2011 Mazda MX-5 To Get SKY-G Engine
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2011 Mazda MX-5 To Get SKY-G Engine
TOKYO — Although no official announcement has come yet from Mazda Motor Corporation, Inside Line has learned that big changes are in the works for the next-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Expected to debut in 2011, the future MX-5 roadster is likely to be smaller than the current model, and should tip the scales at a lean 2,200 pounds.
Under the hood will be a SKY-G engine, the all-new power plant Mazda quietly introduced at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show. This naturally-aspirated 1.3-liter gasoline-powered inline-4 is expected to deliver more than 50 mpg, with some saying it can get up to 70 mpg. And it isn't a hybrid setup or a diesel, but a gasoline-burning engine. This figure was calculated with the engine powering a compact car about the size of the Kiyora showcar (shown in Geneva and Tokyo).
A new SKY-G engine is being produced for the MX-5. It's not known whether the new roadster's power plant will use 1.3 or 1.5 liters of displacement. Expected to have a rating near 150 horsepower, the new engine would maintain the Miata's current power-to-weight ratio.
The secret to this astronomical fuel mileage hasn't yet been released, but IL has heard that Toyota has already inquired about the SKY-G.
Inside Line says: Sound too good to be true? We'll see in the next several months. — Mak Tokuyama, Correspondent
Expected to debut in 2011, the future MX-5 roadster is likely to be smaller than the current model, and should tip the scales at a lean 2,200 pounds.
Under the hood will be a SKY-G engine, the all-new power plant Mazda quietly introduced at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show. This naturally-aspirated 1.3-liter gasoline-powered inline-4 is expected to deliver more than 50 mpg, with some saying it can get up to 70 mpg. And it isn't a hybrid setup or a diesel, but a gasoline-burning engine. This figure was calculated with the engine powering a compact car about the size of the Kiyora showcar (shown in Geneva and Tokyo).
A new SKY-G engine is being produced for the MX-5. It's not known whether the new roadster's power plant will use 1.3 or 1.5 liters of displacement. Expected to have a rating near 150 horsepower, the new engine would maintain the Miata's current power-to-weight ratio.
The secret to this astronomical fuel mileage hasn't yet been released, but IL has heard that Toyota has already inquired about the SKY-G.
Inside Line says: Sound too good to be true? We'll see in the next several months. — Mak Tokuyama, Correspondent
hopefully not too much smaller though so i can fit in it!
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This naturally-aspirated 1.3-liter gasoline-powered inline-4 is expected to deliver more than 50 mpg, with some saying it can get up to 70 mpg.
The secret to this astronomical fuel mileage hasn't yet been released, but IL has heard that Toyota has already inquired about the SKY-G.
The secret to this astronomical fuel mileage hasn't yet been released, but IL has heard that Toyota has already inquired about the SKY-G.
Nothing new, at least in the MPG deparment, for a straight-gas engine. Back in the 1980s, Honda and Geo each did high-MPG powerplants that got 55-60 MPG, and in some cases more, on the highway. These were found in the CRX-HF and Geo Metro XFi, for those of you who remember them. And they were 1.3-1.4 liters, just like with the new Mazda powerplant.
plus it's much harder today with all the airbag and other safety stuff and equipment expectations, to keep cars light.
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Exactly, to compare the safety of those cars to a modern Miata, no contest.
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The CRX-FI, though, was far better built. I was riding in one, once, that belonged to a friend of mine that got rear-ended by an Olds Cutlass, and it.....and us......held up extremely well for a car its size.
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Originally Posted by bitkahuna
nice... may be a trade-up path for me. hopefully not too much smaller though so i can fit in it!
Take a look at the Honda S2000, if any new ones are still available (they are about to be dropped) before you decide to spring for a new Miata. I wouldn't recommend the Pontiac Solstice or Saturn Sky, though, for a number of reasons.....both the obvious ones and the not-so-obvious.
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Most of the Miata's I've driven, except for the turbo MazdaSpeed versions, don't have much torque at low revs, either.....you don't feel much till around 4000 or so. But you are correct that the S2000's engine is even more peaky.....the first version, as I remember it, had a 240 HP peak at 8600 (with redline at 9000) and a max-torque figure of not much more than half that (around 140 ft-lbs. or so) at 7600. That was insane......I can't think of any other production street engine with a torque max at 7600....the closest I remember was the Toyota 1.8L VTEC four in the Celica GTS and Matrix/Corolla XRS, at around 6800. A version was also used in some American-market Lotus models.
Last edited by mmarshall; Dec 13, 2009 at 06:24 PM.
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Yes, true to an extent. I remember once, some years ago, at the D.C. auto show, talking to a Geo rep. I said to him..."You know why the Metro XFI gets 55-60 MPG, don't you, besides the rubber-band engine?" He said no. So I took him over to the car, lifted the flimsy, tin-can hood with one finger, gripped both sides of it, and twisted it back and forth like a piece of paper (not enough to damage it). He just stood there, embarassed and red-faced, when I said "That's what kind of metal is going to protect you in an accident".
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And safety advances go far beyond superficial flexy hoods these days with certain sections/structure designed to absorb impact and other sections designed as a safety cage for occupants. To some extent is actually a huge extent in advancements in safety over a crappy car like the Metro. The hood itself offers no signifcant protection in modern cars, the safety aspects of hoods are designed for pedestrian safety and careful design of hinges so that the hood doesn't slice through windshield and kill occupants in heavy crashes. In short the hood should sacrafice itself and cause no harm in a moderate to severe crash. Other structure and systems of modern vehicle design besides the hood provide the real protection.
Anyhow, let's get back to the new Miata...the topic. I (and so many others) sometimes have a tendency to stray from it.
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