Interesting goings on at Mazda

Today at the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show), in Detroit, Mazda pulled the covers off a new rotary-engined design study and an updated version of the Mazda RX8. The Furai concept car is intended to celebrate 40-years of Mazda’s rotary-engined sports cars (going back to the 1967 Cosmo) and Mazda’s motor sport heritage.



The Furai is not intended to race, although it has the chassis of a Courage racing car, nor will it go into production – even as a limited run supercar. What it does do is provide a suitable canvas on which Mazda’s designers created interesting shapes and unusual proportions. Some of the visual themes in the Furai will end up – toned down for production – on Mazdas people can buy. Technologically it makes a nod towards future possibilities; it has a 3-rotor Wankel rotary engine which is tuned to run on E100 bio-ethanol.



The updated RX8 has redesigned bumpers, including new headlamps and LED tail lamps. The dashboard is revised. Under the skin the body has been braced to improve rigidity, the rear suspension geometry has been altered to improve handling. The gearing has been lowered to improve acceleration. It seems like quite a modest series of updates for a model that is (I think) nearly 5-years old.

2008 Wish list part 1

Jaguar XF



With the end of the year rapidly approaching you can be sure that lots of retrospective views of 2007 are being readied for publication. Rather than look back (which I will do) I would rather look forward and think about some of the cars I’d like to drive in the next year.

Top of the list is the Jaguar XF, and I’ve stepped into the deadly trap of falling for the car purely based on how it looks and the badge it wears. It is a dangerous position to be in; if I like it, how do I know it isn’t because I am under its spell; if I do not, is it because I was simply expecting too much?

The most appealing aspect of the XF is the interior and particularly the rotary control knob for the automatic transmission. It is such a simple, yet sensible idea that I’m surprised no-one has done it before. The console in which the knob is set looks like a work of art – although it does remind me of the consoles fitted to American muscle cars of the late 1960s.


Jaguar XF console


Plymouth GTX console, can you see why the Jaguar makes me think of this?