Educate Me - Why have rotary engines never really taken off?

You two are making many mistakes.

One an E92 M3 is an unfair comparison, not only is it much newer, but it costs more to buy than the RX8 than you'll ever spend on fuel.

Compare it with a 330i which was available at the same time, costs more (both new and now) and the RX8 doesn't look nearly as bad.

Offset the higher purchase cost of a 330 against the extra fuel consumption of the RX8 and they aren't all that different in TCO.
 
The car I used to compare doesn't matter, what matters is you get less output from a rotary engine per MPG than a piston engine.

1.3l or 50000L does not mean jack input and output does.
 
[TW]Fox;17667944 said:
Honda engines need a rebuild at 60k miles?
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MikeHiow said:
It has been said that some Honda B-Series engines should be rebuilt every 60K as well, but no one calls these unreliable.
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This is news to me. I owned one for 4 years which was mechanically flawless and producing expected power at pretty much double that mileage.

In the years I owned it and the years before and after where I did research, I never heard such a thing.
 
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Gaijin said:
This is news to me and I owned one for 4 years which was mechanically flawless and producing expected power at pretty much double that mileage.

In the years I owned it and the years before and after where I did research, I never heard such a thing.
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I thought it was weird as well.

Just another made up MikeH fantasy then?
 
It is talked about on one of those popular Honda videos, I think it may have been the Spoon guy? (Not good with names). It's also been mentioned on Honda forums a few times for reasons why a standard DC2 doesn't make book power at higher mileage.

[TW]Fox said:
I just did make the 330i comparison.

Same power, more torque, much lower emissions and much better economy.
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Torque is irrelevant, as is emissions of a car of this age. Economy is improvement, that is a given, but like I say, that offsets easily against the difference in purchase cost.
 
MikeHiow said:
It is talked about on one of those popular Honda videos, I think it may have been the Spoon guy? (Not good with names). It's also been mentioned on Honda forums a few times for reasons why a standard DC2 doesn't make book power at higher mileage.
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Maybe for race, highly tuned or FI examples.

I've never heard it mentioned on Honda (r)evs, Civiclife, or itr-dc2 and I lived on those forums for years.
 
MikeHiow said:
It is talked about on one of those popular Honda videos, I think it may have been the Spoon guy? (Not good with names). It's also been mentioned on Honda forums a few times for reasons why a standard DC2 doesn't make book power at higher mileage.



Torque is irrelevant, as is emissions of a car of this age. Economy is improvement, that is a given, but like I say, that offsets easily against the difference in purchase cost.
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lol?

So everything that defeats your argument is irrelevant and the one point you concede, fuel consumption is overlooked for purchase costs?

The figure of 5k for an RX8 has been thrown about earlier in this thread. You can get a 330 for about the same. What difference in purchase price exactly are you referring to?
 
Six6siX said:
lol?

So everything that defeats your argument is irrelevant and the one point you concede, fuel consumption is overlooked for purchase costs?

The figure of 5k for an RX8 has been thrown about earlier in this thread. You can get a 330 for about the same. What difference in purchase price exactly are you referring to?
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I said £5k, but I'm not expert - I just remember seeing 2003/2004 RX-8's available for that price a few months back. Would imagine they are 192's though so not as quick or powerful as a 330i.
 
You will get a much newer RX8 for 5k than a 330i though.

But this is irrelevant to the question of why rotary didn't take off. If anything its another negative point, savage depreciation due to pathetic costs.
 
I remember a few years ago I have a friend with a stock 1999 Focus 1.6L with 99BHP who was paying like £185 for his tax disc and another mate with a modded 1996 RX7 1.3L with 300BHP who was paying under £100 for his cos it was under 1549cc. Just thought id share the funny
 
Given even a fraction of the overall development that the conventional 4 stroke piston engine has had over the years and road going rotary engines would be far superior to the examples we see today in the Rx7/8. Who knows? possibly even to the point where we would all be driving with ****el engines and mocking the quirky piston engine!

But of course when it comes to any kind of techology, technical superiority doesn't always guarantee success.

In motorsport they have seen plenty of success. I'm sure most of us remember the ****el powered mazda that won le mans in 1991? Reliability? Check (It made the 24hrs) Power? Check (900bhp) Fuel conumption? Check (Group C was a fuel controlled formula in 1991 - ie fixed amount of fuel for the race. It was the significantly lower fuel consumption of the ****el vs the piston engined cars that contributed to it's win)

Aixiro make an absolutely stunning 50cc ****el kart engine. At 47 bhp it's significantly more powerful than the alternative 125ccc 2 stroke motors (4 strokes don't have a hope). It's is also lighter and far more reliable. It's mainly politics that prevent it from becoming mainstream.

I'm pretty suprised to see so many people slating what is actually a very interesting engine technology.
 
No doubt, If i was doing less than 8k a year i'd probably buy an RX-8 they do offer very good value for money, 5k for a 2004 240ps car with nav and leather etc, fantastic.
 
But even new, a 330 was £28k before you had any options, an RX8 was £25k list, many going for £21-22k. The car had just about everything standard, too.
 
ubersonic said:
I remember a few years ago I have a friend with a stock 1999 Focus 1.6L with 99BHP who was paying like £185 for his tax disc and another mate with a modded 1996 RX7 1.3L with 300BHP who was paying under £100 for his cos it was under 1549cc. Just thought id share the funny
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One of the reasons the goverment charge per g/km now for the road tax system.
 
You've compared 1 car with list price against a made up figure of how much 'many' RX8's go for?

Do you have a source to backup the many going for £4k cheaper than listed and 330i's only ever going for list?

Isn't a 330i more than just a bit faster than a 192bhp RX8 anyway - the 325i has 192bhp and was no doubt cheaper than a 330i to buy new?
 
[TW]Fox;17668577 said:
Mike is correct with his new pricing though.

Not that this excuses the rotary engine.
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Looking at it though a 325i is equal to the 192bhp RX8, same 0-60, same bhp, higher top end, better mpg and lower co2.

What did e46 325i's retail for?
 
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