2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata [Merged]

[mazdamazda]

Saying Mazda has something to fear from the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky is like saying that Honda's Accord could be usurped by the Chevy Lumina or Hyundai Sonata... they're just in completely different classes, cachet-wise, and market-share-wise.

yep... only the Toyota MR2 (which will shortly disappear) can be considered the DIRECT competitor of the Miata as a roadster... which leaves the Miata in a class of its own.

BTTT, from the side it looks like a shrunken Jag XKR. wish that Mazda PH brings it back here (with relatively the same price as before).

[sikuya]

Saying Mazda has something to fear from the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky is like saying that Honda's Accord could be usurped by the Chevy Lumina or Hyundai Sonata... they're just in completely different classes, cachet-wise, and market-share-wise.

i think it's a matter of semantics.i said the Miata will surely lose some of its marketshare when the 2 GM roadsters come out.now does that mean the Miata will be "usurped",beaten,overshadowed,etc by the Solstice or Sky? Could happen, after all Mazda sold only 573 Miatas last month. and i was referring to the American market, where the Solstice and Sky will be sold to compete against the Miata.Could really happen,after all this is GM's hometurf, this land called America.
but i understand where you're coming from, the MX-5 is an ICON.

[niky]

i think it's a matter of semantics.i said the Miata will surely lose some of its marketshare when the 2 GM roadsters come out.now does that mean the Miata will be "usurped",beaten,overshadowed,etc by the Solstice or Sky? Could happen, after all Mazda sold only 573 Miatas last month. and i was referring to the American market, where the Solstice and Sky will be sold to compete against the Miata.Could really happen,after all this is GM's hometurf, this land called America.
but i understand where you're coming from, the MX-5 is an ICON.

Agreed. But I think the sales figures merely reflect the fact that the current Miata is a "going-out" model.

We'll see what the figures say, but I fear that the Solstice and the Sky will start out good then start biting into EACH OTHER's market-share. Also, quality is still a question mark. Remember what happened to the Crossfire? Initially bullish, then it slid down to become just another American car. It's only the Japanese who know how to make sales last...

[mazdamazda]

Mazda MX-5
The third-generation MX-5 roadster will debut. U.S. sales begin in the spring, and European sales start in August. The rear-drive car is sold here as the MX-5 Miata. The redesigned two-passenger convertible is slightly larger than the current model. The interior is more spacious and features higher quality materials. The rear end is flatter and wider to accommodate a larger trunk.





source: http://www.autoweek.com/files/specia...s/IMG_1113.htm

[BlueBimmer]

i hope mazda releases this here..for those who want a roadster but have shallow pockets like me

[chieffy]

sana kung meron lang ulit bundle iyan...buy one take one...MPV yung ka bundle ng miata dati di ba?

[Keito]

Yup, Miata + MPV for 1.5M ata...

[niky]

hwow... i wish...

Most likely the Miata will be around P2m if they bring the new one here.

[caloyski5]

ang ganda.. :drool:

looks very sharp!

[parakitoJDM]

has anyone seen it in the flesh? looks really nice in the pix and the reviews coming out from the World Launch in Hawaii about a month ago.

would love to see the new MZR 2.0 (with VVTi good for 170hp + 6MT trickle down to the Mazda 3 though)... sarap mangarap.



First Drive:
2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Review and photos by Laurance Yap

Kona, Hawaii - To get a sense of just how important the new MX-5 (Miata) is to Mazda, you have only to look at the business cards that all of the project team proffer when you meet them. Everybody's card not only has the usual details of name, phone number, and address, but also a full-colour photo of the car.


In comparison to volume leaders like the Mazda3 and Mazda6, the Miata's emotional appeal, both for customers and for people inside the company, goes much deeper than mere numbers. The Miata was the car that started Mazda's renaissance after its launch in 1989, and remains at the centre of the company's pitch at driving enthusiasts. Without the Miata, there would not only have been no RX-8, but the sportiness that's inherent in all of its products probably wouldn't have been there either.

So you can imagine the challenge that the new Miata's development team faced with redesigning such an icon: how to balance the seemingly conflicting demands of making a vehicle more modern and also retain some of the elemental retro appeal that made the original first-generation Miata such a hit? How to compete against an increasingly varied range of competitors - many of which wouldn't exist were it not for Mazda opening up the market for value-conscious convertibles - without alienating the core customer base for whom affordability was one of the original car's prime attributes? And how to simultaneously add the features and extra room that buyers today wish to have, while retaining the tight dimensions and instantaneous responsiveness that have defined the car since its introduction?







