actually wishes cars would get SMALLER with each passing generation. Im sick of the nice ones getting bigger, with cheap budget crap being inserted underneath them, which only leaves premium-pay-it-up-bigtime brands to buy small quality.
Did you know a 1998 Mazda 323 weighs considerably less than the current MX-5 at about 1100kg? The new one’s around 1400kg, my 1988 Fairlane isn’t much more than that!
(dont call me on those figures… they could very easily be wrong)
Cant they give us new efficient engine-tech AND smaller existing cars.

Nope, because the average consumer wants MOREEEEE. Silly chickens.