Though the rotary engine certainly has its fair share of detractors, many who find themselves behind the wheel of a Wankel-powered machine from Mazda fall in love with the engine's zippy and rev-happy characteristics... including this particular blogger, who purchased a new RX-8 back in 2004. Regardless, nobody can deny that the rotary has always been a thirsty little bugger, especially when compared to powerplants with similarly rated displacements.
We've been hearing for the last few years – and seemingly every other time a new rendition of the Wankel engine came to market – that the next version of Mazda's rotary would address complaints about its high fuel consumption and emissions. Perhaps the early projections about the so-called 16X engine were a wee bit premature. According to Seita Kanai, head of R&D at Mazda:
The 16X demonstrated the possibility, but that performance is not good enough. We are doing R&D which will incorporate more new technology... The 16X is more a profile of a rotary still in our concept stage. It needs more evolution.That really doesn't sound all that confidence inspiring to us. At this point, only time will tell if the 16X will actually be ready for prime time when the long-rumored next-gen rotary-powered car from Mazda hits the scene in 2012 or so.
According to The New York Times' Wheels blog, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently in the early stages of investigating issues involving the 2005 Ford F-150 and 2004-2008 Mazda RX-8 models equipped with manual transmissions.
In the case of the Blue Oval, NHTSA has received eight complaints of F-150 airbags that have either deployed during ignition or in the seconds directly after ignition. The issue has reportedly resulted in some bumps and bruises, but if NHTSA finds the issue to be a big problem, up to 530,000 vehicles stand to be effected by what could be a very expensive safety recall for the Blue Oval.
At the other end of the automotive spectrum, Mazda's RX-8 sportscar is under the watchful eye of NHTSA for a problem that could effect far fewer vehicles but the problem is equally serious. The safety administration has reportedly received 40 complaints of 2004-2008 models that have experienced clutch pedal bracket failure, and in 15 cases, the rotary-powered Mazda was moving and the drivers couldn't change gears normally as a result. Two of those drivers could have found themselves in a more dangerous situation, as the clutch pedal was reported to have become wedged under the brake pedal.
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In a truly heroic effort that's not only daunting in scope but utterly jealousy-inducing in execution, the hot shoes at Motor Trend have once again teamed up with pro-racer and 24 Hours of Daytona winner Randy Pobst to put ten of the hottest performance cars currently on sale up against each other at Laguna Seca to determine which is best. Last year, the winner was given the title of "Best Handling Car," though this year they are switching the name to "Best Driver's Car." That works.
Without getting too much into the metrics they used (it's an eighteen page article), MT went with a combination of outright speed, braking performance, lateral acceleration data and subjective seat of the pants driving impressions (plus Pobst's excellent feedback) to rank all ten cars in order. Without giving away the winner, we will say that we enthusiastically agree with their findings.
Hard as it may be to believe, the word "hummer" didn't always bring up visions of obnoxious, polarizing SUVs. In fact, there was a time not so very long ago that uttering that word evoked something entirely different, namely cars powered by Wankel rotary engines. For the past three decades, the world's sole purveyor of rotary-powered automobiles has been Mazda. The "Zoom-Zoom" brand has always been a little different from its compatriots. Back in 1963, a young Kenichi Yamamoto was heading up the research department at Mazda and latched on to the concept developed a decade earlier by Felix Wankel. Just as two-stroke engines were all the rage for a time in the early 1990s and fuel cells in the middle of this decade, the Wankel rotary seemed to be the next big thing in the 1960s and early '70s. For a time it seemed every major automaker had licensed the design from Wankel and was trying to commercialize it. Some like NSU did build rotaries while General Motors and Daimler Benz built an assortment of concept cars. By the mid-'70s, all had given up except Yamamoto-san and Mazda. From the original 1967 Cosmo, Mazda has built an unbroken string of hummers culminating with the recently updated 2009 RX-8 R3. The pony-keg sized power plant isn't the only unique element of the RX-8.
Buyers in the U.K. are about to get their first crack at the revised 2009 Mazda RX-8, as the quad-door sportscar officially goes on sale in late August. All RX-8's destined for the U.K. will get the full body-kit that's optional in other markets. We've already seen all the images of the only rotary-powered mass market car in the world that we can stand, so lets move on to what's changed under the skin. Shorter final drive gearing combined with a steeper (numerically lower) sixth gear will allow the high-strung engine to reach its power-band earlier in gears one through five while still maintaining reasonable revs when cruising in sixth. New Recaro sport seats spice up the cabin and 19-inch rims with rotor-shaped spokes add some flair to the exterior.
