The Mazda RX Series and Their Rotary Engines

The RX series of Mazda are well known for their rotary engines. What is a rotary engine by the way? A rotary engine is a type of internal combustion engine which uses a rotor to convert pressure into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons like most cars use today. It is basically a four stroke cycle which is generated in a space between the insider of an oval-like housing and roughly triangular rotor. I really don’t want to go to all the technical details. You can just watch the video below to see how a Rotary engine functions.

The RX-7 which was produced since 1978 up to 2002 evolved into a powerful machine since its inception. Beginning with the SA/FB chassis which was produced from 1979-1980 then the FC chassis and finally the popular FD chassis which runs on a 1.3 Litre 13B-REW Rotary Engine. The third and final generation of the RX-7, FD (with FD3S for the JDM and JM1FD for the USA VIN), was an outright, no-compromise sports car by Japanese standards. It featured an aerodynamic, futuristic-looking body design (a testament to its near 11-year lifespan). The 13B-REW was the first-ever mass-produced sequential twin-turbocharger system to export from Japan, boosting power to 255 hp (190 kW) in 1993 and finally 280 DIN hp (276 hp, 208 kW, the Japanese manufacturers' gentlemen's agreement on engine power) by the time production ended in Japan in 2002.

The RX-8 features a 1.3 liter RENESIS two-rotor engine is available as a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters for manual gear selection, or as a six-speed manual with overdrive. The automatic returns 212 hp, the manual 232. Estimated fuel consumption for the automatic is 18 city, 25 highway; for the manual 18/24.