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Sarah
03-08-2012, 11:45 AM
Mazda are apparently considering ditching rear wheel drive for future models, check out this article. :shock:

http://uk.autoblog.com/2012/03/07/next-mazda-mx-5-may-not-be-rear-wheel-drive/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

Needless to say this would be very disappointing if they did. :(

concealer404
03-08-2012, 11:46 AM
If it's going to be as ugly as all the renderings i've seen, then no big loss. Open diff FWD for all i car, it'll make me vomit just as hard if it were RWD.

I<3flippyheadlights
03-08-2012, 11:55 AM
Low powered, front wheel drive cars are fun and easy to handle. Appealing to the mass consumer would be that much simpler. But when it comes to the Miata, it should stay a FR car. Mazda might let us down.

Tekel
03-08-2012, 11:56 AM
Mazda and all their ads about the Passion of driving and zoom zoom, and first kill the rx, now this would essentially kill the mx. So much for driving Passion...

shane
03-08-2012, 12:03 PM
I don't see this ever happening, it would be branding suicide......

concealer404
03-08-2012, 01:00 PM
I don't see this ever happening, it would be branding suicide......

You act like they make their money on the Miata. :lol:

shane
03-08-2012, 01:10 PM
Well not many companies are at the moment, still they have quite a following, they aren't in business to lose that..

concealer404
03-08-2012, 01:33 PM
Well not many companies are at the moment, still they have quite a following, they aren't in business to lose that..

They lost over 1 Billion dollars last year, the MX-5 sells less than 40,000 units worldwide. They're clearly examining the feasibility of continuing the Miata as it is. Can't say i blame them, to be quite honest. Cater or make expensive decisions in the favor of the 5% of people who drive that are actually enthusiasts, and you go out of business VERY quickly.

friday
03-08-2012, 01:38 PM
Global sports car = sporty econobox car???

I would rather the MX5 be canceled than become FWD.

concealer404
03-08-2012, 01:41 PM
Inb4 Lotus Elan.

(Which actually handled beautifully, for what it's worth.)

I<3flippyheadlights
03-08-2012, 01:43 PM
They lost over 1 Billion dollars last year, the MX-5 sells less than 40,000 units worldwide. They're clearly examining the feasibility of continuing the Miata as it is. Can't say i blame them, to be quite honest. Cater or make expensive decisions in the favor of the 5% of people who drive that are actually enthusiasts, and you go out of business VERY quickly.

+1
Like I said before, making it an FR will be more appealing to the masses (if they can make it cheaper that is even better) I would rather mazda keep making money then try and appeal to the small amount of people who are enthusiasts. Besides, do you plan on buying a ND? For that matter a NC?

concealer404
03-08-2012, 01:45 PM
+1
Like I said before, making it an FR will be more appealing to the masses (if they can make it cheaper that is even better) I would rather mazda keep making money then try and appeal to the small amount of people who are enthusiasts. Besides, do you plan on buying a ND? For that matter a NC?

I know i won't buy an ND unless it looks completely different from every sketch or rendering released so far.

I'm not a fan of the NC either. :lol:

But i'm a very small percentage that nobody should care about, including Mazda if they want to stay around.

KAL
03-08-2012, 01:52 PM
In a recent survey, BMW found that 80% of the 1-series owners thought their car was front wheel drive.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20100321/BLOG12/303219984

I wouldn't blame Mazda for re-thinking the Miata in times of crisis. Great handling and a fun drive is still possible with front wheel drive. Look at the Renault Sport (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5cVx6_5HcA)-models for example.

Toyota and the '86 is a sucsess in terms of coverage - but Mazda isn't in the position to do the same, i guess. «Here is the new Miata, and it is still RWD!» Maybe we'll see a four wheel drive roadster with an electrical engine on the rear wheels? :roll:

MartyMcfly
03-08-2012, 06:55 PM
You act like they make money.

ftfy. lol

Phatmiata
03-09-2012, 02:18 PM
sacrilege!

I would buy a Miata if the F#*!ing greedy banks would loan money!

Maikeru
03-09-2012, 05:55 PM
This will kill the MX-5. Kinda like how Toyota killed the Celica. Super popular the first few generations when they were RWD. The they switch to FWD, but thankfully also released the GT4. The FWD models were a complete flop regardless of the fact they could keep up to ITR's. Within a generation, the Celica was discontinued. This will be the future of the Miata unless Mazda pulls their head out of their ass.

concealer404
03-12-2012, 11:31 AM
Well, to be quite honest, the Celica was discontinued because it was competing with the tC.

urban
03-12-2012, 12:00 PM
I read this.and i really dont see enough to believe it will be fwd.
its a uk rep . not even jpn or na.

