Before we even had a chance to pitch our second idea, Coleman took the words right out of our mouth: an off-road sports car similar to the Porsche 911 Dakar. If that idea sounds amazing, wait until you see our renderings (pictured below).
“It wouldn’t make any sense as a car for [Mazda] to sell, but I have been itching to do an off-road [Miata],” Coleman said. “I’ve been looking at the NC generation as an off-road solution because it has so much RX-8 stuff in it. You can junkyard swap RX-8 dampers, which are longer and have more dampening for a heavier car, RX-8 springs will automatically lift the MX-5, and the RX-8 final drive ratio will make up for larger tires.”
Much to our surprise and even his own, Coleman then told us that he plans to use an automatic transmission because having a torque converter gives more flexibility off-road. “You can then bolt in a 2.5-liter engine with an automatic transmission with RX-8 suspension parts and have an all-Mazda, off-road NC.”
Mazda will likely never build this car, but the company’s lead engineer just gave you the perfect recipe to build your own.