suit36

Mazda Australia has released 100 limied edition MX5 turbos exclusively for the local market.

power up from 113kw to 150kw
torque up from 181nm to 280nm

1119kg

at only AUG 55k, quite a bargain and possible a good track car....shame it looks like all the other 5,000,000 MX5s!

interesting to see performance figures.

AusS2000

And here it is:

naishou

Sounds like a potent little bugger. Maybe the fact that it looks innocuous is good - doesn't draw the attention of boys in blue. I wonder what they've done to the handling though, because while it would be faster than an S2000 in the midrange it needs to corner also. I think I'll stick with my 9000rpm anyway

Alister

In my opinion the price differential between the NA MX5 and the turbo MX5 is too great. Aside from the turbo and IC, there really isn't a huge amount of difference to justify the $15k price difference.

I do, however, think that Mazda Australia is taking the MX5 in the right direction. It has needed a bit more power since its introduction back in 1989, and a few aftermarket suppliers have attempted it, but obviously these are not factory backed and include a decent warranty.

AusS2000

It's supposed to be 150Kw, so it's a fairly sedate turbo application. It's factory backed so that's an advantage, but if you were going to track the car you'd be better off spending the extra $15K on a decent turbo set up and some handling stuff.

suit36

always liked handling qualities of the MX better than the S (but may very different animal with that much power)

Mazda Japan also previewed the MPS...very porn looking car with projection headlights, side vents and deeper front...check link below...

http://www.supercars.net/cars/2001@$Mazda@...20Conceptc.html

naishou

Yeah maybe. My brother and my mother have them and I've driven them a bit. Handling is OK but grip is not in the same league as the S2000.

Bernie

At Sanctuary Cove, they are selling a specially prepared MX5 with a V8 engine. Muz and I were checking it out about two months ago.

I came upon it one morning on the way to Sanctuary Cove (for golf) and I chased it for a little bit. It bloody flies. It seems to have a huge amount of torque but I still didn't have that much trouble catching up to it on the winding bits. Maybe he didn't want to push it excessively but if he had, I would have let him go. It's now been changed to a 70kmh zone and motorcycle cops patrol the area regularly now.

Alister

Wouldn't happen to be the AEC Bullet would it? MX5 shell (slightly different headlights though) with a Lexus 4L V8 in it, with optional supercharger (around 400hp). I believe AEC are a division of NewTel and are based in Perth.

Apparently the car does 0-100 in around 3.8 secs and a quarter around 12 flat. I think it also comes standard with Brembos and coilover suspension. Would be a fun track car, not sure about resale though.

suit36

The mass market nature of the MX5 gives you considerable scope for modification as tuners see a bigger market (kind of the Honda Civic of the convertible market).

I had little problem getting a supercharger fitted to my old Miata and also easy local access to suspension, exhaust, CAI, and off course rims - tying sourcing sweet rims for S2k (that are as light as stock ones) REALLY shits me!

S2k is a totally different story...I guess that what happens when you buy a car that is ALREADY damn good!