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Sorry, rotary fans, Mazda's RX Vision probably won't happen

Mazda is doing a lot of things the right way in this age of beige-ness. It just crammed a turbocharged inline-four into the improved CX-9, a bold move unto itself, and one that should also be heartening for Mazdaspeed fans. Wouldn't that engine make for a swell Mazdaspeed3 or Mazdaspeed6? There's a reasonable ray of hope there, but not necessarily a guarantee. The RX Vision, though, is a pipe dream. Mazda is smart to keep the rotary dream alive. It's smart to keep developing it in back rooms and to keep the idea on the public's mind. Credit where credit's due: Mazda has solved some of the stickiest issues the rotary engine has, through savvy engineering and perseverance. We've seen promising patent filings for the Skyactiv-R engine, which is supposed to be found in the RX Vision concept. Mazda uses every opportunity to remind us that development is continuing and that the company would love to bring a rotary-powered sportscar to production. I believe it. But the RX Vision is just a design study. And there are some harsh realities about rotary engine emissions and fuel economy standards that are difficult for modern piston engines to achieve without expensive componentry. Emissions and fuel economy are both bugbears of the rotary, in case you've forgotten. And that explains Mazda's interest in running rotaries on hydrogen, but down that road lie infrastructure challenges as daunting as making a gasoline-powered rotary burn as clean as one of Mazda's Skyactiv piston engines. All this is meant to put Mazda's recent comments to Top Gear in context. Mazda's design director, Kevin Rice, spoke to TG at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa D'Este, and was waving Mazda's rotary flag quite enthusiastically. "In the back rooms at Mazda, we're still developing it," Rice said, "and when the world's ready to buy another rotary, we'll be ready to provide it." I'd like that to be a comforting statement, but given the realities of fuel economy and emissions regulations and Mazda's position in the market, it seems like a hollow platitude. "When the world's ready" is just another way of saying "when we solve the fundamental issues with this engine layout, and there's an unambiguous market study that shows we can build these cars and make a profit, we'll consider it." That seems like a lot of "ifs". Perhaps Mazda does have a clean-burning, efficient, cheap-to-produce rotary running on an engine dyno in Hiroshima, and it's prepping an RX-9 for the next auto show.

Are you the 2016 Mazda Miata?

Tech nerds are spoiled. Every year, there's a new iPhone that arrives following months and months of breathless speculation and rumormongering. We car folk have a more difficult life, because vehicles with the iPhone's cult-like devotion and following, while plentiful, only receive hefty updates after several years. Case in point, the Mazda MX-5.
There's a new one coming, and much like the iPhone 6, it'll arrive in just a few weeks. So, in lockstep with the tech folk, we're anxiously biding our time and waiting with baited breath for the expected debut date of September 3. Also, like Apple fanboys, we're clamoring over any hint or teaser as to what the next-gen Miata will bring, which is why we're showing you the above image.
That is, allegedly, the new MX-5 hiding under the sheet. Auto Motor und Sport has the image, which according to World Car Fans was released by Mazda. Of course, we've reached out to the Zoom-Zoom brand for verification of its authenticity, and will be sure to update as soon as we hear back.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata First Drive [w/video]

Hypothetically speaking, if you blindfolded me, put me in the car pictured above, and told me to hit the road, it would have taken me maybe two minutes to figure out that I was driving the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata. There are just certain facets about Miata driving that have been baked into every generation of Mazda's roadster, and it makes for a symbiotic relationship between car and driver that's truly unique. Sure, I could rattle off a list of cars that come close to offering the same sort of experience, but they just can't quite capture the same intrinsic Miata magic. Mazda knows its Miata is an incredibly special machine. Listening to the company's engineers and designers talk about the development of this fourth-generation ND model is fascinating. The attention to detail is astonishing, and every single person involved in the Miata program knows that the most important goal is to keep this car as true to its predecessors' ethos as possible. It cannot just be a great convertible, or even a great Mazda – it has to be a great MX-5 Miata. But the company did not just want to improve upon the third-generation NC Miata, which has been around since 2006. They wanted to tie the ND Miata's roots back to the original NA from 1989. Back in '89, the Miata was a less-powerful, 1.6-liter model with 115 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque. Mazda's team said they are proud of every version of the MX-5, but it's this specific, first-generation model that the company calls the "most right" – the most true to the idea of what a Miata ought to be. So that's why, before being allowed to attack the winding roads of the Spanish countryside in the 2016 MX-5, Mazda wanted me to spend some time with a cherry example of the original NA Miata: a Mariner Blue darling that, even with some 239,000 kilometers on its clock, still felt absolutely impeccable from behind the wheel. Light, responsive, and perfectly balanced, it was the original embodiment of the harmony between driver and car that Mazda wanted in every Miata. Mazda executives said they felt the first Miata was also the right size. So they chopped off three inches on the ND compared with the NC, and put it on a wheelbase that's been reduced by six-tenths of an inch. In fact, these dimensions mean the new Miata is more than two inches shorter in length than the original, and only two-tenths of an inch taller. In this day and age of ever-expanding waistlines and footprints, it's a remarkable achievement.