New RX7?
02-14-09, 08:24 PM
#5
Pistons are gay
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Still ... The concept looks retarded. To keep up to the other generations has to have pop ups, and resemble the fd but even more aggressive, as that's how all the other gens progressed.
02-15-09, 12:03 AM
#7
My 7 is my girlfriend.
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270 HP, 2,640 pounds. Can you say power to weight ratio. YEAH BABY!! I always thought they should just use the Miata chassis in hardtop guise, and stuff a rotary into it. Light, nimble and quick as hell. Although I do wish they would go for more classic styling instead of trying to be so futuristic. Classic style always impresses.
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02-15-09, 02:50 AM
#12
I don't think Mazda is going to scrap the rotary (clearly they are developing the 16X). Rotaries are expensive to build so it only makes sense that Mazda use them in more than one vehicle.
I'm surprise they are designing an all new chassis (for costs reasons). I'm wondering if this means an all new modular platform to be shared with other vehicles or a one off specifically for the RX7? If it's a one off, I could see the price of the next gen skyrocket. It'll likely be more than an RX8. I could see the next gen costing $50k+/
I'm surprise they are designing an all new chassis (for costs reasons). I'm wondering if this means an all new modular platform to be shared with other vehicles or a one off specifically for the RX7? If it's a one off, I could see the price of the next gen skyrocket. It'll likely be more than an RX8. I could see the next gen costing $50k+/
.
02-15-09, 01:15 PM
#17
Good news, hopefully the bad economy, and car market in particular, doesn't kill these projects.
As far as pop-ups - even before pedestrian safety requirements killed them, aero requirements had - simply put, they lend themselves to good aero design when retracted, which then goes to hell when they're up. When you can get a comparable hood/fender/bumper contour with flushed in projectors (a la C6 Vette, for example), the added complexity of the mechanism and bad aero in the up position makes pop-ups obsolete.
As far as pop-ups - even before pedestrian safety requirements killed them, aero requirements had - simply put, they lend themselves to good aero design when retracted, which then goes to hell when they're up. When you can get a comparable hood/fender/bumper contour with flushed in projectors (a la C6 Vette, for example), the added complexity of the mechanism and bad aero in the up position makes pop-ups obsolete.
02-15-09, 10:36 PM
#18
Eats, Sleeps, Dreams Rotary
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Let's think, there's an unprecedented downturn in the auto industry. Mazda hardly sells any RX-8s, are they really going to put a varient of this ugly conception photo on the market?
Quote from C&D: "The six-year-old Mazda RX-8 languishes through 2008 with sales the Hubble telescope wouldn’t register: just 2591 units through the end of August."
Does anyone know what was the last sports car Mazda introduced during a recession/aftermath of a ression and how were its sales? ;p
Honestly, I don't want to be pessimistic, but I can't this this happening.
Quote from C&D: "The six-year-old Mazda RX-8 languishes through 2008 with sales the Hubble telescope wouldn’t register: just 2591 units through the end of August."
Does anyone know what was the last sports car Mazda introduced during a recession/aftermath of a ression and how were its sales? ;p
Honestly, I don't want to be pessimistic, but I can't this this happening.
02-16-09, 02:50 AM
#21
The thing with mazda I believe is that they've spent a ton of money on developing the Rotary engine throughout the years that they can't just toss the towel on it. Especially with this whole 16x engine that they've talked about, and have a model of already means the machinery is already kinda done for it and soon to go in production.
Also you have to remember that Mazda has Hydrogen powered rotary vehicles in Japan for testing. From the look of things like the new Honda FCX, things are going more and more hydrogen. We should all know how much easier it is to adapt a rotary engine to accept hydrogen then a conventional piston engine too. I even met up a guy locally that used to drag a Hydrogen 12a turbo and ran low 12's I believe he said. So we might be looking at a new engine, car, and fuel ...
Just food for thought
Also you have to remember that Mazda has Hydrogen powered rotary vehicles in Japan for testing. From the look of things like the new Honda FCX, things are going more and more hydrogen. We should all know how much easier it is to adapt a rotary engine to accept hydrogen then a conventional piston engine too. I even met up a guy locally that used to drag a Hydrogen 12a turbo and ran low 12's I believe he said. So we might be looking at a new engine, car, and fuel ...
Just food for thought
02-16-09, 08:40 AM
#22
Eats, Sleeps, Dreams Rotary
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Originally Posted by dj55b
...they've spent a ton of money on developing the Rotary engine throughout the years that they can't just toss the towel on it.
FD.
Based on the sales figures I quoted, currently the RX-8 is not financially viable in North America.
