In the August issue of Car and Driver, they've got a 'sneak' picture of the next generation of the miata - I had to do a double take because as I was flipping through the issue, the picture caught my eye and for a second, I thought I was looking at an S!!

Anyway, interesting to see the direction the miata could be goin...

 

I saw a spy shot of a new Miata in (I think) Road & Track - it was done up to look a lot like the RX-8. Is that the one you saw?

 

photos we have seen of a blue ibuki prototype that has circulated the car show circut are only indications of the direction mazda is going in...so what the new 2005 miata will be like is still a bit of a mystery, and it may be a 2006, who knows till they tell us?

 

I thought the new and latest miata was the turbo? could it get more powerful? Pics? Then I heard that this year was the last year in production but I'm sure those were just rumors?

 

Yes, Miata now offers a turbo so you might call that the "new Miata", but it is still a current (second) generation Miata, "NB" in the parlance. The articles refer to the next gen Miata which is due in a year or so, called "NC" by the faithful.

Lots of rumors as to what that might be, but no definitive info. The pix that look like an RX8 are apparently just a test mule with an RX8 front end grafted on. The C&D pic is an artist's rendition that is influenced heavily by the Ibuki show concept which is Mazda says is not what the Miata will look like. Basically, take all these mag photos and info with a grain of salt.

 

Yep, that's what the caption said - that the 'new' miata borrowed heavily from the front end design of the RX-8.

It was on pg 58 of C&D's August issue.