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Bren wrote:

I was just reading a review of the Mazdaspeed 3, and it said that thing weighs about 3200 pounds! It's a four cylinder hatchback, for cryin' out loud! How on Earth do they manage to make any four cylinder subcompact weigh that much!? To put that in perspective, my gas-guzzling '91 Z28 didn't weigh much more than 3400 pounds. Something's very wrong when any four cylinder weighs almost as much as a Camaro.

Crap. I think my 1984 Buick weighs around 3300 pounds and it's a pure steel car with a cast-iron block and heads!

Manual Sedan Mazda 3 weighs 2963Lbs.

Manual Hatchback Mazda 3 weighs 3005lbs.

Mx-5 Manual weight is 2447lbs. 

-mark

Chickenhawk wrote:

avkills wrote:

Mx-5 Manual weight is 2447lbs. 

Is that with or without the rainbow bumper sticker?

Heh heh.  At least it is rear wheel drive and pretty much a pure sports car;  being affordable is nice also.

(and yeah I think that is without the rainbow sticker)

-mark

Yep. According to the November 2009 issue of Automobile, the manufacturer's listed curb weight for the Mazdaspeed 3 hatchback is 3245 pounds. That's just absurd.

What the hell is a Camero?

jerwin wrote:

Bren wrote:

I was just reading a review of the Mazdaspeed 3, and it said that thing weighs about 3200 pounds! It's a four cylinder hatchback, for cryin' out loud! How on Earth do they manage to make any four cylinder subcompact weigh that much!? To put that in perspective, my gas-guzzling '91 Z28 didn't weigh much more than 3400 pounds. Something's very wrong when any four cylinder weighs almost as much as a Camaro.

Excuse me, but it does not "weigh  almost as much as a Camaro." A Camaro weighs 3870 lbs.

We're talking about a 1991 Camaro, not the current model.

Where are you getting this info? It makes my point even better, but I question it.

Last edited by Bren (2009-10-31 11:11 pm)

My source was from Yahoo cars something or other.  For the 2010 models.

-mark

AVKills, those listings are for the garden-variety Mazda 3, and not for the Mazdaspeed 3. Also, the most recent issue of Motor Trend lists the Mazdaspeed 3's curb weight as 3247 pounds, two more than Automobile magazine.

Jerwin, the info on Carfolio.com is highly suspect. First of all, the fact that they list "kerb" weight, which is a European spelling, and list the weight first in KG and then in pounds, tells me they're a European site, and probably referring to whatever information they may have had regarding the Camaro as it was sold overseas, which may not have had all the safety equipment and other items which would have been standard on a US model.

Furthermore, the quality of their information is generally poor, because they list only one engine for that car, the 230HP 5.0L V8.

But let's grant them the benefit of the doubt, and say that their figure of 3285 pounds for a Z28 with no options may have been technically accurate. Now have a look at the following weight chart for the 1992 Z28, which, other than the availability of a 25th Anniversary "appearance group" was identical to the 1991 model:

http://www.f-body.org/tech/tech.htm#weight3rd

Beginning with f-body.org's stated curb weight of 3273 pounds, and then adding the options my Z28 had, which included power everything, air conditioning, the 5.7L V8 and its mandatory automatic, but no disc brakes in the rear, I come up with a curb weight of 3459.3. This is very consistent with the as-tested weights reported by all the car magazines of that era.

Last edited by Bren (2009-11-01 3:17 am)

You might be surprised but a V8 is not all that much heavier than a 4 banger.  Flyin Miata in Grand Junction has put LS Corvette engines in NB model Miatas and only added a couple hundred pounds to the weight.

-mark

Bren wrote:

Sounds like a terrible thing to do to a perfectly good Miata.

Not if you want an uber fast miata.  Although a really good supercharger would probably be better overall.

-mark

That sucks that the 4.0 inline went away. I recall back in the late 1980s seriously thinking about ordering a Jeep Commanche with that engine and not much else, 'cause it would have been awfully quick.


Regarding V8 Miatas: I do understand the appeal, as it's a lot like a modern version of a Shelby Cobra. However, when you consider that the Miata has been universally praised for its nearly perfect balance and handling, I can only assume that an extra few hundred pounds up front and an extra few hundred HP at the rear wheels would likely mess up that perfection. If it was my Miata, upgrading the four cylinder would definitely be the way to go.