2005 Mazda3i 2.0 Engine With Air Intake, 5-speed Manual Alloy 1-owner No Reserve on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Modded budget Mazda Miata takes on new Porsche Boxster in more challenges

Earlier this month, our friends across the pond at Auto Express released the first in a two-video series that would see them try and build up a second-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata that could best a standard Porsche Boxster around the track. While that first video detailed the mods to the MX-5 - a supercharger, some suspension upgrades and a new set of super-sticky rubber being chief among them - and set baseline lap times for the stock car, today, we have the results of the 5,000-pound ($8,200) upgrade job.
Of course, we aren't going to spoil those for you. You'll need to watch the full video, which recaps the upgrades before digging into a comparison of both straight-line-speed differences between the 2.7-liter Porsche Boxster and blown Miata, as well as their behavior and lap times on the track.
Take a look and let us know what you think in Comments.

Mazda CX-5 in auto-brake accident on Japanese test drive

As we slowly march towards a world where our cars will drive for us, there will be mishaps. Systems will act up, not behave has intended or we'll simply forget to turn them on. We all remember when Volvo tested the S60's City Safety system. Now Mazda has had an issue of its own.
During a test of a Mazda CX-5's Smart City Brake Support on a dealership lot in Japan, a prospective customer and a dealership employee were injured when they hit a urethane barrier used for testing the system. According to Bloomberg, which spoke with the Saitama Prefectural Police, the impact with the barrier left the customer with an injured neck while the dealership employee suffered a fractured arm. Considering the injuries, we imagine this wasn't a small barrier.
"For any safety function, it's impossible to be 100-percent free of accidents. These technical functions aren't always the easiest to understand," IHS Automotive auto parts analyst, Hiroshi Ataka told Bloomberg.

Mazda reports strong Skyactiv sales, plans to boost output 25%

Mazda is set to expand production of its Skyactiv engines after critical and commercial acclaim for the fuel-sipping powerplants. The Japanese manufacturer has a number of plans in the works to bump up production, with the first being a 25-percent increase in output from its Hiroshima, Japan engine facility.
Besides adding a new line, Mazda will modify the line that built MZR engines, a family of mills that includes the 2.3-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder found in the Mazdaspeed3 and the 2.0-liter found in the MX-5 Miata. The bump in production is just part of Mazda's goal of selling 1.7 million vehicles globally by 2016, with 80 percent of those vehicles expected to wear a Skyactiv badge.
Mazda also builds Skyactiv engines at a joint-venture facility with Ford, in Changan, China, while a Mexican facility will go online by March of 2014. Skyactiv engines currently power the Mazda3, Mazda6 and CX-5.