Mazda SkyActiv Inline-6?!

In reply to Nick Comstock :

There's no reason to make a RWD Mazda6 if there aren't using an engine bigger than a 4-cylinder

There will be an I6 Mazda6

Kreb said:

Word has it Mazda purchased tooling for the Atlas I6. And as long as the noses are on their current line, they should be ok with I8s.....

But seriously, I hope that they do it. I6s are great, and have a certain cachet to luxury buyers that 4 bangers lack.  

 

 

Seriously? That'd be awesome.  I've always been furious at GM for discontinuing Atlas production after killing the Trailblazer, and not reusing it for any other platform whatsoever 

Knurled. said:

Keith Tanner said:

I6s also have more main bearings than a V6. Which is good for strength, but may be bad for friction. It's notable how many of the legendarily long-lived engines are I6s.

Not all of them.  A large number of Detroit's inline sixes had only four.

The Ford "small six" is interesting in that they went both ways, IIRC starting with four, then the 250 had seven  then it was reverted to four for economy reasons.  Also IIRC the four bearing cranks were fully counterweighted while the seven main cranks weren't.

The old leaning tower of power, the Chrysler Slant Six also only had 4 main bearing caps. Didn't really seem to matter much, they still seemed to shrug off pretty much any abuse. Really off topic, but the Ford flathead V8 bottom end, with their 3 main bearings, are both comical and slightly terrifying.

ChasH said:

The current Miata trans would not be a good choice. but the NC Miata has a trans originally used in Mazda trucks and is currently found in the Fiat 124. 

I thought the NC and RX-8 transmissions shared not so strong internals.

j_tso said:

ChasH said:

The current Miata trans would not be a good choice. but the NC Miata has a trans originally used in Mazda trucks and is currently found in the Fiat 124. 

I thought the NC and RX-8 transmissions shared not so strong internals.

I think you are mistaken. The RX-8 used 2 different transmissions. The early version used the Aisin 6 speed also found in the NB Miata, later versions used the 6 speed as found in the NC Miata. The later version is an evolution of the Mazda truck transmission. Any transmission can be broken.

Dootz said:

Kreb said:

Word has it Mazda purchased tooling for the Atlas I6. And as long as the noses are on their current line, they should be ok with I8s.....

But seriously, I hope that they do it. I6s are great, and have a certain cachet to luxury buyers that 4 bangers lack.  

 

 

Seriously? That'd be awesome.  I've always been furious at GM for discontinuing Atlas production after killing the Trailblazer, and not reusing it for any other platform whatsoever 

I thought the Trailblazer had an I5? Or am I thinking of a different Chevy SUV? Or am I just insane? The latter seems most likely.

In reply to z31maniac :

There was an I5 in the colorado and H3, but the trailblazers got the full I6

Interesting and a bit perplexing, but Mazda likes to do their own thing and not follow the herd. Hopefully, this I-6 comes to fruition and is available in some nice platforms.

Am I the only one who’d like to see them get away from the “Ace & Gary” styling?

z31maniac said:

Dootz said:

Kreb said:

Word has it Mazda purchased tooling for the Atlas I6. And as long as the noses are on their current line, they should be ok with I8s.....

But seriously, I hope that they do it. I6s are great, and have a certain cachet to luxury buyers that 4 bangers lack.  

 

 

Seriously? That'd be awesome.  I've always been furious at GM for discontinuing Atlas production after killing the Trailblazer, and not reusing it for any other platform whatsoever 

I thought the Trailblazer had an I5? Or am I thinking of a different Chevy SUV? Or am I just insane? The latter seems most likely.

The Trailblazer used the 4200 I6. The Colorado/Canyon and Hummer had a 3500 and 3700 I5, as well as a 2800 and 2900 I4, all from the Atlas engine family. None of those vehicles ever impressed me much, and the engines didn't help their case.

I am dreaming about a RWD 6 wagon with a MT. I could think about it for days. :) Right now I have to go German to get that... what if I could buy get the package I really wanted without German car headaches!?

NickD said:

z31maniac said:

Dootz said:

Kreb said:

Word has it Mazda purchased tooling for the Atlas I6. And as long as the noses are on their current line, they should be ok with I8s.....

But seriously, I hope that they do it. I6s are great, and have a certain cachet to luxury buyers that 4 bangers lack.  

 

 

Seriously? That'd be awesome.  I've always been furious at GM for discontinuing Atlas production after killing the Trailblazer, and not reusing it for any other platform whatsoever 

I thought the Trailblazer had an I5? Or am I thinking of a different Chevy SUV? Or am I just insane? The latter seems most likely.

The Trailblazer used the 4200 I6. The Colorado/Canyon and Hummer had a 3500 and 3700 I5, as well as a 2800 and 2900 I4, all from the Atlas engine family. None of those vehicles ever impressed me much, and the engines didn't help their case.

