I was wondering what all the different letter designations in front of the mazda engines mean?

Do they redesign them that often? I also understand the 1999 and up 1.8 L engine is completely different from the previous 1.8 L?

Is this true, and what are the differences?

thanks

 

Check The Man FAQ, accessible from the top bar of the board.

All the answers and more are there

 

The first letter (i.e. "B", "F") designates the engine family. However, unlike many other carmakers' engines, the rest of the letters and numbers don't seem to have any consistent meaning from engine to engine. Here's everything you need to know about the common Mazda engine families:

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/MX5Engine.html

And yes, the 99-00 1.8L FP-DE is totally different from the earlier 1.8L BP used in the 90-98 cars, despite the fact that the two engines share the same bore and stroke. Nothing is the same. Although there's really no way to independently verify this, I think that Mazda switched to the FP-DE because it is a smaller, lighter and somewhat simpler (read: cheaper) engine than a BP.

 

Thanks!

 

ok,what does "familia" mean? Is this jap lingo for "family car" or something?

 

I don't know if Familia actually means anything. I'm guessing that it just sounded nice to the Mazda marketing department.

 

ok, i get it. familia is the name of the 323/protege in Japan, right?