and I will be getting a 50th anniversary HOOD and getting it signed and I will NOT BE OUTBID THIS TIME!!!!


my thoughts as well

it won't be built on an MX5 platform. Mazda has a Sports Car Platform. They will build two models from it an R-7 and an MX-5. Calling it the MX-5 Platform is just what journalists do to be lazy or what naysayers do because they think they are getting a shot in. then you take them on a track in a MX-5 for their first time ever and they shut up.

 

we over40 , still dreaming to buy a sporty sedan rotary powered, one day


my 2 eurocents....the platform of rx-7 will be shared with Alfa spider (obiuovsly IMHO). Alfa spider will be more expensive, more bigger, more powered and more luxury than ND mx5 , expect a Z4 counterpart.

Mazda exec are not idiots and they will build an Alfa Spider if wil be not dangerous for Mx5 sales.

RX7 have another market target.

 

No offense but that video is biased as hell. The M3 is drifting around the corner (slowest way) while the mustang is apexing the corners (fastest way) so if the M3 was PROPERLY driven that mustang wouldn't be anywhere. Just another example of American magazines hyping up a piece of junk.

And the camaro doesn't fly since it's Australian. Not an American car at all. The body panels are and the interior. And 50% of that is fugly (interior)

Im excited for the rx7 to return.

P.S lightness affects everything. Acceleration, braking and handling. Power just affects acceleration in a positive way. I'd rather have a 300hp 2600 lbs rx7 than a 4100 lbs mammoth with 450/500 hp that can only do one thing well. Just my 2c

 

I agree that the Mustang and some other American muscle cars are serious value leaders. Mazda needs to figure out who they are. A "premium product" is interesting to me. Mazda definitely needs to transform themselves and their top sports car needs to be good (Really good). Will it be comparable to a Lotus perhaps? Sometimes there is more to the equation than dollar value. A LOT of people are buying Minis and they are definitely a premium product vs their content. They have a style and image that people are willing to pay extra for. Mazda's image of being a budget buyers choice will not keep them in business although they cannot lose the buyers of their bread and butter cars.

Maybe the next RX-7 will be comparable to a Porsche Cayman or a Lotus but not as steep.

Paul.

 

I need moar bread and butter!!!

 

I think you're right Paul. Take the fiat 500 abarth essesse. Loads of fun! And cute as hell. And has what? 170hp? You can just throw them around with a huge smile on your face.

If it's going to be a 300hp N/A powered car it'll be in the 40k range to be able to sell. Higher than that is porsche country and 300hp isn't gonna cut it. Or they boost it be it with FI or hybrid technology like the NSX and then it'll be a lot more expensive. Im hoping for the 40k range myself. 300hp is more than enough for me in such a light car.

 

Regarding the bread and butter, the new 6 is almost in showrooms and looking sexy. It should be almost as quick as an automatic RX-8 (09-11) and possibly quicker than the original series 1 auto.

I hope they put a dent in Nissan Altima sales as well as Volkswagen Passat. More money for the Mazda halo car (Long live the RE).

Paul.

 

LOL i love DBZ tehe only if Vegeta drove an RX8 lol

Can't wait to see what the design will look like if it has any features like the Shinari concept.

As for price around $50K would be ok only if they include a lot of non standard features. If i am buying a premium car i was everything.

 

That video is what it is (just an example) but like I said, lap times are lap times. Look at track records and find out for yourself. I give credit where credit is due.

Oh, and the latest gen Camaro is on the GM Zeta platform which was designed by a South Korean. The final design and engineering was done by GM Holden but I don't see why that even matters. GM is GM, it's a collaborative effort for a company to develop a car.

And a Boss 302 (right now) is 444HP and weighs 3600lbs. Power to weight ratio is power to weight ratio buddy. Do the math.

 

Well, lots of talk, and a little smidge of bickering between friends here, as usual.

Personally, I do hope it comes in somewhere between $40k and $50k.
That will keep the FR-S/BRZ crowd away from it, and will keep it out of the hands of the low end "I needs a turbo on everything, or I'm not having any fun" crowd for a good while.

Porsche competition is what Mazda should be building.
Forget the Nissan Z, the Toyobaru Twins, the Mustang, Camaro, and Challenger.
Tell the motoring world that you're not just trying to "emulate" the best driving cars on the planet (Boxster/Cayman), but that you're better than them.

