from your link-

"Besides the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Tokyo Motor Show and the 2006 North American International Automobile Show will also feature a Mazda design concept created at each regional design center."

 

exactly -thats what i tried to bold when i first posted it in the quote. fixed the bold now.

 

This car has me very excited, even if it not rotary powered. I've been waiting for a $20K rwd sports car to replace my 240SX. I can't wait to see it! And Mazda, PUT THE 190 HP MOTOR IN IT! :D :D :D

 

My guess is that they maybe just feeding you this kind of info to keep the general public from knowing the truth. It's much easier to keep things low key by saying it will be a 4 cylinder.

If they told the focus group members it would be a rotary, the rumor mill would go into overdrive. But this RX-3 rumor is too hard to ignore, seems like we'll have to wait and see.

The Senku concept looks nothing like an Aston Martin, the Senku so boring IMHO. I don't know what you saw, but what the other guy described in the autospies article sounds very exciting. I can easily visualize a baby DB7-ish Mazda with RX-8 styling cues. Make it super lightweight, with Miata like handling, and add in a detuned Renesis - way cool! (But damn it, I still want a 4th gen RX-7!)

 

Ok deleted my duplicate thread sorry guys... but really I searched on aston clone and nothing came up :p and no I didn't look at the topics in this section itself my bad

 

Think of this car as a mazda 3 coupe, dont count on rear wheel drive mazda is developing a front wheel drive rotary, remenber the RX-3 had a twin brother the 808 piston power car thats why most people that now about this car are refering to it as a rx-3 but I dont think mazda is going to use that name.

 

I was at the focus group last week and I indeed saw the car pretty much exactaly as described in the first post. It was most definitely NOT the senku. This was a PROTOTYPE not a concept car as far as I was told. It's a beautiful car. They asked us to judge the exterior lines of the car from all different angles. They asked us to guess the make of the car too. (obviously Mazda to me). Small on the outside really spacious on the inside. They were certainly asking us about our interest level between two different engine types. 160hp vs. 190. If i remember correctly the weight of the car was around 2400 lbs. They were asking if we'd pay 16k for the 160 hp and 21k for the 190.

The biggest amount of time was spent on us getting in and out of all 4 seats in the car. Ease of entry and exit. Comfort level of the rear seats. The unique thing here was that the front dash and engine compartment were designed so that the two front seats were staggered. Passengers seat being further forward without compromising the spaciouness for the passanger. More interestingly, the passengers seat back can fold completely forward and the seat can push forward till it was tucked under the dash. It then formed a table/foot rest/drink holder/etc for the right rear passenger. I was able to completely stretch out and completely relax. Oh, and the rear seats recline too!

BTW, the car was there to see and judge the exterior. However, the seat testing all took place in an interior mockup made of wood with the interior of the car built into that. They stressed making judgments with the (wooden) doors closed so you can tell to the best of your ability what the actual passanger compartment felt like.

This will be an amazing car if it makes it to market. Esp. the 190hp model. Stunning exterior lines. I believe the rear tires were larger than the front tires too. I don't believe I'm revealing anything too seceret here as I did not sign any sort of non-disclosure agreement and there was no fine print anywhere to be found.

Anyway, I was quite excited to get a look at this puppy. And they paid me 100$!

 

I hope its rwd, I hate fwd!

 

Looks like manufacturers are finally returning to fun cars--after the dark ages (SUVDOM)

 

a 2400 lbs 190hp car must be fun, I hope mazda makes it.

 

did the specs say the car was RWD? Did you look under the car for a rear differential? just curious.

 

The car was made of clay, so I don't think looking under it would have helped. However the specs called for rwd.

yes, it is rear wheel drive!

 

awesome

 

It didn't look like the senku, but It had the same design idea. Yes, it was only a prototype, made of clay.

The guy told me that the reclining rear seats were only for testing. If ever made they would be fixed. I don't know about the vertical movement though, because they did go up and down also. But no reclining, I was told.

You didn't?!?!?!? I did....maybe they forgot about you, or maybe I looked like a spy.

 

Sounds good but I don't get the point of this car. Where does this fit in with the Mazda3-Miata-MS3-RX8? Future of the RX8 and Senku? Seems like too many cars to co-exist.

And another thing.. 2400lbs?! That is damn light..

 

well if you remember in the early 90s there was the 323, Mx-3, MX-6, Mx-5, Rx-7

 

I thought it was about 2500-2600 lbs, but i don't remember for sure. 0-60 was est at 5.9 with the 190hp engine. Remember that all these specs are very likely to change if it was ever produced.

 

Ah! The rumor mills are churning. Fantastic, just as planned . Just kidding. I don't know anything other than what you guys know. I do think there is some validity to a lot of what you guys are saying and speculating about here though.
Paul.

 

Would those of you that saw this vehicle say that it could very well be an RX7--and the 190HP 4 cylinder is a ploy?

 

I was in the focus group as well and I was thinking the same thing that the 4 cylinder spec might be a ploy and it might me a rotary. At this stage we were only judging the exterior, interior and rough specs. They could still make a lot of changes to it during production but I loved the concept model that they had in the showroom.

 

The lack of a rotary is disappointing. However, I can understand completely why Mazda would go with the 2.0L or the 2.3L. The 4-cyl would allow the car to appeal to a broader market, it would offer better fuel economy, and it would probably be cheaper to produce for the car since they are already a corporate motor. The insurance for a 4-cyl may also be less. I know Mazda said in the past that they couldn’t focus on making more sport cars (AKA a new RX-7 slotted above the RX-8) because it wasn’t practical for the line-up. But a sub-20K 2+2 is something missing from their lineup and is a popular style for the youth market. It would be something to compete with the RSX, Scion tC, ect. Mazda has recovered from a very bad time in the late 90’s. They are gaining market share and a car like this concept would help, IMO, continue that trend. It may not be exactly what us rotorheads want, but it will be a Mazda sports car….so it will be great.

 

I was in the focus group as well and I was thinking the same thing that the 4 cylinder spec might be a ploy and it might me a rotary. At this stage we were only judging the exterior, interior and rough specs. They could still make a lot of changes to it during production but I loved the concept model that they had in the showroom. But it didn't look like an aston martin clone.

 

You have a point.

I know, Mazda should make the 160 hp version the 4 banger and then the 190 hp one the 4 port Renesis. This way we get the best of both worlds!

This thread is so useless without pictures! Any of you guys who participated care to sketch a drawing of what you saw?

Seems like the impressions of the exterior are different from one individual to another. Something that is Senku-like in exterior style can't be called Aston Martin-like in IMHO.

 

True, but we know how that turned out. It makes a lot more sense if this turns out to be rotary powered. Please be an RX3 so we can have RX3, RX8, MS-RX8. Then bang em out in dual fuel hydrogen/gasoline form.

 

Well--the early/mid 90s was a different story. I would think they would go with the Renesis in order to expand and divide the product range/cost. The base engine could be the MX5 powerplant or the 4-port Renesis--a poor man's TT/Cayman if you will. If Mazda does this right they could have a nice Mazdaspeed lineup--the MS6, MS3, MSMX5, MS8, and this car (if its Mazdaspeeded) and the RX7 could sit at the top of the line.