Mazda is sending off the RX-8 in style with the just-announced Spirit R. This special edition will be the last rendition of Mazda's RX-8 and will go on sale in Japan in late November with production wrapping up officially in June.
The Spirit R -- named after the final edition of the RX-7 -- gets special Recaro seats, colored alloy wheels (with 225/40R19 tires on the manual and 225/45R18 on the auto), unique badging, blacked-out headlights, red brake calipers, and standard side and side-curtain air bags. Mazda will produce 1,000 units of the Spirit R at a cost of $40,675 for the 6AT and $42,400 for the 6MT.
While this signifies the end of the RX-8, Takashi Yamanouchi, Mazda's President and CEO confirmed that the rotary was not dead, "Although the RX-8 production is ending, the rotary engine will always represent the spirit of Mazda and Mazda remains committed to its ongoing development."
mazdamike17 says:
10:21 AM, 10/ 7/11
Absolutely LOVE the way this car looks! Its a striking design and I Wish they put the Speed3 Turbo into it as an option. I bet they would sell more, and would have better performance!
bodyblue says:
11:13 AM, 10/ 7/11
It is always interesting but the rotary engine is a dead end.....and the end has just about been reached.
chochmastergen says:
11:13 AM, 10/ 7/11
I wish those seats were available in all cars.
chikoo says:
12:20 PM, 10/ 7/11
I would love it if Mazda puts in a small light v6 (2.0L or 2.5L) with a supercharger or a turbocharger in it. That would keep the engine compartment light and retain the handling.
I recently purchased a IS250 just because it feels so great with a small V6....the handling is very nimble and it is fun to rev it all the way to 6K without any roughness. At the same time, it still turns 2400 rpm @ 80mph and provides a decent mileage of 27mpg with 70/30 hwy/cty driving.
Mazda, please listen to me. Please.
huyracing says:
12:48 PM, 10/ 7/11
like it or not, its a great sports car... this is definitely a world class handling car offering great feedback with an engine that sounds good and rev's to 9000 rpm smoothly.
wag2vr says:
08:24 PM, 10/ 8/11
All this is is an R3 but with gold on the rims and some cranberry on the seats. What a bunch of turds.
church123 says:
09:13 AM, 10/ 9/11
I agree with bodyblue. The rotary engine has been a pretty epic fail as a production engine. Despite some early signs of potential, it is just fundamentally flawed as a combustion device.
1. Lubrication - these days, if you need to add oil to your fuel to prevent destroying your engine (apex seals in this case), you have a real problem. Pollution wise and design wise.
2. Fuel efficiency - Unless you're going to run 18:1 compression on alcohol fuels, the shape of a rotary's combustion chamber is just all wrong for efficient combustion. That's why it needs two spark plugs per combustion chamber/rotor. You just can't light off the mixture effectively and get it to completely burn in the time alloted with only one.
3. It's specific output isn't so hot either. While rotary fans like to claim that a 2-rotor displaces only 1.3 liters, in reality, it displaces 1.3 liters per revolution, the same as a 2.6 liter piston engine. It doesn't matter what size the combustion chamber is, or what Mazda says. And the amount of power for the amount of air displaced is pretty mediocre these days.
I do like how small rotaries are, and the fact that even if you blow up the apex seals they still run (just not at full power). I'm actually surprised they haven't seen more aircraft use. But as a car engine - no bueno.
fordson1 says:
07:37 AM, 10/10/11
I'm with church. Failure as a combustion device. Hard to complete the combustion event in the time allotted...and you have an effective rev range of 5k to 9k rpm, so the time allotted is really, really minimal?
Buh-bye.
If the market was in the midst of a handling war, this would be the device, but it's in the midst of a hp war - knife to a gunfight.