nycgps

iTrader: (1)

If you read the history/blue prints from the early days, you will know why most people drop Wankel Engine design. The biggest issue they had were the chatter marks and oil/fuel consumption. They know that with enough effort they will be able to figure it out. but the upper management doesn't want to take any risk (more like they dont want this to hurt their profit) and if piston works fine, why bother with other designs?

Mazda was thinking a little different, back then President Mr. Matsuda wants something to represent their brand, some brand image thing. and Rotary seems like a pretty interesting concept and if they can make it work, a lot of people will know Mazda. a lot of people called him nutz. Just like any explorer, ppl always call them nuts.

Aluminum Rotors will solve a lot of problems. but too bad the production cost would be too high.

MICHGoBlue

will or might?

Even with modern technology like direct fuel injection doesn't seem like it would propel it to where a piston engine producing 230 bhp would get as far as mpg.

Mazda's passion for rotary is awesome, admirable and refreshing. The economic consequences seem to be rather unfortunate. Maybe the other car companies did have the right idea on passing on the rotary concept.

Razz1

The piston engine has too many moving parts.

That is another design flaw.

If the piston engine was banned and outlawed, engineers would not design something so complicated from the ground up.

Eish

The piston engine has a design flaw as well (borrowing your own words). Combustion occurs at the top part of the engine so the bottom remains relatively cooler. Some way of distributing heat would be needed otherwise it will too suffer heat differential.

Furthermore, it contains many moving parts increasing the sm total of parts to replace due to wear and tear. Pistons, cylinders (relative to the piston), cam, valves, conrods, crank etc, etc.

The rotary has 6. Genius.

Eish

Damn, you beat me to it.

New Yorker

Are you a car enthusiast - or an accountant? As car afficianados, our job is to want the best, most interesting, most forward-thinking, most superior products out there. Let the corporate bean counters kill the rotary engine, BetaMax, and any other smarter, more progressive technology. That's their job – not ours.

DarkBrew

Every engine is a collection of compromises...
in fact, that's what engineering is all about: Managing the compromises.

Give me an RX-5 with a nice MS package...

Oh... forgive me... I'm drinking...

Darkproducer

actually its just 3 moving parts...the 2 rotors and the output shaft ("crank shaft").....that is unless its a 3 rotor...then its 4 parts...or a 4 rotor....then its 5 parts........with the engine alone....

MICHGoBlue

I hear ya, but I just don't have the ability to be myopic, can't help it.