Though power levels remain unchanged, the Renesis rotary engine sees minor revisions as well, with improved cooling as one main feature. Also updated are the oil metering pump -- all rotary engines ingest oil during normal operation -- and computer software which limits high-speed operation until the velvety-smooth powerplant has reached a proper operating temperature, likely to improve reliability somewhat. All in all, the '09 update of the sports coupe is pretty thorough, though the result is still instantly recognizable as an RX-8.
Thanks to an astute reader, we now have further proof that owners of Mazda's rotary powered RX-8 wish they were driving a Ferrari instead. Not that we blame them or anything, as the Prancing Horse has been plastered on many of the finest sportscars that this world has ever seen. What we don't recommend, however, is actually attempting to replicate a Ferrari of your own with a Mazda RX-8, as the owner of said car seen in our gallery has done. It's not that the car is an RX-8, a fine vehicle in its own right,– but a Ferrari it is not. The rotary is a fun engine to wring out on the way to its 9,000 RPM redline, but it just doesn't quite match the aural pleasure that a fine Italian V12 is able to deliver.
This particular Mazda-rrari was caught at a mall in Denton, Texas, and we believe it's probably the only one in existence. Before you get real upset about all that's been done to it though, remember that it could be worse. Much, much worse. Just don't tell the guys in Maranello, they tend to get rather upset about this kind of thing.
You've got to hand it to Mazda for its perseverance with the Wankel rotary engine design. Ever since it's engineers managed to make it semi-reliable, the turbine-like smoothness of the quick-spinning lump has seen duty in numerous Mazda-branded vehicles, and even a few others as well. Still, despite constant engineering work and updates to the basic rotary engine design, there is a lingering question about the reliability of the design. Most owners seem happy with the engines in their RX, that is, until a seal blows or they forget to keep the oil supply topped up and it fails to restart. Or it floods in the winter, needing a tow. Alright... so there may be a few problems.
To ease the minds of RX-8 owners and owners-to-be, Mazda has reportedly decided to extend the warranty coverage for the 2004-2008 Renesis rotary engine for a period of eight years or 100,000 miles. Mazda even goes so far as to offer reimbursement to those who've spent money on engine repairs before 100,000 miles. This seems like a nice measure made in good faith on Mazda's part. After all, most educated owners of the rotary-powered cars knew what they were getting when these purchases were made, and the engine was already covered under the same basic warranty that comes standard with all Mazda vehicles. Nice work, Mazda.
While we've already seen the new digs that Mazda has given its 2+2, rotary-powered RX-8 model at the Tokyo Auto Salon and Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, the car that's always been shown up to this point has been the top shelf RS model. Perhaps you're curious to know what a base RX-8 looks like without the big wheels and wings. Well, the updated RX-8 has gone on sale today in Japan, and Mazda has released new images that show the car without all that high-performance filigree. The larger air intakes up front remain, but gone are the deep chin spoiler, rear spoiler and 19-inch wheels. One of the lesser models known as the Type-E in Japan makes do with new standard 17-inch wheels (up from 16-inches). Mazda's changes to the RX-8 are more than skin deep and nearly all will be featured on models sold in the U.S., as well. Check out the list of details in Mazda's press release after the jump and peruse the galleries below for more RX-8 goodness, including new action shots of the RS model.
Mazda's redesigned RX-8 has officially been released into the wild and, surprise, it's exactly the same as the RS model that debuted at the Tokyo Auto Salon, right down to the wheels. Mazda admits that the 2009 RX-8 is simply a mild evolution of the outgoing model, with a few changes to the exterior and interior, along with a couple of mechanical revisions and a new suspension package.
On the outside, the RX-8's shape is largely unchanged, with a new front and rear bumper, restyled front fascia and larger exhaust pipes. Inside, Mazda has redone the instrument panel and included a "variable red-zone" on the tach that indicates when the Wankel is up to operating temperature (similar to BMW's M-powered products).
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According to World Car Fans, the vehicle you see above is the JDM-only RX-8 RS that's scheduled to be unveiled this week at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Japan's version of our own aftermarket SEMA Show. In advance of the car's debut, Mazda was nice enough to release two images of the RX-8 RS with its fresh face and updates, some of which we may see in a few days on the standard RX-8 at the Detroit Auto Show. The rest of the 25 images we have in our gallery came from Motor Authority, higher-res versions of which are likely forthcoming from Mazda as soon as the car officially debuts.
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