Mazda Rx8

[Karma Supra]

you can say that cozmo...

But as Bibbs said, if it was that good, surely every sports car (or at least every mazda) would have a rotary engine by now!

Yes but, think how much research recipricating engines have had in relationship to rotorys. Most manufactuerers stick to what they know.. imagine of one of the giants like ford or GM had taken yo the rotory idea, how much more money and time would have been put into it! lets face it, mazda is not a small company, but its not one of the big players!!, from my experiance they can't get the regular engiens right (that 2.5 v6.. eeeeeewwwwww), so maybe if someone that made decent engines gave it a try, this conversation would be quite different!

there is no 'traditional power band' as you would be used too

the powerdeliverly ona late spec rotary twin turbo is simply awesome, like nothing I have ever experianced. Its almost like an eletric motor.. the power is just "there" the torque curve on these things must be pretty damn flat!!!

fantastic bit of kit!!! Add diamond encrusted rotor tips and titaniun oxide coating in the "bore" and you'll not hav e to rebuilt it ever 60K miles either!

[Midnightsupra]

congrats on your new car mate

i had a 2nd gen rx-7, which was awesome, the nearest thing i can liken it to is a jet engine as its super smooth with a buzzer telling you when to change gear.

If they are looked after, and not had some muppet revving them past 10,000 rpm they can last well past 80k without a rebuild.

Its the same as any car, drive it hard and you get the bills that come with it.

awful on petrol, but they were designed as a sports car not a town centre shopping trolley.

It a completely different drive to a supra but both are superb

i'm not sure what the rx8 is like but it seems to have lost some of its personality to fit into the coupe mould

[Tom.B]

My mate was looking for one so I decided to join in with the test drive. All I can say is buy one buy one!!!!. Havent had soooo much fun in ages

[Funkadelic]

All im gonna say is if rotary engines were any good at all they would all be using them.

Cant beat pistons

Errrrrrrrr... Not really.

Rotaries are smaller, smoother and lighter than piston engines. Potentially, therefore, they're more efficient. Obviously though, there's a long way to go on that front. Evo magazine managed to get 16mpg from an RX7, which is about the same as a Ferrari 550 Maranello... Not that it puts me off!

The size of the FD engine fitted to the 3rd generation RX7 means that Mazda were able to mount it so it was pretty much behind the front axle. The RX7 is very nearly mid engined.

The reason you only seem them in Mazdas is because, perhaps unsurprisingly, Mazda hold all the patents.

Because of initial problems with the design of rotary engines when they were first tested, most companies simply gave up on them, and went back to the good old piston engine. Mazda stuck with them, but suffice to say rotary engines still have not seen anywhere near the same amount of continual development that the piston engine has. I'm sure that if it made good business sense to use the ****el engine in every single one of their cars, Mazda would do so, but at this stage in the engine's development it's obviously not commercially viable.

Theoretically, rotary engines are every bit as good as piston engines, if not better.

The RX8 seems to get mistaken as a replacement for the RX7, which is totally wrong. It's a sporty four door saloon, not an out-and-out sports car/GT like the '7.

By the way, contrary to popular belief, the more recent Mazda rotary engines (such as those in the 3rd gen' RX7 and the RX8) are reliable. The poor reliability stories are a result of days gone by, although they live on through sheer ignorance of the fact that Mazda have obviously been working very hard! Mazdas hydrogen powered RX8 has shown that, if what we're told is true and fossil fuels are soon to run out, rotary power might well be the way forwards!