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__________________ Headphones Currently Using: High-End: MDR-R10, RS-2, Qualia 010 Normal: MDR-V6, HD-580, DT-770 Portable: Super.Fi 5, MDR-EX700, SE530 Professional: MDR-7506, HD-280, MDR-7509HD DJ:MDR-V700, HDJ-1000 Amplifier Currently Using: Everyday: Grace M902 Albums Currently Listening:
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Nas - Untitled
Remember chaps, Mazda is owned by Ford these days.
I rather like the RX-8, and it certainly sold much better than the RX-7. In the UK anyway. But yeah those Wankels need lots of oil to keep them going. That screaming noise at umpteen million revs is giggle inducing though.
I'm very proud of Mazda for continuing in the development of Wankel engines, however I don't think I'd ever buy one as a main vehicle.
If my understanding is correct, if a rotary engine had nearly as much R&D as the piston-based engines we all have in of our cars, they'd be much more reliable due to the significantly lower parts count.
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lol everyone who bashes rotary's reliability either has never owned one or if they did didn't take care of it
mine is pushing ~240k km's without issue
__________________ I listen to music...
This music saved my life, so i'll be dead and ****ing gone before it's bought and sold like appliances and cars. - I-SPY "Appliances and Cars"
the main problem with rotarys isnt reliability, it is somewhat of an issue becuase it runs at higher RPM´s, therefore oil changes are more frequent and maintenance windows should be closer,
the main issue is that wankel rotary engines tend to have the fuel consumption of a piston engine about twice the size, which is the original reason why when mazda tried to export their first gen rotaries to the US and europe, it was just during the 1970´s oil embargo, and they didnt sell very well,
lol everyone who bashes rotary's reliability either has never owned one or if they did didn't take care of it
mine is pushing ~240k km's without issue
I have never known an FD (Don't know any one who still runs an FC) owner that did not have reliability problems. The FD runs notoriously hot and if you've ever pushed your car hard or been to a track day, the 13B will give you problems no matter how well you take care of it. Because of the way the Rotary is designed, it has a laundry list of problems just because of the way the engine is designed, couple this with the fact that the FD was poorly designed in terms of cooling to begin with and you'll definitely have fun if you ever do anything more than drive from point A to B every morning. Overheating, pressure loss, carbon build-up, and blown apex seals, are just some of the problems that most of the guys I know have run into. While there are less things to potentially go wrong on a Rotary since there're less places where something can go wrong compared to a standard piston engine, it doesn't mean that less things will go wrong.
I have never known an FD (Don't know any one who still runs an FC) owner that did not have reliability problems. The FD runs notoriously hot and if you've ever pushed your car hard or been to a track day, the 13B will give you problems no matter how well you take care of it. Because of the way the Rotary is designed, it has a laundry list of problems just because of the way the engine is designed, couple this with the fact that the FD was poorly designed in terms of cooling to begin with and you'll definitely have fun if you ever do anything more than drive from point A to B every morning. Overheating, pressure loss, carbon build-up, and blown apex seals, are just some of the problems that most of the guys I know have run into. While there are less things to potentially go wrong on a Rotary since there're less places where something can go wrong compared to a standard piston engine, it doesn't mean that less things will go wrong.
You're half-right and half-wrong with these comments - the reasons the FD is so notoriously unreliable relate primarily to its extremely complex sequential turbo system (i.e. hundreds of tiny vacuum lines, buried and invisible, all ready to become brittle due to heat and pop off, causing umpteen hard-to-trace problems), and rather inadequate stock cooling system, rather than anything inherent to the rotary. In addition, many people ignorantly perform seemingly basic mods - e.g. replacing cats w/ midpipe, air filter, downpipe - without the fuel to match (the stock fuel system cannot keep up to a few such mods), and therefore suffer the problems you mention due to lean conditions. NA rotaries (and simplified FI ones, tuned properly) are a totally different story; you'll find many, many, many 1st and 2nd gen NA Rx-7's going strong at high mileage. My rather modified (i.e. ~ 60% higher power output than stock) 12A FB is going strong at 25 years old and 140,000 kms, for example, with no problems relating to 'the way the engine is designed'. And let me tell you, it's seen a lot more than being grannied from A to B!
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