s13lover

Okay, so this is a month old but I didn't see it posted yet.

http://www.whatcar.co.uk/News_Article.asp?NA_ID=212232

RXE16T

There seems to be a lot of hype flying around at the moment about the new RX7..... uncertain whether it was a rumour started by one magazine which led to all the other mags jumping on the bandwagon as well.

mikeb

interesting

I still find it hard to believe

RXE16T

Ditto.

zoom44

well if Mr. Bakaj said it than it means they are actually working on a car. in fact it probably means they are near to showing it to the press.

PaulieWalnuts

This already may be old news but I just got the new Car & Driver today and in the Japan Dumps 276hp Pact section it says Mazda will introduce a 300HP two-seat RX-7.

Aoshi Shinomori

Yea, i just got mine today today, read that article about 20 minutes ago and was going to post about it. Very interesting, could be promising. I'd love to see a new 7 :D

BaronVonBigmeat

Just stick the RX-8 engine/transmission (with lighter flywheel as standard equipment) in a hardtop next-gen miata, give it a more aggressive looking front end, and there's your RX-7. Forget the turbo, just ditch some weight and keep everything simple.

brillo

Thank you.

I want a 2 seat / 2 door 8 that weighs about 300lb less with our same engine, maybe tweaked a little. That would be a scary quick car, with good economy and awesome handling.

If they want to release a turbo/SC for the car as a kit, great, but making it lighter will go along way to making it faster

DreRX8

Just pick up where the FD left off in Japan. The '99 spec models remedied the cooling issues that plagued the US spec cars and they also had 280HP.

markd

Good economy? Please explain--that's two things I could never use in the same sentence: economical and RX-8 :p

With all this talk about a new 7, I'm confused b/c I thought just a few months ago we were discussing the fact that Mazda said they were indefinitely scrapping the new RX-7 idea in order to divert their resources to the RX-8. I guess they bluffed?

foxman

IF this happens, it will be interesting to see what they can do with the Renesis. With another vehicle to support this could be a boon for the aftermarket and us!

DreRX8

Exactly--with parts shared with the RX8 then the RX7 may have proven an economical proposition

alphapenguin

At the bottom of the article, why does it say the MX-5 "could" be next? they already have one... Unless I am missing something,

shelleys_man_06

No factory FI-rotaries please. The best way to make power, plus some low-end torque is to increase displacement. Sounds kind of corny, but remember the FD? My suggestion for Mazda is to use a 1.6 liter, 2-rotor engine. It shouldn't weigh much more than the current 13B. Plus, you'll reach peak torque at a lower RPM, which is what these cars need on the street.

DreRX8

Actually the FD's fault lied in poor cooling design. When my FD flooded (literally) it had 82,000 miles on stock block and turbos and was still running strong. Turbos are consumable anyway and with time all turbochargers needed replacement/rebuilding. My suggestion is for Mazda to relegate Mazdaspeed RX8 or RX7 to FI and give the baseline engines stouter engines.

shelleys_man_06

I remember the FD's engine bay being a rat's nest of hoses and wires. It was pretty damn ugly. I'm sure you know this first-hand. I like the Renesis' engine layout. It's very clean, and many of the parts are pretty accessible, not to mention identifiable. I hoeld your point of the FD's inadequate cooling system. IMO, everything was downsized to make the RX-7 as light as possible. Mazda made a huge mistake in compromising reliability for weight savings.

I don't think the average consumer would want the trouble of replacing turbo(s). I'd rather have it the owner have to come in only for fluid changes, tire rotatations, or any other basic work when he/she comes in. I don't think it would be in Mazda's best interest if they caused an inconvenience with customers.

RX-Hachi

But the TT 13b wouldn't meet today's emissions standards and gets worse fuel economy than the RENESIS.

The 3rd gen RX-7 is a tough act to follow. Not only has the bar been raised performance wise, but they must make it as beautiful to look at, and much much more reliable if it's going to succeed. I still wonder if the market is really big enough for an RX-8 & RX-7.

It's also interesting that the article stated that the RX-7 was rated at 237hp in the UK, the US & Japan spec cars were 255 hp (prior to JDM '99 Y-series 280hp version). The UK's hp ratings are down for all the vehicles, including the new Mazdaspeed 6. And we thought our US emission laws were bad (for performance anyway)...

DreRX8

Yeah those vacuum hoses were a 'wossness' in the FD engine bay--the driving experience was unparalled though. Hopefully the packaging of the RX8 has caused many lessons to be learned. Turbos have become more efficient since the 3rd gen--the next RX7 could use a single turbo which would eliminate the complexity of all of those vacuum lines/hoses (which is one reason why single turbo conversions are popular amongst FD owners). Performance aside, I'd like to see them top the design of the FD--that'll be a feat.

foxman

Here is another article that mentions the 1.6L

http://motoring.nzoom.com/motoring_d...88-389,00.html

s13lover

If that article is ture, I wonder what is ment by the claim "In the footsteps of the 1978 original, it will be a sleek, lightweight two-seater." Does that mean that the new car will not only boast more hp, but also be smaller and cheaper than the RX-8? If so the sales would be great, but then again there really isn't any room to squeeze in a sports car model between the Miata and RX-8 in terms of price without having a good deal of overlap.

shaolin

Honestly, I think if Mazda DOES release an RX-7, it will probably be a heavily tuned renesis in a lightweight RX-8 based chassis, thus puting it into supercar territory. I have a hunch they're going to release this car to compete with M3, Corvette, and Posche.

I'd imagine a 300+ RX-7....probably costing at least 40K. It wouldn't make sense to make it too similar in design and cost as an RX-8, as the sales would cannabalize.

Don't forget Nissan is releasing their GT-R soon, and Toyota has some new super car concept supposedly going to make it's debut as well. Honda, still has their NSX, so it's only the obvious choice for Mazda...

By the way, that article says that it's been "a decade since an RX-7 rolled off production." That statemtent alone makes me question the source. The last RX-7 rolled off the assembly line in 2002 I think it was June of 2002. There was a big ceremony and the CEO was in tears.

shelleys_man_06

I think it would be very risky for Mazda to release another RX-7, let alone a 3rd sports car into the fray. Like s13lover said, where would the new RX-7 fall under in terms of pricing, and who would actually buy one, other than hardcore rotary fanatics who have money? Plus, there's a concern with the upcoming U.S. emissions standards. Rotary engines, though cleaner than their predecessors, are still pretty dirty compared to its piston counterparts. The rotary's design has the shortfall of how to lubricate the engine. So far, I've only seen mixing oil, air and fuel in the combustion chamber, which I believe really hurts overall thermal, and fuel efficiency. If someone can think of a better way, then please tell me. If there is a method that already exists that I haven't seen yet, oops.

One way or another, I still don't see a new RX-7 in the horizon. What would happen to the RX-8? I could be wrong. I thought the Rockets were going to lose tonight.

DreRX8

LOL--Already shelleys man

PaulieWalnuts

If they released an RX-7, sales of the RX-8 would definitely drop but how much is hard to say. How many people here would have bought an RX-7 instead of an RX-8 if they both existed? I'd say quite a few. But at the same time, with much of the platform being shared between an 8 and 7, they may still be profitable enough to justify their existance by selling 30,000 or 40,000 units a year combined.

Who is buying 350Zs? Hardcore Z people or a mix of people?