The problem with the RX8 was platform bloat.
The Gen 1 RX7 weighed 2300 pounds. The current RX8 weighs >3100 pounds. On the other hand, a current Miata weighs around 2300 pounds. Mazda fans have been hoping for a rotary Miata since the model was introduced, and Mazda has played with a hardtop variant of the Miata, like the Porsche Cayman hardtop. I’ll bet they could do a homologation version of a rotary powered Miata hardtop that would weigh in at 2000 pounds. 300 HP on that kind of platform would rock!
My RX-3 kicked royal butt back in the day. It was my first car and it was SO fast! I cannot believe this article today for I was wondering why I do not see many RX-8. THanks for the explanation.
Why did not the rotary motor take off better, certainly less parts to go bad?