MAZDA UNVEILS NEW MAZDASPEED MX-5 MIATA AT SEMA

Car enthusiasts in North America received a special gift for the holidays as the MAZDASPEED MX-5 Miata made its official debut at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in January of 2004. Shown briefly at the industry-only 2003 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in November, the vehicle was seen for the first time by the general public in Los Angeles.

"MAZDASPEED is the name given to the best of the best Mazda vehicles and we’re pleased to start off the New Year with the introduction of the MAZDASPEED MX-5 Miata," said Jim O’Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North American Operations. "With MAZDASPEED MX-5 Miata, we took a renowned sports car and further enhanced its performance with carefully selected modifications, all the while remaining true to Miata’s famed spirit."

Bound to reinvigorate the roadster marketplace with a new level of performance and style at an unbeatable price point, MAZDASPEED MX-5 Miata comes fully equipped priced at $25,500 with cloth interior and $26,200 with leather, thousands less than a BMW Z4 and with nearly the same horsepower.

Fitted with a ball-bearing single-scroll turbocharger with 7.25 psi maximum boost and an air-to-air intercooler, the 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine now makes 178 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 166 lb-ft of torque at 4500 rpm, 25 and 33 percent more respectively than the normally aspirated Miata. To handle the extra power from the turbocharging system, the engine block is modified to accommodate the oil line for the turbo, the cooling system receives an increased radiator core volume with increased coolant capacity, the six-speed manual transmission, clutch and pressure plate, driveshaft and differential all have been optimized, and a Denso tube-fin air-to-air intercooler added. The piston shapes have also been modified to increase displacement volume in the cylinders and handle the extra fuel-air mixture provided by the turbocharger.

Keeping the MAZDASPEED MX-5 Miata cool as its turbocharged engine blazes are two additional oil cooler plate pieces, allowing the oil more time to cool before it recycles through the engine. Harder rubber is also used for the engine and differential mountings to account for increased torque and avoid flexing and wearing due to more extreme temperature changes under the hood.

These precise engine modifications, combined with a short-throw, six-speed gearbox with improved gear durability and MAZDASPEED sport-tuned and lowered suspension, makes for an amazingly quick and agile car. The already-able Miata chassis gets dropped 7mm in ride height through the use of red-painted, shorter springs with increased spring rates. Silver-painted, MAZDASPEED-tuned Bilstein dampers soak up vibration while larger front and rear stabilizer bars and a silver-painted front strut tower brace increase chassis rigidity and improve road-holding capability.