June 22nd, 2012 - The day the Rotary died....temporarily.

  • Thread starter Thread starter CodeRedR51
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But didn't they already have a replacement for the Renesis, 16x or whatever it was called?
 
So the RX8 marks the end of the Rotary... I guess its mainly a result of ever increasing fuel prices and the desire for super economical engines.
 
Robin.
So the RX8 marks the end of the Rotary... I guess its mainly a result of ever increasing fuel prices and the desire for super economical engines.
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It's the result of no one buying mazdas and the company having 4 straight $$$ losing years.
 
^^^ That.

They have the 16x Rotary which was supposed to be better in every way. Just haven't heard anything on it.
 
R1600Turbo
Renesis production has ended and there are currently no plans to revive it.
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I'm a loss for words....
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Fuel inefficient, unreliable, and low on torque made it pretty much obsolete. Until they find way to make it a legit contender to other ICU/electrical/hybrid engines, it deserves to die.
 
xNEVER-ONEx
Fuel inefficient, unreliable, and low on torque made it pretty much obsolete. Until they find way to make it a legit contender to other ICU/electrical/hybrid engines, it deserves to die.
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Booooooooo.

They are plenty reliable if you take care of them properly.
 
R1600Turbo
Booooooooo.

They are plenty reliable if you take care of them properly.
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Its pretty hard to find a used RX-8 that didn't have its motor replaced. Also, I'm assuming the motor was a big reason why RX-8 resale value is so low, especially for a Japanese car.
 
Azuremen
Still doesn't change that they have terrible fuel economy for their performance.

Like, joke terrible.
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But the engine does have its attractions. Light weight and high power (for that weight) being 2.

Just think. The rotary has had ~60 years of just Mazda improving it. How good would it be if it had over 110 years of every single car manufacturer throwing billions at it to make it more reliable and efficient. How efficient was a piston engine in the 1950's? 💡
 
eSZee
It's the result of no one buying mazdas and the company having 4 straight $$$ losing years.
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Yeah, that and them having terrible fuel economy, drinking oil and having pretty much no 3rd party garage able to fix them.

I would probably only buy one for the cool noise it makes, other than that there's not much attraction apart from the styling of the RX-8 which could be petrol if they wanted.
 
Robin.
Yeah, that and them having terrible fuel economy, drinking oil and having pretty much no 3rd party garage able to fix them.
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Mine has used 12 litres of oil in 20,000 miles. That's not drinking, that's sipping. Although it has to be said that the more you rev it, the more oil it uses.

And 3rd party garages, as long as they have rotary experience, are better at fixing them than Mazda are and, as there is a huge list of them on the OC forums, they're not tricky to find.
 
I'm guessing he meant a piston engine.

However, if the RX8 wasn't rotary then the styling would have to be changed with at least a higher nose. There's a directive that states a car has to have so much clearance (7cm?) in between the bonnet and the hard point of the engine to protect pedestrians. This is why newer cars tend to have a high nose. The RX8 gets away with a lower nose because the rotary is smaller, lower down and further back than a piston engine would be.
 
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Mmhh... didn't know about this. It's sad because of the (relative, I mean, one car) variety if brought to the automotive world. Regarding HfS's post, the engine seems well suited for alternative fuel use... or at least seems it could be given the proper development budget.

I'm no fan of the engine in particular, but it's always sad to see something as disfferent and daring as a completely different kind of engine die in the name of progress.
 
If I were honest, I thought engine production ended a few months ago with the RX8. (If I got the latter info right.)

As others have mentioned, it's not a mainstream motor and it has many practical/economic downsides but it does have much quirky exoticness to it which sort of 'forgives' it in my book.

I now hope Mazda will prosper and its wankel will return.

Zoom-zoom... :dopey:
 
The rotary shall live on, even if it is not in a Mazda :sly:
The M1 Abrams tank will soon gain a diesel/jet fuel burning rotary powered APU to replace 500 lbs of batteries. The APU is so the tank can shut down it's 1500 hp gas turbine when not moving, saving LOTS of fuel.

Anyway I will miss the Mazda rotary. Hopefully it makes a return with improvements to fuel economy, since that seems to be all the rage these days :sly:
 
Kind of sad to see it go I suppose. I recall as a child building a 1/8 replica Wankel rotary motor with my father. It had a clear plastic block so you could watch all the inside parts moving and red led's in the plugs for firing. Much to my mothers dismay it was around this time that I began dis-assembling all sorts of electrical and mechanical household devices :)
 
Rotaries are extremely well suited to APU jobs, being turbine smooth, quiet, and very efficient in their powerband, so I forsee a future with lots of need for the little Wankel as series-hybrid cars (ie: fisker karma) become the mainstay, which they will.

Mazda is fighting for it's life right now. Its astonishing to me that with what little money they have, they continue to innovate like they do. Mazda has some of the most forward thinking and persevering engineers in the industry, they always have.

The president of Mazda has stated that the rotary will return in 2013 as a 'range extender,' so we'll see...
 
Azuremen
Still doesn't change that they have terrible fuel economy for their performance.

Like, joke terrible.
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He was talking about Mazda in general, not the RX-8....

Robin.
Yeah, that and them having terrible fuel economy, drinking oil and having pretty much no 3rd party garage able to fix them.

I would probably only buy one for the cool noise it makes, other than that there's not much attraction apart from the styling of the RX-8 which could be petrol if they wanted.
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They are designed to burn oil.

And if you put a piston engine in any "RX" car, it wouldn't be "RX" anymore.
 
Eunos_Cosmo
The president of Mazda has stated that the rotary will return in 2013 as a 'range extender,' so we'll see...
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That would seem to be the best situation for the rotary. It does seem to prefer a situation where it can run at constant revs and as it's smooth, small and lightweight, it can be hidden in any number of places to extend the range of an electric car.
 

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