“Simplify, and then add lightness” is the great saying by the Lotus Engineering fame Colin Chapman.  Now Mazda exercises the saying by announcing it first time that the much hyper lower curb weight of the 2016 MX-5 Miata is as low as 2332 pounds. Well, this is a modern car which is not only smaller in size but also lighter than the model it replaces.  The saying now should go like, “sky active-fy and attach zoom zoom”. 

Skyactiv incidentally is the highly publicized weight saving technology of Mazda and engineered to boost fuel economy averages.  Similar to the latest Mazda 3 and 6, as well as the CX-5, the 2016 Miata too has been baked with the technology. The trick has been done by using aluminum in places where steel was used previously.  Mazda has been stubborn that the new car will be weighing less over its predecessor but also reduce enough weight to come equally with the car from the first generation.  The 2332 pounds of US spec with the manual transmission   the 2016 Miata is not lighter over the global version which has a reported weight of 2200 pounds, but the US model is going to be sporting a heavier 2.0   Liter Powerplant. Just for the sake of comparison the Scion RS-S twins and Subaru BRZ are heavier by 300 pounds.

How the new Miata is going to fare against the old one is going to be a matter of Interest. If we get the new Miata on our scale for testing, it will weight two pounds more than the old model we tested. So the 1990 Miata was lighter than the 1994 model but the later had added under body bracings, passenger side airbag, and to meet crash regulations, the side impact door beams thus becoming a better car to today’s model.