Since the arrival of the Mazda MX-5 almost four decades ago, it has stuck to a familiar and popular formula, once the basis of the British sports car scene.
From the factory, all MX-5s have featured four-cylinder engines driving the rear wheels, with either a manual or automatic transmission in between – however the idea of a V6 was once not just a dream, but nearly became reality.
Speaking to Dutch outlet AutoRAI, Christian Schultze, Mazda Europe’s director of research and operations, said two decades ago the brand’s engineers had shoehorned a V6 under the bonnet of the MX-5, though it never made it to production.
“A 2.5-litre engine sounds appealing, I understand,” Schultze said when asked about speculation the next-generation MX-5 will get a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine.
“But interestingly enough, we already tried something like this about twenty years ago. Back then, our engineers built a prototype with a 2.5-litre V6 in their spare time. They did it here in the workshop, purely out of enthusiasm.
“Technically, it was a fascinating project. The problem, however, was the packaging. The engine didn’t fit well under the hood; it was simply too high. The result wasn’t visually appealing.
“But in terms of the driving experience, it was definitely interesting. That shows that the idea itself isn’t new.”
The timeline of 20 years ago places the development of a V6-powered MX-5 around the time of the launch of the third-generation ‘NC’ model, which went into production in 2005.
As the heaviest MX-5 to that point, and the first not based on the same chassis as the original model, it was criticised for being a downgrade in the lineage of the model line, a point which was only hammered home when Mazda went back to basics with the current ‘ND’.
Schultze didn’t mention what V6 engine was fitted to the MX-5, though Mazda had a few in its lineup at the time.
How Mazda plans to keep the MX-5 alive for “as long as possible”
Ultimately, it never came to fruition, with his description of the aesthetics and driving experience providing insights as to why Mazda never strayed from the successful MX-5 formula.
That hasn’t stopped owners making changes thanks to the aftermarket though, with V6 swaps in early MX-5s not overly rare, either choosing Mazda engines or those from other brands.
As reported earlier this week, Schultze said it’s possible the next generation MX-5 will get hybrid assistance to meet more stringent emissions standards.
Discussion about this post