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Originally Posted by mikeSS
ya i feel you on that. its a drivers car, but takes a certain person to really want it. over a 370z for example. i know they are well balanced and handle great but they have to many draw backs.
the reason why there car sales are low is one true reason and that is the car is just to underpowered. even the rx7 was fast for its time, but had sooo many problems with the engine. mazda needs to drop its rotary engine if they want to compete with sports cars. like 370z or mustang for example. and sales prove people want 370zs and mustangs over rx8s.
and rx8 owners always, say " If mazda made a bigger or turbo rotary its would be a lot better." but i always say then why don't they ? because there will be to many problems and MPG on a bigger rotary would be nuts. and a turbo rotary would have problems.
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I think it's a combination of being underpowered and also all of it's quirks. I'd be willing to guess that 50% or more of it's potential customer base barely know what a rotary engine is, let alone anything about it. If I'm car shopping, and suddenly find out the car I'm looking at is some engine I've never heard of, I'm gone.
I've heard those arguments for a larger or boosted engine, and it would be completely retarded. You'd get like 5 mpg, and if it was boosted you'd be swapping engines once a week from blowing them.
The thing that is strange, is that I realize it sold well early on, and the Wankel is part of their heritage and they don't want to completely get rid of it, but considering that they have some pretty decent motors in-house, such as the 4 banger in the MS3, and even the V6 in the MS6 isn't bad. Plus I'm pretty sure they can still raid the Ford parts bin, I don't know why they aren't snagging Eco-Boost and doing something with it