I'm just a newb to the rotary but I'll bet there is still alot of room for improvement.

Something I wonder about...is Mazda looking into the other or new types of rotary engines out there?

Anyway...I sure hope they make it better because I really love the rotary and the tought of going back to a piston engine....feels wrong for some reason now (lol).

Well, unless it's a Chevy V8 that is!

 

The price aint high enough yet I guess. Remember, alot of the SUV's out there...especially the huge ones cost about 30-45K and if you can afford a car like that, $2.50 per gallon shouldn't be an issue considering I'm paying that with my 8 and I could not afford a car at those prices.

Car like SUV’s and the cute-utes don’t count since they normally get more car like fuel economy and cost significantly less also.

 

Looking at the auto sales trends, I'd say they pretty much are ditching the behemoths at a phenominal rate. New car sales have largely tanked on the really inefficient SUVs. Probably not at the rate that the big, thirsty (even by today's "super-size" SUV standards) V8s did in the gas crisis. Then again, we aren't seeing the prices soaring or the shortages we did back then.

As someone else mentioned, also, the Renesis really doesn't do that bad on gas. It's only marginally worse than my old WRX when I'm driving hard. Highway mileage is the only real kicker, and I've adjusted (i.e. bought another, more fuel efficient car LOL) to not driving the RX-8 for long trips unless I'm willing to take the hit for gas.

I can't see emissions holding Mazda back (which was also a big part of the demise of the big V8 as well as the early rotaries). Ford, and consequently Mazda, is much more technologically savvy than it was in that era. So it really just comes down to how many people are willing to pony-up the cash for the gasoline.

I think the Rotary has enough mystique that there will always be a devoted hardcore following as long as Mazda keeps it's current philosophy of keeping the rotary cars relatively cheap (unlike the last generation RX-7 which got pretty pricy in the end). Here's hoping the dollar-yen conversion stays reasonable. LOL

 

I believe Chevy had a prototype 3 rotor Vette in the 70's and Ford had a prototype something or other. However they scrapped those projects. I just wish Lotus would have used the rotary in the Elise (it was on the table from what I have read) instead of that crappy Toyota engine. Can you imagine and Elise with a Wankel. That was a match made in heaven if you ask me. If I had the money I would drop a rotary in an Elise

 

The biggest question is not what can be done with the rotary engine......it's how it compares to what can be done with a piston engine. Let's say Mazda can get 300hp out of the 1.3L Renesis by 2009 and still maintain 18/24 mpg city/hwy. That would be a real accomplishment in rotary engine development. However, if the majority of the car manufactures can build piston engines capable of 300hp with 35/40 mpg city/hwy.....then it will not matter that Mazda made great strides with the rotary.....it will only matter that the rotary is a less efficient engine......and therefore not competitive.

 

I think they'd be better off decreasing each rotor by a tad, say to 600cc displacement. Then, 3 rotor the sucker. Less mass, more revs, 1.8L equals 350 horses, no problem. Only downfall is that you can forget about 18/24 mpg.

Even if the engineers actually get a working prototype and achieve relative gas mileage success with a 1.8 I'll bet that the bastards at Ford nix the whole thing. So all we can do is dream; just like I've been doing about an FD replacement for the last 10 years.