Ahhh ok, thanks to you and Ross. I could have sworn something had an I5 but couldn't remember. 

Dootz said:

In reply to Nick Comstock :

There's no reason to make a RWD Mazda6 if there aren't using an engine bigger than a 4-cylinder

 

There will be an I6 Mazda6

Are they making a RWD Mazda 6? I thought it was going to be AWD.

Honda made a nice I5 in the Vigor/2.5TL. 

In reply to Nick Comstock :

As far as I understand, we don't know yet if there will be a RWD I6 6 yet. All we know is that they are planning a longitudinal I6 for the "large architecture" vehicles, which is causing some to assume that the 6 will get that longitudinal I6, and that it will be RWD.

"A Skyactiv-X straight-six would likely be packaged with Mazda’s large-architecture cars, including a next-generation Mazda 6 and its lineup of larger crossovers, though that’s purely speculation." From the Jalopnik article.

In reply to CyberEric :

If that's the case then I stand by my statement.

I've heard some podcast conjecture that it would be cool if it led to an inline 6 supra competitor.  That. Would. Be. Interesting.

NickD said:

Knurled. said:

Keith Tanner said:

I6s also have more main bearings than a V6. Which is good for strength, but may be bad for friction. It's notable how many of the legendarily long-lived engines are I6s.

Not all of them.  A large number of Detroit's inline sixes had only four.

The Ford "small six" is interesting in that they went both ways, IIRC starting with four, then the 250 had seven  then it was reverted to four for economy reasons.  Also IIRC the four bearing cranks were fully counterweighted while the seven main cranks weren't.

The old leaning tower of power, the Chrysler Slant Six also only had 4 main bearing caps. Didn't really seem to matter much, they still seemed to shrug off pretty much any abuse. Really off topic, but the Ford flathead V8 bottom end, with their 3 main bearings, are both comical and slightly terrifying.

Dodge got their start by aquiring the Maxwell four cylinder design and added a THIRD main bearing, transforming it into the "Good Maxwell".

Four cylinder with two main bearings...

Good to hear!

The I6 is the second best sounding engine after the V12 (sorry, V8 fans).  And look at the Toyota 2JZ for a formidable precedent.

As for packaging, don't forget that Volvo did a transverse I6 in some of their FWD vehicles.

wspohn said:

Good to hear!

The I6 is the second best sounding engine after the V12 (sorry, V8 fans).  And look at the Toyota 2JZ for a formidable precedent.

As for packaging, don't forget that Volvo did a transverse I6 in some of their FWD vehicles.

So did Suzuki, in a much smaller car.

Technically Volvo did two different transverse sixes, the old whiteblock in nonturbo and twin turbo form, and a new generation engine that stuck all the accessories over the transmission, driven by a jackshaft.

Knurled. said:

wspohn said:

Good to hear!

The I6 is the second best sounding engine after the V12 (sorry, V8 fans).  And look at the Toyota 2JZ for a formidable precedent.

As for packaging, don't forget that Volvo did a transverse I6 in some of their FWD vehicles.

So did Suzuki, in a much smaller car.

Oooh, the Suzuki Verona. There's an obscure one. I always keep an eye out for those just out of curiousity.

In reply to NickD :

They're neat cars, but I could never bring myself to point at a car and say "that's my Verona".

I kind of dig the flat six beat myself, but could always groove to an inline six song

Ton of stuff I did not know in this quite good article about the Atlas.  How does 7 main bearings sound for an I-6? 

I like the manufacturing techniques and engineering that go into it, and I bet Mazda does too.  Rigid block, probably relatively inexpensive to manufacture, aluminum, heads produced using lost foam technique also.  

I remember in the early 90's.  (Yes, SUVs were a serious thing, even though there were only about 4 kinds, they were a hot ticket.)  So were Accords and the Camry.  BMWs were a bit too exotic/luxury for regular folks.  The Accura was the aspirational sedan of the day.  Then right in between was the Maxima sedan, a Goldilocks car.  I remember those being really popular and I heard a lot of post-purchase satisfaction stories.  People making a little money looking to treat themselves with something more interesting than the Accord.  But still not wanting to pay up for the Accura.  It made the C&D 10 best list a few times IIRC.

I think Mazda could easily get a Maxima thing going, doing AWD and RWD sport sedans.  The I6 could be a distinction from the other stuff in the price range.  An aspirational model with actual steering feel and chassis balance, which Mazda can still do well.  More than the Koreans, less than the Germans.

It's just me, but I'm not interested in V6 motors or inline 4s, with or without turbos.  They work to get viable MPG numbers for the government and the advertisements, but they don't make my heart go pitter-pat like a smooth NA N52 will.  Can Mazda do the I6 smoothness with 250+ hp and 30+ mpg, naturally aspirated?  That's something I would go test drive.

What was good about the Atlas that would make it worth resurrecting? The whole family of engines seemed rather uninspiring.