2012 Mazda RX7?

Crash

Ever been in a Porsche? There's nothing but a seat a wheel and some gauges. The Ruff Porsches don't even have door handles. They have pull strings! Believe me, the Cayman doesn't weigh anything because their is nothing.

That's already a stripped car that weighs 2900. You think Mazda is going to come out with a stripped car that they can sell? Especially thinking they can get the car down to 2650!!!??? HELL no!

That car is going to break 3100 EASY! The ZR1 is almost all carbon fiber and it weighs more than 3200 Lbs! AND IT'S A RACE CAR!!!! No way the RX-7 is getting close to 2650.

My Solstice weighs in at exactly 3000 Lbs with 1/2 a tank of gas. And there's almost NOTHING to that car. I'd be VERY impressed if Mazda can produce a car that weighs even 2900Lbs straight from the factory.

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2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary

tvfreakazoid

It will still be a nice competitor. I hope it does come out. Maybe it won't be 2600lbs but if it hits 3k all they have to do is bump the hp to 300 or so.

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Mudders milk

370sed

A Cayman doesn't have anything? That's the first time I've heard that lol! Nothing certainly does cost a pretty penny...

...but....Have you ever been in an RX-8? It's a 4 dr sedan. It's far from stripped down, not a Lexus, but good materials, solid, 4 adult useable (2 heated) leather seats, sunroof, Bose, etc. I've added heavier solid sway bars, coilovers, f/r 4-pt strutbars, PC680 bat, etc and ....when corner weighted with 150lb sandbag in the front seat (aka me)....3147lbs

... so my RX-8 is ~3,000lbs. Taking away 220lb (100kg) gets to 2780lbs.... sounds reasonable with the removal of 2 rear seats, sunroof, some wheelbase & bodywork...more aluminum... 2700-2800lb shouldn't be THAT hard for Mazda.

Mazda KNOWS weight is the enemy of everything good in a sports car

Endgame

??? I said the RX car would be 2650 + 200 or 300 pounds with the new safety regs, bringing the car to a 2850-2950 pound weight. The Cayman is definately not a stipped car! GT3 RS= stripped, Cayman, no....

As 370sed stated, look at the RX8; it weighs 3050 now and it is have all the new safety features. Take out the rear seats, shortened the chasis and you could easily drop 150-200 pounds.

Lastly, the ZR1 weighs more like 3300 pounds, the Z06 weighs 3130. Even still, what weighs them down the most? THEIR ENGINE!! The Rotary cars chasis weighs about par with most other sport cars; their savings come from the wieght of the Rotary engine versus a piston engine. Put a 2 Rotor in a ZR1 and watch the weight come down at least 300-450 pounds if not more.

travisjb

Um, yes. Before my Z, I've owned and tracked a boxster s for the last for years... all the necessary luxuries, with nothing unnecessary I agree... still, it only got light after I swapped out parts from the factory for aftermarket... had it down to 3050 with driver... even then, had 7" nav/dvd, a/c, even door and door handles! ... porsche is all about balance and handling, not absolute min weight... And, yes, I've driven Ruf cars as well... here's a couple pics from a recent 'pilgrimage' I made to Pfafenhausen... door handles everywhere Ruf customers are not driving at the racetrack, they are generally mega-rich guys driving on the street or collecting

I'm personally looking forward to a new Rx-7 ! Had a gen 1 ('79) and gen 2 ('85)... wrecked both sadly, so hopefully now with a few more gray hairs I can keep the next one out of trouble! First one especially was a great car!

Attached Images

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	ruf2.jpg (46.0 KB, 28 views)

tvfreakazoid

I hear that the rotary engines are expensive to fix if something goes wrong with them since it has less moving parts. I also heard that those engines won't last as long as a piston engine.

Well I hope mazda brings back the rx-7. I saw some more drawing of it and I didn't like it all that much, except for the front. I hope they improve on the looks. I also read that they might make it a turbo. I read that they are working on a forced inductions for it.

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Mudders milk

Lug

I had an early RX7 for over 10 years and had to rebuild the carburetor once. That was the sum total of nonscheduled maintenance. Rotary engines are expensive to work because not many mechanics have experience with them but as long as you don't let the oil get low, they are practically indestructable. They get poor gas mileage for their displacement but are unbeatable when it comes to power vs weight/size. I have always thought Lotus should have used the mazda engine in their Elise and Exige models instead of the Toyota. Would have been a better fit.

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keep Chubbs in your pocket - Chubbs

tvfreakazoid

How much did it cost you to rebuild the carburetor? Is the rx7 stock or have you upgraded it?

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Mudders milk

Lug

I got it in 1980 and sold it somewhere around 1992. The carb rebuild was just a kit. I rebuilt it myself. I believe I had somewhere around 130K on it when I sold it. One of the most reliable cars I've ever owned.

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keep Chubbs in your pocket - Chubbs

370sed

All RX-8s have an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty on the rotary engine core components (those few moving parts and housings). This was added to the original 4 year 50,000 mile to quell any doubts people might have had about engine longevity. Doesn't get any better than that does it? So warranty on my 2003 will be up in..let's see 2011

Say, how long is a Z engine warrantied for anyway?

SkyZ

ive seen 300k rx7s before. but most dont make it that far cuz they get modded and nos'd and just totally destroyed by the F&F crowd.

Crash

From those pics, I see a Ruf Cr3. Is that what you have?

Not ALL Ruf cars are tracked out. My old boss's speedball weighed close to 2500Lbs (as far as I recall) and was the most basic of interiors possible. But that was certainly a track car. (Though he drives it like a daily. LOL) Yeah, the Ruf cars are mega money, and I've worked for a lot of the richest guys in Los Angeles.

I'm not talking about what you CAN make a car weigh. I'm talking about what it DOES weigh from the factory. Anyone can strip a car and replace parts with after-market light weight parts... But what I'm saying is that the RX-7 will certainly leave no room for improvement if they DID meet their weight goal. (Which I still don't think they can if they follow the rules.) But it's true that a rotary motor weighs practically nothing, and that stripping the back seats from an RX-8 and shortening the chassis is going to reduce weight. I just don't think it's 200Lbs worth of weight. Hypothetically, if they're already using light weight materials as is, then they're stripping light-weight materials in the first place...

So take a step back an look at the big picture. The chassis will be a couple inches shorter, the motor will be, what, maybe 20Lbs lighter (if). And You don't have back seats. I see (with the motor weight) maybe 160-180Lbs difference. Then because the car is smaller and lighter, the safety standards change and become more strict adding more weight. Keep in mind that Mazda is already going to be taking a lot of these steps ahead of time to save money and time in the development, while also trying to get away with what every they can.

Now I don't disagree that if the car can even get down to about 3000Lbs that the RX-7 won't be a good contender, and I would LOVE to see another RX-7. I just think that 2650Lbs is a pipe-dream. I'm not trying to be argumentative... Just realistic.

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2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary