lone_wolf025

The whole point of the 16x in the first place is to make more bang for the buck. The rotary engine will never go away so long as Mazda is still in business. It may not necessarily be the same engine we're used to seeing and may not run on gasoline, but 15 years from now there will still be rotarys on the market.

digitalSniperX1

I'm afraid more bang for the buck can be found in cars at prices competitive with the RX8, providing better acceleration and doing it more efficiently. They are available now.

You may not think they are competitive, but the buying public does, have and will.

Most RX-8 owners don't have the passion for the rotary engine that you have. Most don't modify them for track use as members do here. There are those at Mazda who do, and perhaps that's why the car is still available today, having weathered many issues (from what I've read here).

I don't know the technical feasibility of it, but the best chance for the rotary engine's survival if current fuel prices are sustained, or get worse, is improved efficiency; unless of course they figure out how to make them for much less money with no other sacrifices.

I'm betting that, and consistent with for example the use of 5W-20 to ever so slightly improve EPA ratings, technical issues are a limiting factor.

Hoever, if Mazda is successful making significant improvements in this area, and they are competitive with other technologies, then it'll be around

Of course this is my opinion. But the reality of it is at current production volumes, a new design would probably be a money loser at the prices dealers are getting for them.

Unless Mazda considers the RX-8 a product they'll spend money on to further and maintain the Zoom-Zoom marketing strategy, other economic factors might dictate discontinuing rotary engine car production.

robrecht

If the rotary has a future, I think it would be wiser for Mazda to focus on the 2-seater rotary sports car. Here the advantages of the rotary can be most highlighted (light weight, low rear placement, high reving performance) and the disadvantage (poor fuel economy) is least important. There's a definite segment of rotorheads that has never warmed to the 4-seater RX-8 compromise.

j_tso

I concur. When the first RX-7 came out, some Mazda marketer said they've analyzed the rotary's attributes and concluded a 2 seater sports car is the best vehicle for it. Also, this came after 4 seater rotary cars, RX-3,-4, and -5, were labeled gas guzzlers. Vibration free revs is the only positive feature in a commuter car.

dillsrotary

This is incorrect, mazda stated several times in the past few months that the rotary engine will evolve into another generation in the next 4 years. Though gas is rising, there will always be a market (though maybe not a profit) for sport cars.

Red Devil

I could cut and paste that, and it would read exactly like everything else that has been said 30+ years...

Sephiroth

You opinion is wrong...mazda has already committed to a new design of the rotary, the 16X. The rotary is not going anywhere.

j_tso

The Wankel is like Apple Computer. lol

champi0n

iTrader: (1)

Rotary engines will just become hybrid engines when the new fuel laws come into effect.

based on looks and performance i wouldnt buy that car in the article... i'd just turbo my current 8. If they went back to rx7 that would give me another reason not to buy it.... the rx7's were awesome in the later years... they'd be fools to destroy the rx7 with this new design.

And considering the DRASTIC visual style of this car... its not going to be the next gen rx8... the marginally changed from the 1st gen to 2nd gen rx8...

if anything this wont even be close to the 2011 rotary installment from mazda.

superglue

Are you saying my Mac gets bad mileage? :p

ASH8

Well my 2 cents on the fuel thing, I worked and live through the last oil crisis in the 70's, that changed Mazda's habit of marketing the same model with a rotary engine (929,RX-4), they later brought out the RX-7 sports.

IMO that is how it will survive, ONLY, in a unique configuration like the RX-8, but, how many times can you configure a unique design?

Fuel consumption has always been an issue with the rotary, Mazda also over the years have said they have improved economy but realistically it really only has been very marginal.

I want to see the rotary survive.

Until Hybrids are accepted where will be the marketing plan for a new one...the 09-RX-8 will determine the rotaries future production, so far the ridiculously high oil prices have not helped any manufacturer of gas guzzlers.

With the doubling of retail fuels in 7 years do you really think Nissan, GM would have given the green light to their "super cars".

Phantom Menace

There's a pretty big difference between 200 and 250bhp.

MP3Guy

Correct- as reported in Wired:

Mazda says it will cut the fuel consumption of its cars 30 percent by 2015 in a sweeping campaign that will see the automaker replace almost every engine in its lineup, shave at least 220 pounds from every car it builds and continue developing its hydrogen hybrid.
The announcement comes as the entire industry is reeling from plummeting sales brought on skyrocketing fuel prices. Automakers are ditching their SUVs and trucks in favor of smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles and Mazda has outlined what it calls "a holistic approach" to reducing the fuel consumption.
The push begins with next year's models.
The company says it will introduce a proprietary Smart Idle Stop System in "one of its cars" next year. The system stops the engine at idle, then restarts it by forcing fuel directly into the cylinder and igniting it to start the car - a procedure Mazda says is quieter and improved fuel economy as much as 8 percent. The automaker also plans to introduce an E-85 "flex fuel" engine in North America next year.
A more efficient rotary engine is slated for late 2010, and the following year will see Mazda begin rolling out direct-injection turbodiesel engines and gasoline engines with direct injection spark ignition. The company says the gas engines will produce 15 to 20 percent more power and 20 percent better fuel economy than anything it currently offers. All of these engines will be put in cars that will use thinner high-strength steel and lighter suspension components to cut weight by at least 100 kilograms.
Mazda also plans to maintain its focus on hydrogen internal combustion engines, arguing - as does BMW - the technology offers several advantages over the fuel cell vehicles Honda, General Motors and just about everyone else in the industry are pushing. "I have a big question (regarding) whether fuel-cell cars can really can come into wide use," Seita Kanai, Mazda's head of R&D, said recently.
Earlier this month, the Japanese government granted Mazda approval to begin testing its Mazda5 Hydrogen RE Hybrid on public roads. The the company plans to make it available for commercial lease in Japan within the next year.
Photo by Mazda.

motor

hum...2010/2011 for new rotary engine. might have to check that one out, til then my 07 auto will do just fine. of course if they offer a 'auto shut off' mode while at traffic lights they will need to add a 'temp check' setting for the rotary else a 'it be flooded' issue might result. will be interesting to see what they can do to make it get...say a real 20 or 22 mpg....in city driving.

a two door instead of four, with two seats only?? wonder if that layout, with assoicated weight savings, would allow the mpg to improve enough...along with the 2010 newer rotary engine?

will be fun to see what develops. some sort of small battery pack or generator to create power (like what gm did) would seem like a solution if tossed into the engine bay (well maybe not the battery pack item).

robrecht

Absolutely. Light-weight 2-seat coupe is the ideal application for the rotary. As much as I love my 8, it is a shadow of the RX-7.

delhi

The sale of the RX-8 in RoW contradicts what DigitalsniperX opinion. Those countries' gas prices are more expensive. Yet RX-8s never sold better there.
I know this is tought for Americans to stomach, but there is the world does not end after New York and California coasts.

VelocityRed-8

hahah all I reall want is a real DSG (dual clutch tranny!)

RotoRocket

iTrader: (1)

Gas will come down again. Count on it.

Drive4Sport

They keep killing it even worse.!!!

lilturbododge

lol its the 7 11 lol

rotarygod

If you ditched the 4.44:1 (and now 4.77:1) rear end and installed a real world (as funny as that sounds!) 4.10:1 rear end, and the car got lighter by 400 lbs as the RX-7's were, you could still maintain high performance but also get mileage topping 20 in the city all day every day with a rotary. If you installed a Renesis in an RX-7, you'd get it now. If they brought out a new RX-7 that weighed near what the old ones weighed, and it's doable, and the new 16X is in fact more fuel efficient, we'd see RX-7's that out perform all previous ones and that get economy in the 20's in the city topping 30 on the highway. I don't see what the problem would be. There is always a market for sports cars and that's what the rotary should stay in. I hate to say it but Mazda's hydrogen rotary attempts are short term and futile. Hydrogen is going to go down in history as a fad due to it's inefficiency to make and it's inefficiency in terms of a fuel. Don't look to hydrogen to keep the rotary alive. Look to better technology. Ultimately it will survive as a generator in a series hybrid as ultimately all cars will be series hybrids.

robrecht

Hate to say it? Come on, you love to say it. Hydrogen sucks. Unless someone figures out how to make a hydrogen strainer. Pour in one glass of water, get out two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Yeah, that's the ticket. Or just go at night.

Rote8

Methanol powered?
Who wants Ethanol; who ever heard of nitro-ethanol.....

superglue

Give me some plutonium, uranium, a rubber band, and paper clip. I'll see what I can do.

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

lawl you forgot the superglue... hahahah