If the new Rx 7 or 9 looks like this car Im definatly down to buy it as it looks better then the other design presented above.

 

That's the first thing I thought. The car look insanely long. I still think it's very sexy.

 

I wish they would encorporate a lift-back...the trunk (boot) lid and rear window hinged together at the back of the roof-panel. The above design would only need a little modification of the C-pillar and it ought to work. Fold down the rear "seat(s)" and you would have a respectable storage space.

 

I wish they put the engine in the back, stuff a giant radiator and oil coolers in the front for better cooling flow with a vented hood like a NSX Typre R. That would probably cut down on tranny weight and less drivetrain loss.

 

On the RX-8, there is no hatchback design for structural reasons. No B-piller and all, you know.....

 

This thread has turned into one about that weird overly angular car with strong hints of FD (Not appealing, to me anyway).

This we know for sure: There will be no new rotary car until 2013 for the earliest.

Paul.

 

If that be true, then Mazda has lost me.

 

i think you meant b pillar.

 

you dont find the FD appealing? QUICK HE NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION!!!


hahaha

I believe you meant this actually




do you really not like that concept?

I think its really appealing and a pretty good merge of an RX8 and Taiki into an almost producible car. I think of it as a good starting point.

and Paul is right of course even the Autocar "leak" that started this discussion had it pegged at 2013 at the earliest

 

Ha ha. Of course I've owned FDs. Here is one of them.

That blue thing is just not appealing to me. Taiki does not do much for me. Unnecessary angles are a turnoff to me. Mazda's designers were beginning to fall under the Bangle design influence which I can't stand vs my hero, Wu-Huang Chin who designed the FD and is a big fan of the finest Jags and old school Ferraris. If an FD successor ever comes it should have similar proportions but it does not need to look like someone gave an FD a couture makeover.

Paul.

 

I find this one much more appealing.

Paul.

 

i think that the replace of Van der Acker with Maeda is a change of direction for Mazda....VdA is a "Bangle guy" IMHO...

 

D'oh! Oops... this is what happens when I try to multi-task.

 

Gotta love the 'in the eye of the beholder' stuff. My eye sees that as bulbous and over wraught, what with that huge nose monstrosity, fussy side details, over the top windshield and the (hard to see) perhaps 370Z like lizard tail. The bue wasn't perfect, but far cleaner, leaner, low and purposeful... with FD or perhaps Corvette like influences.

 

I acknowledge that the lack of a B-pillar is a structural issue, but I don't know enough about auto-engineering to say whether it is insoluble or not. There are some pretty interesting structural solutions out there - I would hope that given the shortness of the cabin and roof, it might be possible to engineer something with only A and C-pillars plus a lift-back. (I avoid the term "hatchback" just because it sounds too utilitarian.)