TALAN7

The test was against the 911 turbo. From what i hear, and I wasn't into rotaries at the time, was that the RX7 turbo was quicker than base 911s at that time. I may be wrong. I know it was compared to them

TALAN7

I'd love to see a rotary car being compared to cars in that category again. Mazda should attempt to make a supercar. They are considered a sporty car marque. They should have a supercar. Might not be economically feasable for them but supercars never are. They are marketing exercises, engineering exercises and build respect for the brand. The are especially good for car shows. If Mazda had a supercar in their booth and a RX7 and or RX8, plus the MX5, their booth would be packed which would lead more traffic into their showrooms. People can't afford supercars but if they had lower priced cars with some of the same technology people would notice.

WTBRotary!

iTrader: (6)

Given the fact that suddenly car companies want to create a low weight/low HP, "fun" car that handles well is a huge opportunity for Mazda considering this is their tried and true formula. The way I see it now is Mazda has everyone in their ballpark now, all Mazda has to do is be themselves and it should pan out...

I will disagree with Mazda needing to move on. This is what Zoom Zoom is all about.

I mean think about what a 200hp Miata could do that weighs 2500lbs... :lowdown:
Obviously it's main competitor would be the FRS/BRZ and the new Nissan.

Id assume the next RX should hover around ~300hp weighing in about 2800lbs...

If this is how things play out Mazda should be in a great spot competition wise...

As we know Mazda has never advocated huge amounts of power but rather a blend of the two.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Mazda is selling their SkyActive cars faster than they are making them, so I don't expect anyone in Mazda is thinking: "Hmm, not enough people notice our cars. Maybe we should make an economically unfeasible supercar to gather attention."

Do you know what it will take for the next rotary to be the most powerful car in Mazda's current lineup? at least 185hp.

That should tell you something about how much Mazda values high horsepower. But they still manage to outsell their production rate. Imagine that.

j9fd3s

the rumor for the next Rx car was 300-350hp, and half a GTR in weight, which is a hilarious way to say 2800lbs.

not saying the GTR is overweight, or anything, and its got a nice personality.

NotAPreppie

The Z35 will (allegedly) be a small, light(-ish) coupe with an available VQ37... So, this is just the next-gen 370Z?

I mean, the 370Z is already pretty small (though admittedly a little portly). So, they shave some weight, do some cost-cutting, price the 4-pot in the market of a Toyobaru and then claim it's better than the Toyobaru by offering an VQ37 in the $35K model? This hardly seems like it warrants the type and level of attention it's receiving. This reeks of marketing and focus group baiting.

Realistically, I don't see why they don't evolve the 370Z a bit (keep R&D investment minimal), limit it to a turbo-4 with 250HP, call it the 250SX and price it to blow the Toyobaru out of the water. Hell, they could give it several tune levels like Audi does with the 2.0T. Have a 200HP model locked to the Toyobaru price (200SX) then offer a 270HP model (270SX) for $3000 more and power fiends will probably flock to it from the twins.

Save the ground-up redesign for the "real" 370Z-replacement with a commensurately increased price tag to pay for the engineering investment. Then, 3-5 years out, trickle some of the technology from the 370Z to the hypothetical 200SX/270SX as a refresh to keep Toyota honest.

(edit: I love being an armchair automotive engineer/market strategist. All the fun and ego, none of the knowledge or risk.)

TALAN7

And how many rotary cars do you think they will sell with 185 hp? Not to many, unless it weighs 1000 lbs, and I don't think the RX8 outsold it's production rate.

yomomspimp06

it's funny you mention it that way Notapreppie. All the sportbikes do it that way. the 1000cc bikes get the new stuff first then it trickles down to the 600cc bikes over the next couple of years...

ShinkaEvo

iTrader: (3)

For those who hates or think hybrid is lame...
What do you think about Frazer-Nash Namir?

Imho, without turbo, hybrid is the way to go, the torque on the electric motors makes up what rotary lacks at lower rpm, not mentioning improve mpg and emission. (wel, pollution doesn't change much. lol)

My guess is that gasoline motors (piston and rotary) will become distance extender for the electric motors in the future....think of EV SLS...

Just bored at work here.

NotAPreppie

It makes sense. That R&D costs tons of money so you want to keep it in your products with higher profit margins to bring in a greater return. Later, you trickle it down to the lower margin products to earn another bump in profit without having to shell out big R&D dollars again. Also, after a while, the lower-tier products will need to be replaced but you extend that by having a refresh cycle where you introduce all those neat little bits that were reserved for more expensive stuff.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I noted "SkyActive cars", the RX-8 wasn't in that group. I also am not saying that the next rotary would be 185hp, I'm just noting that in today's world where manufacturers constantly pursue higher horsepower, Mazda has very clearly declined to play that game. Expecting high power from the next rotary is a wish, but could very easily never become a reality.

See post #18 for another awesome implementation of a Hybrid, and one that is perhaps a bit better than the Namir (which is awesome in it's own right)

Slidin8

Nissan uses the number in the cars name to refer to the engines displacement, not power. I expect that never to change as it will confuse people

NotAPreppie

Yah, I figured since I was armchair quaterbacking, none of my ideas will ever actually happen so I could make up scenarios that violate Nissan's long-standing practices and it wouldn't really matter.

TALAN7

Does anyone here think that a Nissan lightweight sports coupe would be any better than the BRZ/FRS?

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Depends. There was a reference above that a "lightweight coupe" might be a 370z successor, which that car is a fat pig. "Lightweight" might only mean dropping a couple hundred pounds, not 600-800 like it needs to really qualify.