What does the "RX" stand for?
 

Just curious...

Dan

i BELEIVE it stands for Rotary eXperiement.. i know i can tspell... bu im pretty sure that i what it stands for

Yeah that is what I have heard too

This was discussed not too long ago - a search would probably get you the general concensus of the forum.

I'm guessin that the R does stand for Rotary... but as far as the X goes...

Well, Mazda likes to put X's in their part numbers. I deal with parts for automatic transmissions daily, and almost every single Mazda part has an X in the number. Whether it's a gasket, or an entire tranny... so I think maybe they were just workin their favorite letter into the name.

Also, if X is for experiment, what exactly does MX mean? I think they probably could've just called it the R-7, but wanted to throw an X in it ;)

yea man, X is prolly oen of the coolest letters there is. (no scarasm intended)

I thought it was Rotary Export?

~T.J.

i heard it stood for Ricers X-travegante

Which we all know is Rotary eXport, right? :D

It's a name. They could have called it the ABC1, but RX-7 sounds better.

Seriously, in the books I have that were written by Mazda insiders, they state the X is just part of the name and can't figure out why, decades after they started putting rotaries in Mazdas, people thought the X meant they were still eXperimenting.

Why is the Ford called the XR-7? why is the Nissan called a 300ZX? Because it sounds cool.

why is an errection called stiffy?

sound cool

and wen you get an erection your penis becomes stiff.. so at least it makes sence.. but liek is sed X is jsut one of the coolest letters.. i think form now on im gunna call my erections "stiffy X"

im gonna call my gurl..



the GX-7

shes cool

I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking of christening mine RoXy when I get her on the road (alright, so it's an old throwback from when I was a child and my parents named the cars for me, so sue me)

Jon

PS: The red sunfire I drive is "Red Leader" Yes, I played WAY too much Unreal Tournament

Originally the R did not stand for rotary as in the R360. However when Mazda started exporting rotary versions of piston engined cars they used R for that model so Americans could understand the difference. To confuse the issue there were two experimental rotary cars, the R15 and R16 used as test beds for engine development including a 4 rotor.

the X oiginally meaned new development product. The first use of it as a car model rather than a project was the RX-85 Project Car exhibited in 1967.

The first production car to be given the RX designation was the RX-2 which was never experimental. The reality is the Japanese like X, and it is commonly used for marketing. Typical are GLX and SX designations.

To sum up, it was a good marketing ploy and you can make up your own explanation,

X = PLUS 10 HORSEPOWER!!!

Thanks man! I love all the little trivia and emense amounts of info you have Paul! Youre amazing at times with how much you know!

~T.J.

Actually, there is a book by a "Mazda insider" which states that it does indeed stand for rotary export. note that all rotary powered cars were given names in the home market and RX model numbers in export markets. Except of course for the R-100. (I do not think the Cosmo 110S was ever officially exported anywhere, any you find outside of Japan were graymarket) The RX-5 Cosmo was not called RX-5 in the US for some reason, also.

The RX-7 was the first rotary powered car to be called "RX-n" in the home market.

Well not sure what it originally meant but it is part of Mazda's naming scheme. But it's not experimental since the letter is used in the Miata and other cars.

R => Rotary
X => Sports or Performance
M=> Piston
Here are some examples:

RX-7=> Rotary sports car series 7
RX-8=> Rotary Sports car series 8
MX-3=> Piston 2 door sports coupe (CRX equivalent)
MX-5=> Piston Sports care series 5 (Miata)
MX-6=> Piston 2 Door coupe (Prelude equivalent)
MX-05 => Piston Sports Sedan (Japan only)

Here are there other cars after the GLC (good little car, real name seriously!)

Sedans and Wagons:
808 => Old wagon
323 => 2 Door
626 => 4 Door
929 => 4 Door

Cars that dont fit all started in 90's after Ford became more dominant :

MPV => Multipurpose vehicle, multipassenger vehicle
Mazda 6 => Assumed it was cross between MX6 and 626
Millenia=> Lowest of 3 luxury cars Mazda was developing with 250 mil invested and scraped just produceing the Millenia
Protege => Have no clue to other names

If anyone know that Mazda numbers for the other cars post them.

Oh, heres one:

Japanese love Speed Racer, original Jap cartoon.

Remember Racer X, the mysterious one....

I wouldn't call the RX-4 or RX-5 sporty cars.... :) The MX-6 either for that matter.... it was more of a luxocoupe than a performance car... if you wanted a performance "6" chassis you got a Probe, which had a better suspension for handling. The MX-6 was a much softer, squishier car. Rode nice but it was... wallowy. Probe rode like a go-kart on granite tires but it was very crisp feeling when you put the screws to it.

Edit - come to think of it, the same goes for the Escort and Protege in the years when they shared the same chassis. Escort felt very at home to drive hard, Protege made you feel like you were doing something the car didn't really want you to be doing.

I personally think Mazda changed numbering schemes along the way. The MX-3 is a coupe 3-chassis, the MX-6 is a coupe 6-chassis. The RX-3 was a rotary powered 808, the RX-2 as a 606 (i think and I will probably be corrected!), the RX-5 Cosmo was a 121. In other words the "RX" number had nothing to do with the chassis' normal model number, while today it does. This is why the rotary miata due out after the RX-7 will in all probability be called the RX-5, it'll be a "5" just like the MX-5.

RX = Rotary seX....I wish....

Do you happen to have anything logical or intelligent to add to this conversation? No... didn't think so...

in the words of REVHEAD:

I thought it stood for eXplodes :)

Later
Randy

LOL

I thought the GLC was great little car, not "good"?