maxpesce

Given that the FD was never ment to sell more than abt 3000 units a year (us 93 sales figures include all of us 92&93 production and represent abt 75% of total world wide sales for thoes two years) and was Mazda's entry into the LIMITED PRODUCTION near SUPERCAR MARKET and it has LASTED LONGER than either of its direct compititors (300ZX tt and Supra MK4 tt) and has acheived CULT STATUS while still in production, it has been totally successfull. You have to remember that MAZDA made a DELIBERATE DESCISION to move the RX-7 upmarket to LIMITED PRODUCTION status and replace it in the MASS PRODUCTION market with the MIATA - YES THE MIATA replaced the NA RX-7 as Mazda's MASS MARKET SPORTS CAR.

mightyslash

not me

TURBOTIME

Threatned by the rx8 ? not really since its not a true two seat sports car. besides that all it will produce is a new generation of Rotary issues that Mazda service centers cant fix. The dealer support on rotary engines sucks . I cant see much of the hype on this car since the history for the dealer support on the rotary is horrible .If I was to buy a 40k car I would like to know if they can fix it first. The new RX8 owners best get to know us Rx7 folks if they ever need to have any work done on the RX8.With the state of the economy and the price of the RX8 I give it two years before the stop making them .

SleepR1

There's no comparison. I'm not interested that car. I do hope it sells well for the rotary engine's sake!

3rd Generation Rx7s will still reign supreme.

My R2

Not me I have a convertible

NOTA V6

Are you nuts?

Car of the year does not mean the car sells or makes a profit for the manufacturer. It's an advertisement.

The rotary was just getting over it's reputation as an unrealizable gas guzzling oil burner with sealing problems, then along came the almighty 3rd gen. Don't get me wrong. I love the third gen, but in no way, shape or form did it save Mazda from anything other than having a flagship that the masses would buy, like the 1st and 2nd gens were.

If the 3rd gen was never made, the rotary may very well have never left North America in the first place. A NA rotary family car would have been an option in the early nineties, and Mazda would have been able to keep it's profitability high enough to avoid all the trouble they have seen since the release of the 3rd gen. They pulled the 3rd gen because it wasn't worth dicking with the emissions retooling for 2k to 3k cars sold per year.

The piston engine has a 50+ year head start on the rotary, and is widely used because of that. If hydrogen power is ever used in production vehicles (if they can make the fuel cells stable enough) we will see which engine gets the bad reputation.

The 3rd gen is a beautiful high caliber high performance sportscar. No doubt about it. But It didn't save anything. It nearly killed the rotary though. Mazda knows this. Why do you think they are introducing a NA family car instead of another twin turbo two seater?

Got my money on a RX-8 already.

NOTA V6

Now I agree with everything else you said, but I resemble this comment.

You're mom's RX-8 will NEVER catch my RX-8. I guarantee it. And, depending on what the aftermarket offers, your FD might not either. >ducking flamage<

BlackR1

Where did you get the worldwide sales figures? I'd love to see how many were actually sold worldwide up till now.

Jconn posted a real interesting story about the on the RX8 in the Lounge https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=46394

After reading that, the new question can be--
"Does Ford feel threatened by the RX8"

I found their four door only stipulation rather interesting-- I'd like to think that Mazda wants to create a 2 door rotary sports car, but is facing an uphill corporate battle against Ford. The RX8's styling is distinctly 2-door...maybe Mazda engineers are trying to circumvent Ford's rules on rotary powered vehicles? I can dream can't I?

shaqhammer

Hey,
As long as it's a Rotary & a Mazda it's all good.
The RX-8 is not a pure sports car, it's a sports family car.
We'll be back soon!! The RX-7 will live again!!

enuttage

Well, for about 80 grand, you can still buy a Lotus Esprit . But only for a coupla more years. The Elise is coming!!! I hear starting at $38 Gs. Pretty sweet.

But the FD wasn't a wedge, that's what made it so damn sexy and that's why even though the Esprit is one of the fastest production cars in the world, it still looks like crap IMO...that and it'll kill you faster than military service in Chechnya if you don't know how to drive it.

Anyway, I agree with comments about the FD being a classic (wasn't the design borrowed from lotus? Irony). The RX-8 looks nice also, but the FD looks REALLY nice.

That's all of my off-topic, on-topic again nonsense.

-E

junt

I like the seats in the rx-8

nrolfes1

Miata took the market segment of the 1st and 2nd gen RX7. The 3rd gen was meant to be what it was...the legendary flagship supercar of Mazda. I think if it had sold 3000/year consistently it would have stayed. It was the drop to 500/year in 95 that killed it. If it had just managed to survive another year or two, i think the sport compact car revival would have saved it...all the kids who drooled about it when they first came out are finally able to afford one now, me being one of them. The problem with Mazda is image. They want to be the Japanese BMW but are seen as the Japanese VW. No one wants to pay 30,000+ for a Mazda RX8 or RX7. If it said Acura or Lexus people would pay easily. Thats why i love to humiliate Acuri, Lexi, and Beamers in a trail of oil-injected-apex-seal-burning-smoke! Cough, cough...
And in the words of D'Artangon in one of my favorite movies "The Man in the Iron Mask"...."If we must die...if WE must die, let it be like this!"
If the rotary had to die, I'm glad it went out on the note of a 3rd gen RX-7. Y'all complain about the reliability of the 3rd gen but that is the nature of race cars. The closer a production car is to being a ***** out race car, the more you are going to have to keep tabs on it. I think the extra responsibility of having to change the oil frequently and watch the temp gauge a little closer is more than worth the rotary rocket package that made the 3rd gen the best ever sports car ever. Why the best? because mazda is the only company that had the ***** big enough to make a true purists sports car and sell it for under 40 grand. There are other purist sports cars on the market, but they all cost $100K and go by the name of Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari. None of these cars are exactly known for their reliability. But people who can afford those can afford the monumental maintenance bills as well. Cheapass mazda customers get a world class performance car at a bargain and then start complaining when they have to actually wrench on it themselves to keep it running.
as for those who feel threatened by the rx8, maybe you should consider letting those rx8 owners beat you at the stoplight so they keep buying and pave the way for your 4th gen rx7.

Splinemodel

That's not what I've been told. The Mazda rep I talked to at the ****-poor Washington auto show said emphatically that there were experimentations with turbos, and that as far as he knew the sequential-twin was the one they tested it with.

Of course, building the custom piping and manifolds is the struggle here. Though I have access to major-league metal-working facilities and would be willing to give it a shot if I could get my hands on a 13B Renesis. I'd also need a fully programmable ECU.

SleepR1

photos were taken with a digital camera by my coworker, Christopher Mundy, '00 yello Acura NSX owner:

SleepR1

Picture Credit goes to Christopher Mundy

SleepR1

Picture Credit: Christopher Mundy

SleepR1

Christopher Mundy, Photographer

SleepR1

Christopher Mundy, Photographer

SleepR1

Christopher Mundy, Photographer