Today, Mazda tweeted “Sneak a peek at some #Mazda @SEMASHOW cars: MX-5 Spyder & Turbo2,” and included a link to images of the two Vegas-bound cars. What’s an MX-5 Spyder and a Turbo2? Mazda offered just a single image of each car along with a brief caption, but here’s what we’ve ascertained.
Mazda MX-5 Spyder
The MX-5 Spyder (pictured above) has a skimpy bikini top in place of a normal folding roof. The move should save some weight, which, combined with Brembo brake calipers and a clearly lowered suspension, implies a harder-core take on the regular car, in the spirit of the similarly Spyder-ed Porsche Boxster. Aside from the minimalist top, the Spyder has a unique, streamlined front fascia with a larger central intake, a lower spoiler, and cooling ducts for the front brakes. As to power, we don’t know squat at this point, but we’re going to pretend it’s a quad-rotor Wankel just for funsies.
Mazda Turbo2
As its name suggests, the Turbo2 is a turbocharged Mazda 2—but which engine is under the hood isn’t clear. The car’s supplied caption reads: “One of our most powerful turbocharged engines in our lightest platform. ’Nuff said!” Mazda’s most powerful turbocharged engine is the 263-hp, 2.3-liter four that lives under the hood of the Mazdaspeed 3. The CX-7 crossover uses a 244-hp version of the same engine, but either seems wildly over the top for the featherweight Mazda 2. (Let us be clear: We’re totally game for a 2 with between 140- and 160-percent more power—our long-term 2 could certainly be quicker.) The least-likely but slightly more sane engine candidate would be the 178-hp, 1.8-liter turbo four from ye olde Mazdaspeed Miata; maybe there was one sitting on a shelf somewhere. Engine talk aside, the Turbo2 looks track ready—even more so than Mazda’s B-Spec racing 2—with its jaunty rear wing, cool graphics package, and sticky track rubber.
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