Rotary Engines

[mikey4444]

I have just had a good look at a Mazda RX8 sports car, when was parked in Lidls car-park. Its a smashing looking car !

But why are Maxda the only people left that use the rotary Wankel engine ?

I thought that these engines were the bees knees and I am sure I remember Honda using them in the past ( but I may be wrong about that )

Can anyone tell me, in simple layman's terms, why rotary engines are good, or bad ?

[mikey4444]

I have set the cat amongst the pigeons with this thread it seems !

What I really wanted to know is, .....why would Mazda have persevered with the Rotary Wankel engine, when no other manufacturer did ? If there had been great advantages in so doing, wouldn't other car makers have brought some of their cars with these engines as well ?

By the way, I still think that Mazda RX8 is a smashing looking motor....not sure why they couldn't have continued to make it with an ordinary engine in it. After all, look at the enormous success of the Mazda MX5 ? I see them everywhere !

[tonyav]

mikey, that engine destroyed NSU.
http://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/nsu-ro80-history/

[mikey4444]

Tony...which makes it even more difficult that Mazda preserved with it in the first place !

[tonyav]

I know, mikey. I have never understood why Mazda stuck with that engine.

[snags]

A 1.3 litre that is taxed like a 2.6 litre and drinks like a 6.0 litre.

And suicide doors.

[tonyav]

snags
A 1.3 litre that is taxed like a 2.6 litre and drinks like a 6.0 litre.

And suicide doors.


Don't forget the oil consumption.

[Khandro]

mikey;//which makes it even more difficult that Mazda preserved with it in the first place !//
It can appear so, but in the history of engineering, the people who persevered over and over without giving up have often been the ones who produced great achievements in the end. In this case it wasn't to be, it's something in the German psyche I think.
Look at the Porsche 911, it had so many faults early on that most people would have ceased production. But they persevered and it became one of the most successful of all sports cars ever (820,000 made)

[mikey4444]

It would seem that the mystery of the popularity of the Wankel engine is still unaccounted for, if the debate on here is anything to go by !

Lovely looking car though !

[tonyav]

mikey, it would take a major redesign of the Mazda RX7 to fit a conventional engine, a wankel engine is a much smaller engine than a conventional engine and so the engine compartment is small also.
If I remember correctly when the engine in a NSU RO80 went kaput ( which they frequently did ) the popular conversion was to replace it with a Ford V4 engine ( a compact engine ) due to the size of the engine bay.