TALAN7

What if Ford built a car off the Rx8 chassis and called it the Probe. Would you be interested in it. If so, what kind of engine? Piston or Rotary?

Old Rotor

the Mazda 4cyl that has 500HP!!!


http://rotarynews.com/node/view/879

expo1

Rotary, Then there might be greater aftermarket support for this car.

Old Rotor

Thats a good idea.

NoTears316

I agree with this, but that would be the only reason. Otherwise, I would not want to see it.

Keef

no, Ford is too dumb to understand a rotary engine... If they want to make a sports car out of it, then let them do the only thing they know

"Der der der, let's put a V8 in it..."

Then apply a fat rear end with a big FORD circle to create a 50/50, 4,000LB that would run a 0-60 in 28 hours

NoTears316

um... Ford owns Mazda.

WantedTwo

iTrader: (4)

ford owns 1/3 of mazda, so speaking in that logic, I own wal mart...

RX8SaxMan

You own 1/3 of Wal-Mart? You must be really f-ing rich.

NoTears316

Your logic fails

Razz1

It all depends upon perception.

Live long and prosper.

Napboy

My car before the RX8 was a '93 Probe GT. I loved that car and it was reliable as hell for me. I still see them on the road and get a lump in my throat.

Design1stCode2nd

Its duplication and threre isn't a need for it. Ford's performance car is teh Mustang in all ts iterations. If someone puts a good turbo four in the RX8 it would be a powerhouse except for a bit more weight. Do you honestly think a 300+hp and 3200lbs would not be good? (figuring the 4 would add about that much with associated plumbing.

WhiteDealershipRice

Making it a Ford with something other than a rotary engine would negate most of the things that make the RX-8 a great car. adding a Turbo L4 (or even worse a V6, or, the horror, a V8 ) would make the car nose heavy, rob it of it's low polar moment, and take away the wonderfull exhaust note it has. Ford would also replace our sharp feeling electric power steering, with their discustingly over assisted hydraulic unit, and (as a cost cutting measure)replace the carbon driveshaft with a heavy steel unit. And although they have been moving in the right direction in the looks department... the new Mustang is the only model that I would say looks "right" on their current iteration. Their design department still has a lot of work to do.

BTW, the old Probe did look somewhat good, because it was really an MX-6 underneath.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

That was one of the reasons I suggested to my son and he later purchaced a 94 Probe SE a couple of years ago. It's been a good car for him.

Ericok

Putting a rotary engine in Ford's lineup would hurt their Corporate Average Fuel Economy.

andone

yeah that might be true, though is that part of ford not the engineering part, but the ones that hold stocks from other companies....
so technically mazda is still its own company - has its own ideas, cars .....
its just 'owned' by ford...

if ford came out with such a car - in my opinion that would be a very stupid thing to do. then those two companies would compete each other even though they are owned by one !?
doesnt make sense to me.

i could imagine though that if ford would help mazda to further develop the rotary for better stats (such as mpg i.e.) we could expect a lot new stuff out of the rotary.

also i got to say that right now ford does have more important things to worry about. talking about number of sold cars going down and so on.... they first should spend money on getting their own cars to the future (like less gas consumption, alternative systems (like h2 and so on...))

sry for my english :D

so from me: Big NO NO to such a car.

refugeefrompistons

currently, ford is competing with mazda at some level. With the ranger and the b2000 aimed at the same market due to its similar design and same with the tribute and escape. These cars share the ford technical parts and design. Where the two companies separate is hard to tell. Certainly Mazda has been the more sporty of the two and developing more interesting innovations with the rotary but FORD HAS NO PURPOSE IN THE ROTARY DEPARTMENT.

Most companies still loathe the engine because the lack of research, only Mazda has done enough significant work to develop the rx7 and rx8. Personally i would love to see a piston rx8, juss to c how it would b received by the public. Preferably a I4 instead of a v8 but u cant deny the fact that ford has been making decent, if amazing sports cars in the recent years (Ford Gt, Cobra... too fat though).

Ford is very unlikely to revive the probe though, it has a significant portion of the sports car market with the mustang. And also they in the financial ****

DaveCM203

I doubt Ford would do it. Using a rotory would steal thunder from Mazda. Also for it to sell as a Ford it would have to make a lot more power than it does now, or cost a lot less than the Mustang. Most Ford buyers care more about numbers than they do actual performance.

mkaresh

Never considered this before. GM would try to sell a version as a Saab, without a doubt. But as a Ford? Bit much of a stretch. Too exotic. And too hard to make money on. Mazda must lose a ton on each one they sell: unique engine, unique platform, price under thirty...

Ericok

Ford doesn't "own" Mazda just like you can't own anything by only having 1/3 of it. Ford has a "controlling interest" in Mazda because most of the remaining 2/3 of Mazda's stock that Ford doesn't own is either not voted or is split so that Ford carries a majority in making decisions. For example: if the remaining 2/3 of the stockholders split evenly on a decision, Ford ends up with 2/3 on it's side (the 1/3 it owns plus 1/3 from the other shareholders). Ford only needs 17% of the other shares to get over 50% of the vote. Both companies have probably decided that it's in their interests to operate this way.

mkaresh

It's a bit more formal than this: by Japanese law 33% is a controlling interest. The firms did not decide this, the Japanese government did, for all Japanese publicly traded corporations.

Ericok

Well, that does make things a lot easier doesn't it.

Jp7

trust me that would NEVER happen. Ford and Mazda dont really have anything to do with eachother anymore....

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Exactly my case (well, still not exactly because my PGT was a 94)