Maikeru
03-13-2012, 11:21 AM
Well, to be quite honest, the Celica was discontinued because it was competing with the tC.

That's the cop out that Toyota used. The Celica was similar in price, handled better, got better gas millage, and was faster. It was a far superior car to that terd they call a TC. They just wanted to boost Scion sales and couldn't do that with the Celica around. Celica's were never popular in the US anyway. Most of the sales came from Europe and Japan.

concealer404
03-13-2012, 11:27 AM
That's the cop out that Toyota used. The Celica was similar in price, handled better, got better gas millage, and was faster. It was a far superior car to that terd they call a TC. They just wanted to boost Scion sales and couldn't do that with the Celica around. Celica's were never popular in the US anyway. Most of the sales came from Europe and Japan.

I thought it was quite a bit more expensive? Something like $5k more? Meh, i dunno, but i agree with you, it was a FAR superior car. :D

The Driver
03-13-2012, 11:52 AM
A FWD Miata? They'll probably call it the "STD" variant...

CeeJaayDM
03-15-2012, 08:49 AM
mazda del sol lol

adam777
03-15-2012, 12:37 PM
This will never happen, I guarantee it. Even if the car isn't a huge cash cow on its own, it is still the number 1 selling sports car of all time. The enthusiast market is important to Mazda and the fact that it is also the most raced car in the world is not lost on Mazda. The car is a PR tool in addition to a volume sports car. The ND will be RWD. 100%.

thedguy
03-16-2012, 06:20 PM
Mazda and all their ads about the Passion of driving and zoom zoom, and first kill the rx, now this would essentially kill the mx. So much for driving Passion...

The head of marketing over at Mazda these days (they ditched the company that came up with Zoom Zoom about a year ago) doesn't understand why anyone would want the Mazdaspeed 3 when the current Mazda 3 "already gets me speeding tickets."


This will never happen, I guarantee it. Even if the car isn't a huge cash cow on its own, it is still the number 1 selling sports car of all time. The enthusiast market is important to Mazda and the fact that it is also the most raced car in the world is not lost on Mazda. The car is a PR tool in addition to a volume sports car. The ND will be RWD. 100%.

Lotus would never go FWD, they'd never build a heavy luxury cruiser, Porsche would never build an SUV.

Mazda doesn't have as much Ford backing as they used to, at this point I wouldn't be surprised for a FWD MX-5 just because they don't have any rear-drive IRS vehicles to pull parts from once the NC goes out of production.

diabeetus
03-29-2012, 12:51 PM
Porsche would never build an SUV.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7258/7027288963_76b07df919_z.jpg

concealer404
03-29-2012, 01:25 PM
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7258/7027288963_76b07df919_z.jpg


I think he meant that as an example of why a FWD Miata is plausible... :lol:

But this is fun. Here's the other two he was talking about:

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/images/2671-06.jpg

http://cdn1.automobilesreview.com/2011/02/Lotus-Carlton.jpg

adamvanxxx
03-29-2012, 01:45 PM
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7258/7027288963_76b07df919_z.jpg

He was saying those things because people always thought that and it happened.

friday
03-29-2012, 10:51 PM
I think the Porsche SUV is a bad example. Porsche still make their quintessential sports car (911) and it is still rear engine. If mazda were to make the Miata FWD it would be more like Porsche scraping the current 911 layout and turning it into an SUV and still calling it a 911.

I think if mazda wanted to make a FWD "sports" car, then they would create a new car. I doubt they would use the mx-5 name.

TheFrohn
03-30-2012, 09:17 AM
I think if mazda wanted to make a FWD "sports" car, then they would create a new car. I doubt they would use the mx-5 name.

^^This... more power to them if they want to create a new FWD sports model.. just dont call it the MX5.
If they cant afford to properly produce the MX5 now then they should end production on it until it becomes viable again.

BlueMotorsport
04-16-2012, 11:13 AM
this ^. It would ruin the miata if they started the next gen on a FWD platform. But i guess we should have seen this coming. RX was 1st now its the MX-5

diabeetus
04-17-2012, 11:12 AM
He was saying those things because people always thought that and it happened.

yeah, i got that shortly after posting it lol.