By Antti Kautonen
Moving on with the Concept Weekend theme, we have something of a white whale at our hands. It’s the tech-laden 1985 Mazda MX-03, and it’s frankly a stunning piece of design and engineering. Gunning at Toyota Soarer most likely, the MX-03 was a large coupe with every imaginable ’80s tour de force feature.
Pulling Punches is a David Sylvian song, with just the kind of ’80s fretless bass and sketchy guitar you would want to hear play in the background when the MX-03 is displayed on a revolving pedestal. Or I would. I have terrible taste.
The dimensions of the MX-03 are perplexing to say the least. There’s ample rear overhang, nondescript side sheetmetal, a glasshouse that seems to have been mounted a metre too far back, and a rear spoiler that’s almost comically swoopy.
The wheels, though, could have come from any late-’80s Japanese car. They even resemble 4DSC Maxima wheels.
But of course, it wouldn’t be feature-worthy, if the technology behind it weren’t state-of-the-1985-art. Four-wheel-drive, four-wheel steering, tri-rotor wankel engine, 320 horsepower. I’m thinking Mazda were moving the Cosmo forward, as the early-’80s Cosmo was frankly not much more than a 929 coupe with wide quad pop-ups. I’m fine with that, but Toyota were piling on the gizmos on the Soarers behind the curtains.
Then you get to the interior, which is practically unrivalled by everything except the Subaru XT. Pistol-grip gearshift, jet fighter steering wheel, super-gadgety controls. It’s like a cyborg dream in there, with a HUD on top.
I love this shot, since you can make out all the details and descriptions. On the left, you could adjust the front-rear torque split. On the right handle of the steering wheel, you would flick the indicator switch with your right thumb. Then there are the fantastically 1985 digital readouts. And the cabin does look like it’s really tight in there, if you wedge yourself on the seat next to the wide centre console.
It’s a good thing Mazda included a road shot, since hearing the tri-rotor rev on an open road would’ve been an absolute thrill.
[youtube width=”720″ height=”500″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fOWs1rFzJg[/youtube]
[Images: Mazda via carstyling.ru]
Bradley Brownell
Looks like the marriage of a Prelude and a Mitsubishi 3000, under the influence of some cut rate rave drugs. So much technology, so much interior hard plastic, so many loosely held together, borrowed styling cues.
Unbelievable that there should be no comments on this. WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING! This car was a futurists wet dream! Imagine an R31 GT-R, complete with torque vectoring and four wheel steer, plus LCD gauges and rotary power, but in 1985! My parents had a Commodore 16! Polo mints cost 8p a packet! I was 4!
Awesome post. I read about this first in the "book of Dream Cars" I got when I was 8. It also included the Peugeot Quasar, which was my favourite car ever for several years.
And Isuzu did some great show cars then too,(as well as S.U.V.s )http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/home/new_cars/display/store4/item271297/
Check out the Isuzu 4200R
They certainly had the dream team of designers.
Looks like something Batou would drive.
But do you think I can find a picture of that lilac purple monstrosity he had in 1995? Nope.
<img src="http://www.cheshirecatstudios.com/reviews/ghost-in-the-shell-2.0/ghost-in-the-shell-2.0-original-batou.jpg">
I always enjoyed seeing his Stratosesque thing.
Nerd alert! That's Togusa in the other car.
<img src="http://media.animegalleries.net/albums/GITS-SAC/togusa/gits-sac_togusa019.jpg?=123">
I make no apologies for thinking this is absolutely awesome.
I'm seeing a stretched Subaru XT.
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Subaru-XT6.jpg/800px-Subaru-XT6.jpg" width="600" border="0" style="border:none;" alt=" " />
What a difference a digit makes. The Mazda MX-3: <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/1992_MX3_V6_24V.jpg" width="500">
I prefer the -03 to the -3, although the MX-3 did claim the smallest 6 cylinder engine in the world: [youtube YtYpImVEr6E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtYpImVEr6E youtube]