https://www.yahoo.com/autos/mazda-rx...134315041.html

 

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Hard disagree. Emissions are the reasons all these fun cars no longer exist.

 

"rx7 successor" like the rx8 just didn't happen lol

 

I am convinced that there will never be another RX car.

Thankfully, Mazda continues to make Miatas / MX5s.

 

I disagree with your not agreeing that it could be possible.

There were some SAE articles a few years back that said otherwise. By running a small Wankel engine at constant, relatively high, RPM, as it would be used in a generator, emissions could be acceptable and the light weight/HP was a big advantage.

 

I think we're saying different things. You're saying it can reduce emissions and provide path forward through all the regulatory mess while maintaining some semblance of being a "sports car".

I'm saying that if the regulatory mess wasn't there, we wouldn't have to accept such compromises. The only car that even comes close to the purity of what we used to call a fun car, is the Miata. Light weight, cheap, fun. Everything else is bloated, heavy, impossible to work on without a degree, complicated, unreliable and bland.

 

Yup. I get it.

 

I watched a tube video on this a few months ago. I was curious what people thought. I guess it hadn't been discussed yet.

I really hope that there is a new two rotor engine in the works that tackles the emissions nightmare with modern tech. I think aftermarket sales of a system like that would sell well, if the price was right. The REW's are obviously selling well enough to be in production, or were in production not long ago so, there probably isn't a ton of interest to reinvent the wheel? I will keep my fingers crossed for some ground breaking tech that puts all other engine builders on notice. The secondary market would correct itself and in time recover to serve us just as well as it does now.

Thanks everyone for keeping the rotary spirit alive. And as well....., only half kidding.... This stuff is expensive now with all of the eyes on the rotary engine and fewer parts to go around.

Oh... I will begrudginly admit that the Miata's are great cars, with MODS.

 

The (original) Tesla Roadster proved that it is possible to build a fun sportscar within the limits of electric drive. Given the age of that car, it is now much more feasible of making one. It wont have the range of a modern EV, but it would kick *** with light weight, instant torque and great handing. I have no doubt that within the next 20 years we will have EVs that obliterate both the miata and rx on all "small fun sportscar" metrics except nostalgia and cancer risk.

Also, think the combustion engine will end up like mechanical watches. Most people will use a quartz movement, smart watch or even cell phone for this, but some people will gravitate towards the old tech, and some companies will make it. Tho as with mechanical watches, it will come at a premium.

 

I'm still very skeptical of Mazda bringing another rotary sports car to market, but for all the bad business case and corporate finance reasons, not the technical ones. Technically, the "Iconic SP" hybrid electric/rotary is feasible, could meet emissions and may even be a great sports car - but I don't think Mazda has the resources to produce them at the kind of price point that would result in market success or a profitable business case for themselves. The other rotary discussed in the article (rotary driving the wheels directly) is pure fiction - no way that thing would meet worldwide emissions standards.

 

Get a 2025 Mazda Rotary today! Mazda MX-30 R-EV Brings Back the Rotary, but Not Like You Imagined (caranddriver.com)

 

"I'm still very skeptical of Mazda bringing another rotary sports car to market, but for all the bad business case and corporate finance reasons, not the technical ones. Technically, the "Iconic SP" hybrid electric/rotary is feasible, could meet emissions and may even be a great sports car - but I don't think Mazda has the resources to produce them at the kind of price point that would result in market success or a profitable business case for themselves. The other rotary discussed in the article (rotary driving the wheels directly) is pure fiction - no way that thing would meet worldwide emissions standards."

totally agree w all of this... of course Mazda, and other car companies, are totally geared to fight the last war. there is good reason to believe that the emission standards are heading back to sanity in the USA. burdening consumers by removing the last fraction of emissions is a loser from all angles. whether the rest of the globe figures this out is speculative.

for me the rotary died w the disappearance of the peripheral exhaust port. the 13BREW may be the top tick.

 

Mazda has been hyping a rotary comeback for nearly a decade now.
I was ready to buy one then and still am now.
I am not holding my breath.
If one does materialize, I doubt it'll be what we imagine it to be.
I wouldn't even mind an electric hybrid for emissions and low-end torque.
But if it's going to be another sub 200-rwhp compromise, it won't do.
I loved my RX-8, but it always yearned for more.
I'm just going to enjoy my FD for now and keep it alive as long as possible.

