Mazda kills the rotary engine

[number six]

The rotary engine is officially dead. For now.

Bloomberg reports that Mazda built the last of its unique powerplants last Friday, ending a 45-year run.

The automaker announced last year that it would be discontinuing the engine, citing high costs, low sales and environmental concerns. It got a stay of execution earlier this year when Mazda extended production if the RX-8 sports car with a run of 1,000 special edition Spirit-R models celebrating the engine.

Although it delivers a large amount of power from a compact, lightweight unit compared to a piston engine, the rotary design is notorious for its low fuel economy and high oil consumption, both factors making it difficult to meet today’s strict emissions standards.

First introduced in the 1967 Cosmo Sport, Mazda produced nearly 2 million cars powered by rotary engines over the years, technology that it licensed from Audi in 1961. Its turbine-smooth operation prized by many enthusiasts.

The high water mark for the engine was victory in the 1991 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, still the only win by a Japanese automaker.

But just because the rotary is dead, doesn’t mean it can’t come back to life…with a jolt of electricity.

Mazda is continuing development of the engine design with an eye on possibly using it as a range-extender for plug-in hybrid vehicles, similar to the Chevrolet Volt. It has previously shown a prototype of such a car that uses a rotary converted to run on hydrogen to generate electricity.

Perhaps one day the company’s slogan will be changed to Humm Humm, Buzz Buzz, Zoom Zoom.

[HFK]

I killed two of them in the 80s.     81 RX7 blew the engine after a week got another one and it only lasted a couple of days. The car then went to the junkyard, took enough of my money.

[EDC]

I had a 2005 rx-8 shinka edition before my truck and I loved that car

[HammysHangout ( Hammy )]

i think a rotary tied to a gensat will make a good combo.

[FarFromStock]

My first car in high school in the early 80's was a '75 RX4 wagon with a Wankel.  It was the first car I ever got to tinker with and when the muffler rusted out, I cut it (and everything behind it) out and put on a side exit straight pipe.  Every time I let off the throttle, it would pop and shoot a 2-foot flame out the side.  I drove the hell out of that car! 

Good times!!!

[MilitiaMan]

Rotary engines belong in jet skis and snowmobiles ... not cars and trucks.

Good riddance, rotary engines!

Steve
MM

[kawikid]

LOL rotax and rotary are two different things 

[MilitiaMan]

LOL rotax and rotary are two different things 

Forgive me ... I'm still new.

On a related note to your post (though completely unrelated to the original thread), I have spent more time repairing my skis than riding them. The GTX needed a RAVE valve cleaning badly and the dess post went out on the GTi. Fortunately, I was able to save a few bucks and tackle both repairs myself. Learning how to do a lot of things with these skis, except ride them.  :-P

Steve
MM

[kawikid]

lol its cool, i just had to say something, i knew the seadoo's would give you issues but if you can handle them yourself its not a big issue. glad to hear your learning along the way but your supposed to ride them more than work on them. 

[k7]

when those jet skis sit in the off season, you'll probably be working on them. i'll get one again once jake hits a good water age. the rotax is/was a great build.

back to mazda...the rotary is a cool engine, and i was close to getting one when they built the 93-95 FD. but it's unreal that they got a stock 255HP push out of that weeny 1.3L, twin turbo'd engine. and from quite a bit of research, it appeared (at least to me) that those things blew up every 30,000 miles. i went with the 300zx twin turbo...which i blew up on the highway at 120MPH.

[srarcade]

I love rotary motors. But my opinion is, these were built for short lived race car performance and the longevity daily driver adaptation by Mazda was a complete failure. Otherwise, we would probably see a continuation here.

[drexel]

Bought a new '09 RX8 back in '09 because I also feared the longevity of used ones.  Loved the car and had a lot more pull than I expected after reading all the negative/lackluster reviews on them.  Was a lot of fun to drive and autocrossed it every chance I got, what the car seemed to be made for.  Had a blast but sold it prior to the warranty expiring because of said possible longevity issues.  Any car you drive like that and abuse is going to have issues regardless how well it's made or how long it should last.  I never had any issues with it while I owned it, but you really shouldn't on a couple year old car.