And the most important thing is to not cut corners on the reliability aspect of the Rotary Engine this time. If they do that again, they will have shot themselves in the foot, and will learn quick that they will not be able to stop the bleeding.

I would say to aim for sales numbers right where the Series II left off at.
Smaller owners group will lead to better reliability record. Higher resale value if the car is as solid as we hope it will be. Might even want to give the car the 100k rotary engine warranty across the markets, and not just NA, since its a smaller volume of vehicles.

As for power numbers, I don't really care how much it has.
Would be great if it weighed in around 2600 or less, but that's not a requirement, as long as Mazda keeps making all that weight feel like it disappears as they have been.

And 2015 would be nicer than 2017.
I'm waiting for the Alfa Romeo 4C to hit the sales floor sometime in 2014 already.
When that happens, its between the 4C and the Cayman for my next high end sports car. Having the RX show up in that time frame makes the decision harder, but oh so much better.

BC.

 

lmao! there is some truth in that. remember Mazda won the 25 hours of Thunderhill outright in 2008 in an Mx5, with another one in second or third. the Mx5 isn't slow....

in the summer of 2011, the family trip was to go to Sweden to pick up a Volvo, which comes with a tour of the factory. the Volvo factory is puny by GM standards, but the amount of scheduling, man power and materials is staggering, and this was just the assembly part. The Volvo factory is a mile long and takes almost 5,000 people to run.

the design phase is probably more people intense, there are thousands of parts in a car.

the point is that building a car is such a huge task that it MUST be a collaboration.

 

Porsche Competition? Funniest **** I have heard all day.

 

Just told the wife the kids can skip college, I want an Rx7 when they come back. She told me no. <sniffle>

 

 

Yeah if i'm paying a huge amount of money I want everything... out of the car.
2 seats, no more than 2 speakers, less airbags is better and no fancy useless features like hill holders etc.
Heck, they should go back to hand operated window glasses in a ClubSport edition.
The only kind of electronics i'd like is a proper electro-hydraulic transmission... but that's not going to cut with a cheap 50k sportscar.

Truth is we all need different things. If Mazda's following Lotus you won't find much inside the car (and that's the way to go if you want a halo car). "We can do what other manufacturers do with 450hp with just 300".
That's the winning approach, otherwise it would just be another failure like the rx8.

 

why not?

correct positioning of Rx7 I, Rx7 II and Rx7 III is against 924, 944,968 .....Rx7 IV will be positioned as a Cayman competitor.

rx-7 is a "sub-911 model" killer

 

Yeah well if you think the the 2017 RX-7 will be on par with a 2017 Cayman then I think you are dreaming. The current base Cayman is 265HP and I don't know anyone who owns a Porsche that drives a base model. Every Cayman I have seen at the Porsche dealer (I go fairly often) is the 330HP version S or R. By 2017 the Cayman will probably be in the 375-400HP range.

 

I had a professor that was the head of the marketing/advertising campaign for the Porsche 944 in North America. He admitted to us as example that they were beaten soundly by Mazda with the FC RX-7.

The assertion of going head to head with Porsche is anything but far fetched.

Edit: at the time I had that class I was driving an '87 TII. I didn't particularly like the guy so parked next to his Saab whenever possible.

 

375-400 HP is nothing that a turbo option couldn't handle.

 

Back in the 80's, I had a friend with a 944 and we used to camp together at the racetrack. In the morning we would "run into town" to get breakfast. His P* and my RX7 seemed to be pretty well matched.

 

That's probably why he was teaching Those who can't, teach.

Are we really comparing the 80's car market to now? That was the worst decade of cars ever IMO.

 

The cayman weighs around 1380kg. A sub-1250kg rx7 with 300hp (NA of course, screw turbos) could compete against it fairly easily, even with 75hp less.
All Mazda has to do is keep a good suspension setup and sacrifice some daily comfort.

The only thing Mazda has to keep clear is to avoid too many compromises. You can't have a comfortable car that's really fast and lightweight.
@9k: The f40, 512tr and my prancing horse were all made in the 80s..

 

Oh a 375HP-400HP factory Turbo RX-7 is definitely possible but very unlikely IMO.

 

US mericans like Traction Control, heated leather seats, touchscreen multimedia/NAV w/bluetooth, vehicle info displays, lot's gauges, power mirrors, power moonroofs, magnetic ride suspension doohickies, and lot's of cup holders.

 

I know, the US always have to bust our ***** somehow