Mazda Rx-8 What to look for when buying ??

If you've driven a normal piston engine then it's easy to flood a rotary. We all have lapses in concentration and that's how I flooded mine (I didn't think I had but then a friend reminded me!).

I had just started the car when a phone call came in. Without thinking I turned the car off and took the call - flooded. Had to get the AA out, luckily the guy had done the process a few times so he knew what he was doing.
 
ubersonic said:
To be fair only Mazda make Wankel engined cars whereas anybody can use a normal engine, but you do have a good point, their currently used in only 1 of 8 cars Mazda makes (however it could be argued that only the RX-8/MX-5 are suitable for rotary engines anyway).
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They used to be used in NSU Ro80's which aquired the name No Sodding Use

:D

I do love them tho, my mates old RX-3 was awesome :)
 
Joshy said:
People aren't actually being serious by having a go at Mike's 9k comment, are they? It seems to me that it was absolutely painfully he was talking about the number of 'ordinary' production cars that will rev to 9000RPM out of the factory
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Why would the number of 1.6 litre shopping hatchbacks that cannot rev to 9000rpm have any relevence at all in a thread about a sports car?
 
Sin_Chase said:
He said "Name 1 production piston engine that can rev to 9,000" as if none could. They can.

Nuff said.
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That isn't what I said, and I should not be ribbed because you misinterpreted my post.

Do you honestly think I believe there are no other cars that rev to 9K RPM? Like I'm blissfully unaware of the S2000, probably one of the most well known high revving cars?

I asked you to name some. The point is the list would have been very short - in fact, it may have just had two cars in it (RX8 and S2K?).
 
It'll be interesting to see which direction mazda go with the little rotary. Rumour has it that cuts are to be made and that a huge discussion is taking place within the hirosima plant on whether to temporarily shelve the development of the rotary for the next few years. 3 major problems have been identified with the engine but 2 of them have been overcome. We might not see another rotary powered mazda until around 2017.

Mazda are concentrating on their new skyactiv range of cars with redesigned chassis, drivetrain and engines. Apparently Mazda and Audi have had informal talks regarding a possible collaboration on the rotary engine. The informal talks could result in the new rotary being used in the Audi A1 e-tron as a range-extender.

Rotary engines are one of our core competencies: we have to maintain this business. But they have several fundamental issues because of the different motion to the piston engine and therefore we're always looking for new technologies from other industries. We've already found countermeasures for theses issues, so we're ready, but first we have to succeed with Skyactiv – we need the revenue.

Of course there are always engineers at Mazda working on rotary engines. When we get the money we can set the budget and then go forward – we'll never give up rotary engines. And recently some of the German firms have become interested in rotary engines for a different application – as range extenders. This is interesting because we already have a hydrogen rotary hybrid system.
 
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To be fair to Mike there isn't many which will reach 9000rpm and above. Most Ferrari's only go to 8000-8500 rpm, other than the 458 I think which goes higher.

I know of the s2000 (obviously), the atom, that new Lexus (name escapes me) which just smashed the Ring record and the 458 mentioned above.
 
MikeHiow said:
I asked you to name some. The point is the list would have been very short - in fact, it may have just had two cars in it (RX8 and S2K?).
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How short the list may of been is moot.

1 piston engined car is enough, seeing as somehow you were indicating that the RX8 red-line was a unique thing that warranted the huge list of failings the car has.

It's not unique, it's not worth the dis-advantages. You can go get another car which revs to 9,000 if that is what you want and pass on the RX8.
 
Actually they rev to 9500, i was just rounding down.
Its not just the redline its the power delivery, smoothness, the way it handles the doors, the 4 useable seats, you cant get all that in any other car for the price and age.
 
panthro said:
Whats the reason behind the rotary engine giving such poor fuel economy?
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the engine has a swept capacity of 1.3L, which is quite small, then you hear about 20mpg and its all a bit OMG.

due to the way a rotary works, a rotor completes two power cycles per engine rotation, whereas a piston engine is one power stroke per cycle

it effectively has a swept vol of 2.6L per rotation, hence the extra amount burned

im sure there are other reasons for the inefficiency too
 
its a betamax technology, I'm sure if everyone chose it then by now we would have seen an efficient variant, as only mazda beat the dead horse it will remain dire and probably die dire.
 
panthro said:
Whats the reason behind the rotary engine giving such poor fuel economy?
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For the given volume there is a much beigger surface area of wall and rotor for the heat to sink into, which drops its thermal efficiency. The flame propagation thanks to the slim combustion chambers is poor aswell, hence the struggle with emissions.

The twice rotor speed to the 'crank' doesnt help with friction either.
 
Will Gill said:
its a betamax technology, I'm sure if everyone chose it then by now we would have seen an efficient variant, as only mazda beat the dead horse it will remain dire and probably die dire.
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They'll get better with time and R&D, think about this: Mazda is the only car manufacturer that has actually made the engine work from a mass production standpoint so therefore any research in relation to successfully putting it into consumer passenger vehicles has been essentially done by one car company. Nearly 100 years behind the start of standard piston engine research for industrial purposes, compound that time for research with the sheer volume of companies investing time and research into them then and now and where the rotary is now is an impressive feat.
 
RobRX-7 said:
They'll get better with time and R&D, think about this: Mazda is the only car manufacturer that has actually made the engine work from a mass production standpoint so therefore any research in relation to successfully putting it into consumer passenger vehicles has been essentially done by one car company. Nearly 100 years behind the start of standard piston engine research for industrial purposes, compound that time for research with the sheer volume of companies investing time and research into them then and now and where the rotary is now is an impressive feat.
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That's what I said chap

I'm sure if everyone chose it then by now we would have seen an efficient variant, as only mazda beat the dead horse it will remain dire and probably die dire.
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As a result it will just wring the R&D arm of mazda dry and probably never really amount to much. It's a pet hobby not a viable economic (or otherwise) alternative engine design. Don't get me wrong I love the rx7, the rx8 however has none of the fun and all of the bad points

all in my humble opnion
 
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