Audi S4 owner here, but seriously considering the RX-8.

I was wondering what the tuning potential for this car is, based on the previous RX-7. Not sure if the rotary engine is tune-friendly.

Specifically I'm thinking chip for starters. Will they be available? Will they offer large gains? Will they be overly expensive?

TIA!

 

The RX-7 was very responsive to mods. Rotaries are pretty responsive to mods. They had to put all that emissions stuff on it to make it smog legal. The RX-8 has 3 cats. Removing those and putting in a straight pipe would yeild considerable power gains.

There is no "chip" upgrades for the RX-8 or the RX-7's. It's not like those German cars. But, you can upgrade the ECU's. There are none available for the 8 yet that I know of. I'm pretty sure there will be some options in the near future.
A programmable ECU and proper tuning would net some power gains also.
ECU's upgrades range from $500-$1300 or maybe more. The Apexi PowerFC is around $1000.

 

the rx8 only has one cat. the turbo cars (any of them, your s4 is a good example) are really responsive to mods. the rx8 not having a turbo? well we'll see its already pretty well tuned of the boat

mike

 

there are some things you can do, but if you're thinking "bolt on potential", you've got the wrong impression of this car. it's already got a single, high flow cat, and an induction system you can not touch from the aftermarket (if you want to keep it all-motor).

to really see some improvements and keep it road legal, first you'd want a cat back and a header (keeping the cat, obviously). after that, you're going to have to open up the motor for serious power potential enhancement.

there are lots of routes to go, and wankel engines are quite responsive to modification (two words: Perhipheral Port), but there isn't going to be any of those cheesey slap-on-a-tube-and-cone-and-gain-15 HP kind of mods.