Model Year 2011 RX-8 will be the last...
 

Rotary News

RotaryNews.com has confirmed the MY-2011 (Model Year 2011) RX-8 will be the last. What this means is there will be another gap when Mazda will have no Rotary Powered car in the US market.

There will be no Tokyo Autoshow this year for passenger cars, as 2010 is a commercial vehicle show., nor have we heard of a project car for the LA or Detroit autoshow. What this means is at the earliest, the RX-7 concept could be shown at the 2011 Tokyo Autoshow, in October 2011. Mazda still has to sort out issues with the 16x, so it could 2012-2013 at the earliest before the next Rotary Sports Car hits the streets.

sad to see the rotary go but the rx-8 is really past its prime, time for the 16x to get out there in a new car!

Oki i know this is a bit off topic, but kinda on topic. But serious question, not an insult or anything.

What is the appeal of these cars to u?

cuz from the outside, I see a car that is sort of sporty, but far less so than some of its competition, underpowered for its class, and it gets the gas milage of a car with a large displacement motor w/o the grunt of one. I just dont "get it", and I would like to "get it". Like idk but for me if a car is gonna have crap mpgs then it better haul some insane ass, and this doesnt even when compared to the Z, sti, evo, etc. Idk anything about the aftermarket scene for them so maybe thats legit? but someone please enlighten my ignorance.

Again, Im not bashing, Im seeking knowledge and being honest.

I see ur point, i think they look great with a lip kit but the lack of power is just too much. And from what i have seen, the Renesis doesnt respond to well to boost. I didnt think the 8 was in the same price range as a Z tho??

Ok maybe not with the 370 Z but back with the 350 i think they were competitive. even w/o that one though, its still underpowered to the likes of the WRX, Camaro V6, mustang V6, Cobalt SS, MS3, etc

Looks are largely personal preference, so there's really no way to compare one make/model to another. Some people think it looks great, others won't. I think the Z's look like bubble-like spaceships (like back end of the new series eclipses), wrx/sti's look like go-carts, and I just can't get into the whole front grille layout of the evo. Not to mention (evo's aside) there are about a billion and one of them on the road everywhere you look. I can't throw a rock in my neighborhood without hitting a WRX or STI. My friend bought the high end 350 when it first came out, he wound up selling it a few years later because everyone had one at that point.

Personally, I think even the stock 8's look better than just about anything in the price class below, even, or above it. I know that I get at least 2-3 compliments in parking lots on any given day I drive it somewhere. There are a million people out there that probably feel the exact opposite. That stuff's just preference.

Aesthetics aside though, not everything is about speed. My shinka is an absolute joy to drive, and I haven't even done much performance-wise to it yet. The handling is fantastic. In all honesty, if you want to 'get' what all the rotary-heads fuss about, I'd really suggest finding a way to drive one on a nice day on a long stretch of curvy road. Sure, 1st/2nd are a chore sometimes, and your HP isn't off the charts, but I really wouldn't trade my car for any of those others; Depsite the headaches that come along with it at times.

As far as aftermarket, there's turbo's and superchargers, plus all the usual stuff to start bumping up the HP bit by bit if that's really what you need. You'll probably never get to the crazy levels you can with some other cars, but like I said, it's really not all about that if you want to truly appreciate the RX8. Some people have tremendous success with boosting, others don't. A lot of the failures you catch wind of though probably have more to do with the fact that the people don't always have the best grasp on the engine that they're working with though, rather than it being a byproduct of the engine design itself.

rx-8s are one of those cars that you have to drive to understand why people get them. up until about 3 years ago it was still beating a lot of its competitors in head to head competitions in the major car magazines. i can see why a lot of people would not want them but the rx-8 was a landmark car when it came out (i can still remember the initial commercials). yea it is definitely way beyond its years but its replacement will be another game changer, mazda just let it out to dry for way to long. hopefully they won't do that with the speed3.

sad to see it go but happy to see the rx7 come back

Hopefully they will release a factory turbo rx8, call it a mazdaspeed rx8. Kinda like the Spirit RX7's.

But this is how the rotary world works. This will really fuel the 16X fire. 30% more hp and tq...plus increased mpg...and 1.6L. I have a dream...

i don't think mazda will ever put a factory turbo on a rotary motor i don't know if the 16x is going to be turboed

like i said, i have a dream

Ive never really understood the point of these cars, for the price they really dont outperform anything in their class. As a whole there just doesn't seem to be much advantage to the rotary, the hp isnt amazing, the gas mileage isn't either. The noise is not really appealing, then theres the fact that it can only be serviced by a select few outside of a dealership.

If its so great and revolutionary why has it never been in more than one car? Just seems like alot of work from a business standpoint with little return on investment for Mazda.

RX8's are chick cars :lol:

just kidding. kinda

from a racing standpoint rotaries are space efficient and free revinng...and due to their thermal inefficiency in the exhaust they respond really well to boost....but from a daily driving reliable street car....they are temperamental and take a specific type of attention...if you service them properly and keep up on your oil and warm them up and cool them down....n/a rotaries will last forever..........starting getting crazy with the mods and you better start trailering the car

that's Mazda for ya.

only new mazda's lol

1990-1995 aka OBD I mazda run forever lol hell look at all the miata's that have popped up lately on this site alone. people asking and getting 3500 for a car that has 160k miles but "runs like it has 30k"

I'll boldy say the BP series motors (b6p, b8p) were/are the best motors mazda ever made.

nahh even fc's.....i'm just talking rotaries not mazda in general....

No argument here.

I have not driven one but if Mitsu went poof I would kill to get one of these in my driveway.

http://www.rotorhead.ca/articles/wp-...ls_rx8R3_1.jpg


R3 is one of the best handling cars on the planet in stock form. Probably the best front engine RWD.

i don't know about all of that....
slolom:
2009 civic si sedan 68.8 fwd
2009 cobalt ss 69.2 fwd
2009 rx-8 r3 70.8 rwd



skid pad
2009 civic si sedan 89 g's fwd
2009 cobalt ss .89 g's fwd
2009 rx8 r3 .87g rwd


rx8 is certainly a quick handler and such but i don't think it's "OMGZ"