02-16-09, 09:02 AM
#23
wannabe racer
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if i had 2 cents to throw at it all, which i happen to have right here, id say that the thing that was the killer for the rx8 was the price an pure chubbiness of the thing. if mazda wants to create a successful new rx7 they oughta cut out the space age BS an focus on the things that made the original 7's so outstanding. they had adequate power to compete with the other cars of its day, and had superior handling to most of them as well, and it did this all at a really good price. it came light an nimble without a ton of cushy interior trim an flashy buttons an heavy electronics, it was just a well engineered car with a fairly timeless body design.
as you go through from the first 7s to the last they kept getting more beefy and complicated and more importantly expensive. throw out the rear seats.. its a waste of space, a waste of materials, and a useless increase in weight. make things like AC and power steering an option, as well as the 18 speaker ultra hifi super duper garunteed pussymagnet stereo, leather and other niceties. do you really need sat nav and a car that talks and a zillion electronic gizmos that usually fail in the end? not so much, make them, sure, but offer a car without all that crap. dont worry so much about a 5 star safety rating, people arent driving their kids in these things and 15 airbags is really kinda overkill. if mazda didnt try to compete with things like the veyron and r35 as far as luxury and electronics and focused on where i imagine the market for rx7s to be they would have little trouble selling new 7s. make them fast but not rediculously so, make them agile, make them fairly reliable, and make them affordable. if there was a choice between spending $90k on a GTR and say in the high $20k to low $30k for a fairly simple but incredibly fun straight up sports car i think itd be an easier sell. i looked at rx8s but at the 40 grand price they wanted it just seemed like way more car then i really wanted as far as luxury but less then what i wanted performance wise at a steeper price then id imagine paying.
guess it was 5 cents
how do i email this to mazda?
as you go through from the first 7s to the last they kept getting more beefy and complicated and more importantly expensive. throw out the rear seats.. its a waste of space, a waste of materials, and a useless increase in weight. make things like AC and power steering an option, as well as the 18 speaker ultra hifi super duper garunteed pussymagnet stereo, leather and other niceties. do you really need sat nav and a car that talks and a zillion electronic gizmos that usually fail in the end? not so much, make them, sure, but offer a car without all that crap. dont worry so much about a 5 star safety rating, people arent driving their kids in these things and 15 airbags is really kinda overkill. if mazda didnt try to compete with things like the veyron and r35 as far as luxury and electronics and focused on where i imagine the market for rx7s to be they would have little trouble selling new 7s. make them fast but not rediculously so, make them agile, make them fairly reliable, and make them affordable. if there was a choice between spending $90k on a GTR and say in the high $20k to low $30k for a fairly simple but incredibly fun straight up sports car i think itd be an easier sell. i looked at rx8s but at the 40 grand price they wanted it just seemed like way more car then i really wanted as far as luxury but less then what i wanted performance wise at a steeper price then id imagine paying.
guess it was 5 cents
how do i email this to mazda?
02-16-09, 07:34 PM
#24
^^The RX-8 isn't exactly bloated, or overly well appointed - it combines a great suspension with one of the lightest new cars on the road at ~2900lbs, about the same as the S2K. Really, only the Miata comes in as more of a flyweight amongst modern performance cars, hence why the RX-8 is still the car to beat in B-stock autocross ever since it was introduced, for example . Even most FWD compacts push north of 3000lbs anymore.
What's hurt the RX-8 most is probably poor mileage, coupled with being seriously down on power and torque compared to recent performance cars generally. Compare it with a Mustang GT, for example - the Mustang sells for thousands less initially, and costs less to fuel, despite weighing 600lbs more. Sure, the Mustang's interior looks crappy and plastic-y, like most domestics, but the handling, while still not nearly as nimble as an RX, has improved a lot, and it's enough to satisfy most drivers who aren't looking for the fastest corner. And it will flat run away from an RX-8 in a straight line. Piston engines have made great strides in the last decade or so, in both performance and economy; the Renesis has moved the right direction, but frankly, has not kept up.
Supposedly, the 16x is going to give both improved peak power and more torque for when you're not standing on the gas (most of the time for daily drivers), combined with better mileage - the extent to which it delivers both will probably determine the rotary's future at Mazda generally, and not just for a forthcoming RX-9 or 7 successor.
What's hurt the RX-8 most is probably poor mileage, coupled with being seriously down on power and torque compared to recent performance cars generally. Compare it with a Mustang GT, for example - the Mustang sells for thousands less initially, and costs less to fuel, despite weighing 600lbs more. Sure, the Mustang's interior looks crappy and plastic-y, like most domestics, but the handling, while still not nearly as nimble as an RX, has improved a lot, and it's enough to satisfy most drivers who aren't looking for the fastest corner. And it will flat run away from an RX-8 in a straight line. Piston engines have made great strides in the last decade or so, in both performance and economy; the Renesis has moved the right direction, but frankly, has not kept up.
Supposedly, the 16x is going to give both improved peak power and more torque for when you're not standing on the gas (most of the time for daily drivers), combined with better mileage - the extent to which it delivers both will probably determine the rotary's future at Mazda generally, and not just for a forthcoming RX-9 or 7 successor.
02-16-09, 07:42 PM
#25
Pistons are gay
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Let's think, there's an unprecedented downturn in the auto industry. Mazda hardly sells any RX-8s, are they really going to put a varient of this ugly conception photo on the market?
Quote from C&D: "The six-year-old Mazda RX-8 languishes through 2008 with sales the Hubble telescope wouldn’t register: just 2591 units through the end of August."
Does anyone know what was the last sports car Mazda introduced during a recession/aftermath of a ression and how were its sales? ;p
Honestly, I don't want to be pessimistic, but I can't this this happening.
Quote from C&D: "The six-year-old Mazda RX-8 languishes through 2008 with sales the Hubble telescope wouldn’t register: just 2591 units through the end of August."
Does anyone know what was the last sports car Mazda introduced during a recession/aftermath of a ression and how were its sales? ;p
Honestly, I don't want to be pessimistic, but I can't this this happening.