Mazda Goes Zoom-Zoomier with Diesel

Japanese automakers have begun to focus seriously on diesel--even though diesels aren't all that popular in Japan, where the fuel oil isn't discounted like it is by most European governments. The latest diesel by a Japanese company comes from Mazda, which is injecting a little oil-burning zoom-zoom into its European lineup.

The company that keeps you grinning with MX-5 Miatas and MazdaSpeed 3--and is bringing the Kiyora concept pictured here to the Paris auto show next month--will match the new Mercedes-Benz unit in both cylinder count and displacement. The Mazda MZR-CD 2.2-liter turbocharged clean diesel four doesn't make as much power as the new knockout from Benz, but 182 horsepower and 295 lb-ft are both more horsepower, and way more torque, than the frisky 2.0-liter unit in the Miata. And 42 U.S. mpg is positively Prius-like.

A revision of its existing 2.0-liter diesel, the new engine meets Euro 5 emissions standards and is quieter and more refined. It also employs an industry-first (according to Mazda) particulate filter that doubles time between soot burn-off cycles as well as speeding the burn-off process. However, you can't have one, at least yet, America: the release straight out of Hiroshima mentions neither North America nor the U.S.--Colin Mathews 2008 Mazda Kiyora ConceptEnlarge PhotoJapanese automakers have begun to focus seriously on diesel--even though diesels aren't all that popular in Japan, where the fuel oil isn't discounted like it is by most European governments. The latest diesel by a Japanese company comes from Mazda, which is injecting a little oil-burning zoom-zoom into its European lineup. The company that keeps you grinning with MX-5 Miatas and MazdaSpeed 3--and is bringing the Kiyora concept pictured here to the Paris auto show next month--will match the new Mercedes-Benz unit in both cylinder count and displacement. The Mazda MZR-CD 2.2-liter turbocharged clean diesel four doesn't make as much power as the new knockout from Benz, but 182 horsepower and 295 lb-ft are both more horsepower, and way more torque, than the frisky 2.0-liter unit in the Miata. And 42 U.S. mpg is positively Prius-like. A revision of its existing 2.0-liter diesel, the new engine meets Euro 5 emissions standards and is quieter and more refined. It also employs an industry-first (according to Mazda) particulate filter that doubles time between soot burn-off cycles as well as speeding the burn-off process. However, you can't have one, at least yet, America: the release straight out of Hiroshima mentions neither North America nor the U.S.--Colin Mathews