myking76

The July Issue of Car and Driver reports that "Mazda is working on a more powerful RX8 that will boast a newly developed electrically assisted turbocharger. Mazda plans to unveil the Turbo RX8 at the Tokyo Auto Show in 2005."

Very Interesting; perhaps this is the rumored US Spec Mazdaspeed RX8 we've all been wondering about.

BIU

As much as i want to see the MS RX-8 over on our shores and as happy as i am for that...... i kinda dont want it to come because our 8s will not be the sh*t anymore....

Truss

Eeeexcellent. I have no idea what an "electrically assisted" turbo is, but if it gives the car around 300hp, I'm there.

Man, those things will be temperamental beasts. I sure hope Mazda has solved the rest of the 8's teething problems before it goes and slaps a high tech turbo on it.

Plus, we may even see single digit fuel economy. Woohoo! :D

T.

RotorManiac

Keep talking brother! You've just made my day! :D

I just hope Mazda will make it available to us too, as an upgrade within the warranty. I'm asking for way too much, right?

Rotary Nut

Probably has an electric motor to spin it up on demand to reduce or eliminate the dreaded turbo lag! Now that would be da bomb!

wakeech

C&D is just talking speculation based on the dual fuel 13BMSP Mazda showed at Tokyo this year.

it isn't true until Mazda says so... remember these are the same guys that get on Speed channel and do those stupid "test drive" completely payed for infomercials that tell you absolutely nothing about the car (using generically positive language in a heavily scripted fashion, constantly).

klegg

"The car has crisp performance to go with its sleek, sexy lines...you look forward to turns due to the excellent handeling..and they did not skimp on the interior, which features 200 speakers and a 300 cd changer, along with real human skin seats

All in all, you get high value for your doller...."

Did I get it right?

wakeech

something exactly like that.

Truss

That was hilarious. And yes, that's exactly right. Further proof that Evo remains the greatest car magazine on the planet, even if the newstand price is now up to *cough* $9.99. They're not afraid to call a turd a turd.

I still hope C&D is right, though.

T.

ricks8

I think you are mistaken. None of the people on that show are Car & Driver Editors, Reporters or Contibutors.

RotorManiac

Is there an american version of evo? Or do you get the british one?
Anyway, I totally agree. Those brits make a great mag, been reading them since issue 1...
...only bad thing is they don't like the 8 much

klegg

The issue of evo I read liked the 8 a whole lot..

RotorManiac

Yeah, gave it 5 stars and then, on the next issue (January-eCOTY, evo Car Of The Year) they place it under the R32Golf and the Mini Cooper S Works, two awful cars to my opinion.
They say "best handling car ever" and then "didn't do well 'cause of general antipathy to the rotary engine". That was disappointing...

klegg

The issue I read compared it to the golf, and it won...guess they changed their minds..

ArExHead

Awesome news. :]

That's exactly its purpose. Saab is considering this new turbo design for some of its cars as well.

m477

Yeah, there seems to be a lot of talk about these electric assist turbos. There was another article a while back speculating about how the R35 GT-R would probably use them as well. I really wonder if this is based in any sort of reality though. Most turbo cars these days have virtually no lag anyway, so I wonder if they would even provide enough of an advantage to really be worth the extra trouble and cost. Also, you'd think that they would already be in widespread aftermarket use if they were really necessary.

myking76

Car and Driver commented that the advantage of an electrical turbo is that it would be simpler and more efficient than exhaust based turbos--particularly when achieving EPA regulations.

KC_Prelude

I always thought it would be cool if they added an electric motor and light turbo boost. It would be in hybrid fashion like the prius, except with a turbo. Electric motors produce max torque at very low rpm so It could help add torque down low in the revs and increase fuel economy in the city. Don't know how much that would weigh or how feasible it is.

PhineasFellOff

Those British car magazines are the best except when they test Jaguars in comparisons with other cars. Just about every Jaguar finishes dead last in the American car mags, but comes in first or close to it in some of the British mags. I love reading some of the captions to the pictures because they are so biased for the Jag in a way that is just way off.

93rdcurrent

The only thing I can think of with an electronic turbo is that it would be very similar to a supercharger. The biggest difference between the turbo and supercharger is the the fact that the engine has a seperate belt drive to force air in through the supercharger to the pistons or rotors and the turbo uses the exhaust to spool the turbine for the same purpose. So what does an electric turbo do exactly?

sectachrome

if they really plan on turboing the renesis, they better have their **** together or it will just give rotaries the same bad rap because of turbo reliability...

IMO they should just beef up an n/a version as much as they can first before going turbo...

alex

if they turbo the rx8, then I better be receiving a major rebate for a mazda-installed (and supported) turbo install. Man, **if** mazda had the option for a turbo or something, then it'd be my choice to "devalue" my 8. I'm kinda annoyed .. I feel the potential value drop of my car is partly mazda's .. or am I being too petty?

alex

myking76

Well--more power was only a matter of time--hopefully it will be on a higher spec RX8 (Mazdaspeed maybe) and not the standard car--because that will drop our residuals. One thing is for sure I am almost 100% that it won't be an upgradeable option to earlier RX8s--historically Mazda factory Forced Induction systems are integrated into the motors--different compressions and what not. You'd be better off waiting until an aftermarket turbo or supercharger is available.

PaulieWalnuts

Although it's probably a Mazdaspeed, if it's true that a turbo version is coming out, I wonder the electric turbo will resolve the issues (reliability, emissions, etc) of the FD.

beachdog

All car companies come out with bigger, better, faster every year. Did you really think that Mazda wasn't going to make improvements?

Just look at Toyota/Lexus and Honda/Acura. They have taken to introducing their newest models as Lexus and Acura and then de-contenting to make the Toyota and Honda versions. Voila...huge depreciation for their high end products.