The Efini MS-8 is a 4-door sedan from Mazda, built from 1992 to 1997, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Under the bonnet: 2.0 .
Where it came from
The ɛ̃fini MS-8 is a luxury car that was produced and sold by ɛ̃fini from March 1992 through 1997. The car is a replacement to the Mazda Persona and Eunos 300. Just like the Persona is based on the 1987-1991 Mazda Capella, the MS-8 is based on the 1991-1997 Mazda Cronos (Capella sedan). The MS-8 had the same dimensions as the Cronos, and the ɛ̃fini MS-6, sharing the 2.5 L V6 engine. The width, length, and engine displacement dimensions have particular significance in Japan, due to dimension regulations, where Japanese consumers pay an additional annual tax for larger vehicles, and obligate them to pay more annual road tax.
The MS-8 is a hardtop-style sedan in the vein of the Toyota Cresta, Nissan Laurel, Honda Vigor, and Mitsubishi Emeraude. Unlike the Cresta or the previous Persona, however, the MS-8's body has a B-pillar that is much thicker below the beltline than it is above. Doing so allows the bodyshell more rigidity while still maintaining an airy cabin. Such a B-pillar means that the front seatbelts must be installed below the beltline. The front passenger seat belt tensioner unit, where the seat belt would recoil for storage when not in use, was located inside the rear passenger doors, and the seat belt latch was located on the front headrest support arm, allowing the belt to be properly positioned when the headrest was adjusted for height for the front passenger.
The MS-8's interior design has several unique features. The car is only fitted with a 4-speed automatic gearbox, and the gear shifter is mounted on the dashboard next to the air-conditioning controls. D
Under the skin
Power comes from 2.0 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1340 kg. It shifts through a 4-speed automatic (2 × 2). The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2610 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: assembly was at Hiroshima (Hiroshima Assembly), Japan. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Renault Twingo, the Subaru Impreza, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Mazda catalogue sit the Mazda BT-50 and the Mazda T2000.