2009 Frankfurt Auto Show: Mazda Introduces a Dreamy MX-5 Superlight Concept
By Scott Doggett September 16, 2009
Mazda celebrated 20 years of the Miata sports car with the unveiling this week of the MX-5 Superlight Concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and oh what a wonderful thing the Japanese automaker has done.
Like a sculptor working a clump of clay -- and we're NOT referring to any Miata as a clump of clay -- Mazda's engineers took a third-generation face-lifted 2010 MX-5 and pared it back to create a sports car weighing only 2,189 pounds; the regular MX-5 weighs more than 3,000 pounds.
In other words, they took a two-seater an Edmunds.com's Inside Line writer referred to as a "feisty little roadster" in a glowing review earlier this year and made it even nimbler and punchier. Who wouldn't love that?
Said project lead designer Hasip Girgin, the challenge was "to evolve the MX-5, developed to perfection during the last 20 years, to a higher and extreme level."
Girgin and his team responded to the challenge by removing the windscreen and roof, replacing the standard hood with a longer one made of carbon fiber, substituting carbon-fiber bucket seats for the standard, removing the air-conditioner, using an aluminum gearshift and handbrake...
In short, they looked at every part and asked themselves, can we replace it with a lighter one without breaking the company bank?
They decided to stick with the stock 126-horsepower, 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission, and they went with alloy wheels borrowed from the second-generation MX-5.
Girgin et al added a cold-air intake made of polished and powder-coated aluminum and a Mazdaspeed exhaust system delivering a sportier sound. The brakes were improved with four-piston, fixed calipers and perforated discs that bump up the track by 50mm.
Mazda also lowered the ride height 30mm and installed Bilstein coil-overs and Eibach stabilizers.
With the improvements, the Superlight Concept can accelerate from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 8.9 seconds while still achieving 37.3 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving.
Will can we expect to see any Superlights in showrooms? Mazda isn't saying.
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Too bad THOSE seats didn't come stock in the regular variety Miata! Well, minus the color, anyway - I imagine they are much more comfortable than the usual Miata seats.
Oh, and not to nitpick, but the stock Miata weighs no where near over 3,000 lbs. Typically it's 2,500 to 2,600 depending on soft top or power hard top
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