under the hood

Who in their right mind out to buy a Japanese sports car wants to drive a ford? (duck for cover) :)

The Duratec23/ Mazda 2.3l MZR, if my info is correct, is probably a good engine. But I'll never know because I hate Ford with a flaming passion. In fact, the last time I looked at a brand new Mazda 3 (non- speed version but had the 2.3l engine) I found parts under the hood with the Ford logo(!!), and parts that said FoMoCo(!) on them. And unless I know every damn part of the car, transmission, and engine was cast, machined, or otherwise made and assembled in Japan, I ain't buying it. Ford builds 2.3l engines in Mexico, so how would one know, with 100% certainty, that the engine in their car was not cast in Mexico and assembled in Japan, etc.

The BP engines were only made in Japan and Korea(by Kia/HMC) if my information is complete and accurate. And truth be told, I've pounded the hell out of every BP I've owned(all three of them), put 115k on one, and have yet to have a failure. A buddy of mine had a B6 in his miata, and he drove the hell out of his too. He didn't even maintain it very well...he drove it until the timing belt broke, had it fixed, and drove the hell out of it some more. The same -cannot- be said for that speed 3 engine. I read about those things throwing rods all the time...

Chris

People wanting a "bigger bang" should perhaps instead go buy a Boxster S or some convertible boulevard cruiser with a big engine. Honda made the S2000, - essentially just a Miata with more power - and it was so commercially sucessful that they stopped making it. Hopefully the next model Miata will keep to the roots of what made the car an unprecedented success. Lightweight, reliable, and inexpensive.

First of all, I agree with you. However, the folks responsible for the Miata are very concerned with balance, with not having grip, or horsepower, or whatever overwhelming the car. Me, I want a sportscar. I don't care if it's loud or has a rough ride. I want good power, flat cornering, all the rest of it. I have a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata and am seriously considering upgrades.

I would like to see a new Mazdaspeed, something with at least 250 hp and handling to match. It would be a total home run for Mazda. With a turbo and direct injection it could even be done without making it too much of a gas hog.

Wow, you hate Ford with a PASSION! You sound like my wife ;-) She scraped the front air dam off of our 1989 Taurus and ran over her bowling ball with it and she has just never forgiven Ford for building such a troublesome car ;-) I am very surprised about your comment on the Speed3 engines, I'd love to hear specifics. I've heard none of it and I have a good friend who has a hopped up Mazda3 and follows the 3's and the Speed3's religiously and I hadn't heard any such talk from him. Personally I think the Mazda / Ford mairage was very well handled as far as these things go. Few have been handled as well imho.

The 'other' Chris :-)

Amen! The next MSM should be sweet if and when they do it! Chris

I watched my folks suffer through two of those abortions called a Taurus and that sealed Ford's fate for me. I'll never own one. The '94 they had went through three transaxles in 70,000 miles before they bailed out and bought a Camry. The only redeeming factor on that 94 Taurus was the air conditioning. It was totally kick-ass. The rest of the car was a piece of junk. Ford, in their infinite wisdom, put the oil filter directly above the starter, so every time you change the oil you drown the starter with some dirty engine oil. Stupid, STUPID design. It had the 3.0l engine.

Granted, a couple of the failures I read about were obvious abuse cases, such as disconnected wastegates and 18 pounds of boost, and then the kid owning said car wonders why the engine failed kind of thing. But some of the failures just seemed out of the norm where either the turbocharger failed or some other internal crankcase component failed and wiped out the bottom end. I'll try to find the link.

TTYL

Chris

In that case /probably/ a standard 2.5 boxster. The "S" are fast enough to scare the bejesus out of me. My opinion on P cars is that as you're sitting on a financial time-bomb waiting to go off as soon as serious engine work is needed (despite this they can be very reliable long-lived engines if looked after), you may as well get something special - something that scares you.

They do though - it's an excellent engine. The truly butt-ugly interior gets to me - I wouldn't have one for that reason alone. It's a shame Honda let Dr Who design them, even if he is a pom.

There's no need. As with the previous Mazda Speed I believe the turbo engine will be along when sales slow and not until.

There's no need. As with the previous Mazda Speed my guess is that the turbo engine will be along when sales slow and not until.

I guess you have a different view of inexpensive than me. I purchased a Mazda3 GT here in Vancouver in 2006. At the time, I thought it was a better choice than a Miata because I had to haul around dogs and stuff. That hasn't happened and I've drooled over Miata's ever since.

The full blown version with the retractable hardtop sells for 40K here. Add the various hated taxes and it's really 47K you're putting out. Ouch!!!!

Professor

Agreed, that's allot of cash but what can we do but look at the alternatives out there. Pretty slim pickings, I would say. I've resigned my self to used examples and it doesn't bother me a bit. Let somebody else suffer that initial depreciation. I've done great on buying used ones with very little lost value even while putting on allot of miles. If you are patient when shopping values are out there. Of course it doesn't hurt that the basic car is near bullet proof!

Chris

Isn't the Canadian dollar just about at parity? Why are cars so much more?