The answer to all those questions? Very carefully.

Yes, the new Miata is bigger. An all-new platform, which shares some engineering but little componentry with the RX-8, is longer and wider, with a lengthened wheelbase. Interior room is significantly improved over the old car's; the seats have a much longer range of travel, but remain low to the ground so that decent headroom can be achieved. The interior feels, and is, a lot wider - you no longer butt shoulders with your passenger, and there's enough elbow room for a decent padded armrest on the inside of the door. The footwells are expanded, and practical storage spaces are everywhere: there are bins and bottle holders in the doors, a lidded bin in the centre console with cupholders, a storage space between the seats on the rear "wall" that incorporates the latch for the soft top, and a laptop-sized bin behind each of the two seats.

More than anything, though, it's the car's overall architecture - the view out over the higher, wider hood (with its central power bulge), the higher window sills, the smaller side windows - that gives the impression of extra size and heft.

It's an extra size you feel, too, though only on the narrowest and windiest of roads. While the little Mazda's steering remains pure magic - it bends the cars into curves as if it can read your mind and remains sensitive to even the smallest changes in pavement surface - you notice that thanks to the car's extra width, you can't go quite as deep into those hairpins as you used to. Compensation comes, however, not only in extra stability thanks to a larger footprint, wider 205/45 R17 tires, and optional dynamic stability control, but also in improved ride comfort and general refinement when you're not in sports-car mode.


Some of that extra softness is, in fact, an illusion. Drive a bit harder, and you notice that the new Miata retains the immediate, faithful responses from all of the controls that defined the old car, just with a better-damped feel. In an age where most cars, even so-called sports cars, are prone to tire-grinding understeer, the new Miata also preserves a slight sense of tail-happiness that manifests itself when you're driving hard over bumpy roads, the rear end floating sideways just a bit under power before settling back into line. While the overall feel of the new car is less edgy than the last-generation Miata, which would snarl and squeal between corners, it flows a lot better, allows you to maintain more momentum thanks to its superior chassis balance, better brakes, bigger tires, and increased horsepower.





Those horses now number 170 and are pushed out by the largest engine yet fitted to a Miata, a 2.0-litre four-cylinder that is connected to a standard five-speed manual (on the base $27,995 GX model) or a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic in sporty GS ($30,995) and luxurious GT ($33,995) trim. An MX-5 third-generation Limited model, listed at $34,995, will arrive this September. The new engine is very smooth under all conditions, quiet when cruising on the highway, and pleasantly burbly when you're zipping around in the lower gears, but I would prefer a harder edge to the noise from it and its new twin exhausts to go with the extra performance it offers. The new manual transmissions are as good as ever, with shift feel that is the benchmark for the car industry, with the five-speed still my preferred choice: it's marginally slicker than the six-speed and its ratios are better-suited to everyday driving situations, if not aggressive canyon-carving. The biggest surprise is the automatic, which is now an alternative seriously worth considering; with six ratios, it's not much slower than the manual, and its paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel are a treat to use.


With Mazda holding the line on pricing, this is a seriously value-packed car. The 2006 Miatas are much better equipped than their similarly-priced predecessors, with larger wheels, tilt steering, remote audio controls, and other goodies (the GS package adds bigger wheels, a limited-slip differential, and strut tower bar while the GT adds leather, a cloth top, and xenon headlights), but also just feel more expensive than they used to. The new styling is exceptionally clean, with high-tech details and nearly-invisible shutlines that give it a really upscale feel. The interior is not only more comfortable, with wider, deeper bucket seats and extra equipment, but is also constructed of high-quality materials (save the cheap plastic on the lower parts of the dash) that include swaths of body-colour plastic, real aluminum, and really nice leathers and fabrics. Simply put, it looks and feels like a much more expensive car than it actually is.


While $30,000 or so might, in rational terms, seem like a lot for what remains a small, two-seat sports car, the Miata remains a sports-car bargain - not only because it offers a driving experience that's hard to match for any price, such is its friendliness, immediacy, and fun factor, but also because there's just something special in the whole car adds up to something that's so much more than the sum of its vastly-improved parts. The new Miata may be a bigger, broader car with a slightly broader appeal - it's now a comfortable highway cruiser and a great urban commuter car - but it also remains perhaps the best car in the world for connecting, maybe reconnecting, with the road so many other cars have tried to disassociate us from.