2008 Mazda Mx-5 Miata Touring Convertible 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Better as a coupe | 2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF First Drive

The sun can kill you. It'll also make you hot and sticky and smelly. It's a real nasty thing despite, you know, making virtually all life on Earth possible. Now, apparently, despite these risks, there are those who enjoy driving around in their car being slowly baked alive by our local star. It's insanity, really, and that's not even mentioning the indignities your hair suffers at the merciless force of the wind. So convertibles, then, who needs 'em? Just take the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Wonderful little car, barrels of fun, but wouldn't it be better off with 100 percent less sun? Besides keeping your dermatologist out of business, a solid roof would also lead to less wind noise, greater structural rigidity, and better safety for the vampire population. Nothing but Ws on the board. Alas, the 2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF is not the ideal solution to this perfectly sane line of reasoning. It is not the BMW M Coupe or Porsche Cayman of Miatas. It's more like the 911 Targa of Miatas, although since its rear window lowers, the most accurate analogy would be the Honda Civic del Sol of Miatas. Feel free to put that on a billboard. Admittedly, it's a pretty neat bit of engineering and design, and despite the incredibly flattering comparison above, it is accurate to describe its overall look and concept as unique. RF stands for "Retractable Fastback," which is an on-the-nose description. With the entire roof mechanism in place, it does indeed resemble a fastback in profile. From a rear-three-quarter view, that fastback is revealed instead to be buttress panels with a longer deck and a verticalish window placed between them. The Ferrari 575M Superamerica would be another point of reference, but the Miata RF is far better realized. It's particularly impressive how Mazda's designers managed to carefully reshape the Miata's rear quarters to fit and conceal the buttresses' cut line. From most angles, there's no indication that they're anything other than contiguous with the rest of the car. The little black panels that look like darkened windows at first glance are less successful, but they're also clearly necessary to create the desired buttress look and to conceal the roof mechanicals beyond. Ah yes, the compact mechanicals that make the fastback retractable and subject you to the sun's wrath.

How Mazda got Skyactiv-X to work is incredible

"Take everything you know about engines and turn it around," Mazda North America Vehicle Development Engineer Dave Coleman says, patiently and with a look of benevolent pity, as he's quizzed about the particulars of the company's new engine. The Skyactiv-X engine is enigmatic — and deceptively simple in operation. And the bottom line for American consumers is that they'll be able to buy a car (or crossover; we don't know yet what vehicle will first get it) by late 2019 that provides diesel-like fuel economy but runs on regular old gasoline. In between diesel and spark ignition, but it's neither To truly understand it, you have to dive into the contradictions. Take that regular old gasoline: Contrary to common sense, the lower the octane, the better it works. In the lab, the Skyactiv-X engine loves 80 octane. The lowest Americans get is 87, so the engine is tuned for that octane. Go higher and you lose some low-end torque. Coleman was right. It's hard to wrap your head around an engine that thrives just at the point when most gas engines would aggressively self-destruct. It uses a supercharger to pump additional air — but not additional fuel. It uses spark plugs to start a combustion cycle that normally doesn't need a spark. And, quixotically, it's not displacing Mazda's own American-market diesel engine, currently languishing in a seemingly endless hell of regulatory approval. More bizarre: Mazda is a tiny automaker facing real existential headwinds, and gasoline compression ignition is a massive challenge. GM and Hyundai announced compression ignition, or HCCI, projects (full name, homogeneous charge compression ignition) to great fanfare, but they never amounted to a production hill of beans, crippled by reliability issues or horrible vibrations. Worse, they only worked at an unusably narrow range — low RPMs and low loads. HCCI research improved direct-injection gas and diesel engine technologies for these companies, but HCCI itself remains untamed. The benefits of lean combustion Why even try to tame HCCI? The answer is much better fuel economy and lower emissions. Less burned carbon-based fuel, less carbon dioxide released. That's simple. But there are some thermodynamic reasons for the lean combustion you can achieve with compression ignition that are worth explaining. The ideal amount of fuel for a conventional engine to burn is about a 14:1 air-to-fuel ratio. That lets every molecule burn nicely, in theory.

2014 Mazda3 breaks cover early, in Euro-spec at least

We're set to get a closer look at the US-spec 2014 Mazda3 later today, but AutoExpress has the first peek at the machine's European cousin (after initial leaks reportedly came from a Czech outlet). The photos show a compact that's taken plenty of design inspiration from its older sister, the Mazda6. That's excellent news, as the larger car's dynamic front fascia, accentuated fender arches and long nose translate well to the Mazda3. Inside, there are are new and improved material choices, and the longer wheelbase means occupants get to enjoy more room than before. There's also a larger trunk with 12.3 cubic feet of cargo capacity.
Buyers in the EU can get their hands on a 1.5-liter Skyactiv-G gasoline engine with 99 horsepower, though the old 2.0-liter four-cylinder will still be available in either 118 hp or 163 hp configuration. A 2.2-liter diesel tops out the engine choices.
The 2014 Mazda3 is lighter than its predecessor and boasts disk brakes and a multi-link rear suspension on every trim. That means this thing should be fun to shuffle around. Stay tuned for details on the US-spec variant later today, including a lot more images of the good-looking hatch.