We Wanted Mazda’s RX-9 So Much That We Forgot How Stupid We Were Being
Okay, we admit it: we really, really wanted Mazda to build a new rotary-powered sports car. The FD RX-7 was such a legend that, almost 15 years after it was killed off, we look at it with the most rose-tinted of Ray-Bans.
Despite a catalogue of faults you could list with respect to the practicalities of living with one, to its fans it can do no wrong, like that girl at school who you’d swear has dropped out of your dreams but is actually a bit of a bitch.
It’s a bug, and the FD bit us hard. Blame the Fast films if you like, but either way we go as gooey-kneed over it at least as much now as we did in the 1990s. Which probably goes some way to explaining how happy we were to give ourselves up to the goddess of future rotary perfection, Mazda’s RX Vision concept.
Its curves were feminine and powerful; shapely without being delicate. God, it was a good-looking thing. Who wouldn’t want that on their driveway? Who wouldn’t want to upgrade the exhaust (overnight parts from Japan, obvs) and listen to it brap-brap-brapping away all day long?
But no. It wasn’t to be: Mazda’s CEO took the dream away from us in an interview given to Automotive News, stating categorically not just that there won’t be a rotary-powered coupé, but that there won’t be a coupé sized above the MX-5 at all.
Given all the coverage we’d dedicated to the RX Vision, the amount of times we pictured what a production version might look like and the number of times we daydreamed about driving the damn thing, you can imagine this pretty much wrapped our bubble in barbed wire and squeezed.
After the sobbing had stopped and those too emotionally broken to carry on had been taken away in wheelbarrows, we had to set ourselves straight. The RX-9 was never going to happen and we were idiots to think it. We let our epic desire for it to be brought to life cloud our better judgement.
Rotary engines just aren’t efficient when used as the principal drive unit in a car. They can rev to silly heights and create God’s own music from an exhaust pipe, but for all their low-displacement technology they drink fuel like Barney Gumble drinks Duff. And let’s not mention the oil consumption, or the lack of low-range torque, or the service intervals.
Much as we were hoping for Mazda to have pulled a miracle solution to the design’s problems out of some recently-discovered orifice (we wouldn’t care which orifice as long as the solution worked), that sort of wizardry is beyond economical sense to even attempt. That’s why the rotaries that we now have confirmation that the Japanese are working on are specifically aimed at range-extender hybrid drivetrains. BMW i8 aside, these sorts of cars are not generally all that much fun to drive.
Cars like the ones it sounds like Mazda is developing are necessary. The RX-7 is the absolute epitome of unnecessary, but that’s why we love it so much. We wanted Mazda to give us more wrong because it always felt so right, but as of this moment we’re giving up on that and moving on. Internal combustion isn’t dead yet so we may as well enjoy pistons - and rotors - while we still can.
Comments
As ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw once said: “Hype is a device invented by mean-spirited marketing executives who never discovered the true meaning of Christmas, and I said last year how it makes the logical sense to be pessimistic.”
Oh the zero puncuation guy
I bet that a full RX-8 tank finishes before the hype for the RX-9 dies
I triggered 2 humans!!
Hehehehe
Stop telling lies to the good people, rotary is life.
Rotary life is short.
#braplife
Well after reading this at a dinner which I know no one at, I feel a little better to have more information on what my dreams were… I started crying when I saw the picture, I was looked at so I went to the toilet, read this, grew some balls (wiped away the tears) and went back out and said that it was a car guy thing and that they shouldn’t worry
Here is what I don’t understand:
We know that manufacturers are obliged to meet certain emissions norms measured by average across the model range
In other words, VW are ok to make a 6.5 V12 NA Aventador and W16 Chiron as long as they keep producing the e-Golf and A3 e-tron
We also know that Mazda has plenty of fuel-efficient cars, their sky-activ engines won many eco awards and Mazda keep investing into making sure their cars are as green as possible.
So why can’t they make a flagship sportscar with a rotary without looking at eco standards?! Surely that would be fine with the number of eco-friendly cars they make.
There’s emissions (read: emissions of particles and toxic/cancerous gases) and there’s fuel economy/CO2-emissions(which isn’t toxic or harmful to humans at all, but accelerates climate change). The latter one only matters on a global scale, so they only have to meet CO2-emission targets across the range. However, emmissions of toxic stuff such as Nitrogen Oxide, CO and particles have to be met by every car, since it doesn’t really matter to you if in some area there’s a lot of good air if your city is polluted af
In my mind I like to think that the government of all worlds hates us. But that’s just me.
Rotary engines are at an automatic disadvantage since they are two stroke. They put out twice the emissions per rotation, and the two-stroke cycle itself isnt very earth friendly.
Buy an rx8 and swap all the rx8 bits for rx7 bits problem solved
Now I fear if mk5 supra is called off
I doubt a TT V6 will have emission and fuel economy problems
Speak for yourself… it doesn’t fit what Mazda is trying to achieve whatsoever, which is to be up there with Honda and Toyota.
It makes no sense for Mazda to try and build something so ambitious (Development costs…) and doesn’t fit in with anything they’ve done for 10-15 years. If you look at their range it’s minimal, and it’s minimal so they can do each model well.
Of course the Rotary will consume more oil, it’s a 2 stroke
It’s not a 2 stroke… Common knowledge mate.
Rotary basically is 4 stroke, but it’s more of an “all stroke”
Mazda’s accountants are evil and stupid, and should be sacked and replaced by rotary fans
Or they have a brain and know that it isnt worth the time, money, and effort to build a rotary car. Only a few people would buy it, and it would never cover development costs.
But if they built it and it didn’t pay for the development costs (which it probably wouldn’t), Mazda would suffer even more. These niche, “vanity” projects don’t always work out so well - just look at how much the Veyron cost to develop…