 

 

Even if (haha!) this should materialize, nobody who has owned an RX-7/8 will be satisfied. Guaranteed to be some hybrid contraption where the rotary engine doesn't actually propel the car. Then there's the "low volume" aspect that the dealers will surely ruin with mark-ups and other shenanigans. Mazda will wonder why sales were abysmal, and the whole thing will be another chapter in Mazda's tragedy book. Hagerty will post a video of why it failed.
I'd love for it to be a true successor to our beloved rotary-powered sports cars, but we have to be realistic. All will be sacrificed at the alter of climate change.

 

My hopes are high, but my expectations are low. I feel like Mazda has been teasing this for as long as I've been into Rotaries. The model they had shown off at the Tokyo auto show did look great though at least.

 

"Guaranteed to be some hybrid contraption where the rotary engine doesn't actually propel the car. Then there's the "low volume" aspect that the dealers will surely ruin with mark-ups and other shenanigans. Mazda will wonder why sales were abysmal, and the whole thing will be another chapter in Mazda's tragedy book. Hagerty will post a video of why it failed."

a highly probable outcome should something actually be offered.

the market will know fake. fake is a rotary extender. the Miata has sold 400,000+ units because it is an honest car. the RX8 was a failure due to it's sideport exhaust making it a fake rotary. i doubt that Mazda still possesses the boldness to make an honest RX7.

 

I didn't buy my RX7 because of the drivetrain, I bought because it was fun to drive and looked good. If the new RX9 (or whatever) is fun to drive with a series hybrid, and looks good, I'll try to buy it. Even the recent commuter cars from Mazda like the Mazda6 or Mazda3 are fun to drive, I trust their engineers can do a good job packaging a lightweight rotary engine plus motor(s) and batteries. Personally I hope it will work as a plugin hybrid, to drive a few miles without burning fuel or running the engine at all. I'd love to back into the garage without exhaust fumes. I think a rotary engine makes good sense as a range extender, it can have a peaky powerband and nobody will mind. It might sound funny if the range-extender engine runs at constant RPM like a generator or a side-by-side with CVT, but I think I might get used to how it sounds if the car is quick and agile and good-looking,

 

The current ND Mx5 has sold out 9 years running (it is the only fun car you can buy right now). Mazda only makes about 11,000 a year, and supply is short.
its pretty close to being built to order.

it seems like they could expand on that.
they also have the pieces, they have a new RWD platform, the new rotary engine, the styling.

 

They should stick their new inline 6 in that

 

Rumor is that its going in the new Supra, or Celica or something

 

I read that it will use the Mazda 6 cylinder engine.

 

I think the RX8 failed for a variety of things but not necessarily this. I appreciate the improvements the side exhaust brought to the engine at least NA.
What I think contributed to the RX8 demise was that we got a first glimpse of the side rotary on the RX-01 concept, which was small and lightweight. While the end product was a 4ish door, 4 passenger grand torurer of 3k+ lbs with a promised 250hp but in reality closer to 220hp.
The overstated hp was a bad start, then the reliability issues and by the time they did the S2 with better oil injection it was too late.
It shared some underpinnings with the NC Miata, now, had they offered a 2 door 2 seater coupe closer to Miata size and weight with a properly advertised 220hp Renesis with the proper oil injection setup from the start the story would've been quite different.

 

I think people would have tolerated the RX8 reliability if it accelerated better than the FD and arrived with better styling in 2004. I forget how it was priced against other similar-sized cars like WRXs or Mustangs or BMW 3-Series, but all of those would beat it in a straight line and the first version of the RX8 styling wasn't very good IMHO. For example, a lot of people put up with the weird screens and just-OK handling in Teslas because they are really quick from 0-60mph. Similar story for BMW or Audi cars, they aren't known to be especially reliable but most of them are quick and good looking.

 

+1 the Rx-01 was 220hp and 2200lbs, which would have been life changing. but the Rx8 is 3000lbs and 230hp, so its ok. the FD is the best car ever for feeling fast, so its hard to follow that up with something that doesn't really feel that fast, even though its actually ok. Mazda also had the side port engine at ~210hp in an NA Miata (which would be a fun project car), starting in like 1992 or 1993, and if you went to the factory and they would toss you the keys. the Rx8 book gives you the impression that at 210-220hp the side port engine was as reliable as any other Rotary. whatever they did to get 230hp, it seems to have not helped. its also Mazda, so the engine development group at the time was one guy.

there was an Rx8 book too and the story of the thing is really kind of tortured. a couple of highlights; in 1999, the Ford guy running Mazda realized he had no new product in the pipeline, and in 2001 or 2, they showed the prototype, and people got angry and then sketched what it should look like on a napkin...

so the Rx8 is star crossed at best, but they sold 266,000 of them, which is pretty good