Mazda RX-Vision

t is stunning, and without question the star of the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show. Long, low, wide, sexy, with carbon-fiber wheels—in short, the RX-Vision is everything you want in a sports car concept. Even crazier, under that massive hood will one day, says Mazda, be a rotary engine (read about Mazda's rotary legacy here). Wankel lovers rejoice! Mazda is calling this future rotary the Skyactiv-R, and it claims that this new powerplant will be able to address the cylinderless engine’s inherent Achilles’ heels: fuel economy and emissions. And hey, 2018 marks the 40-year anniversary of the original RX-7. Talk about a feel-good little-sports-car-company-that-could story. They simply gotta do it! Here’s the thing, though: This particular car, the one you’re looking at, this libidinous British-looking honey, ain’t gonna happen. Not like we saw in Tokyo, at any rate. Look, I love massive dash-to-axle ratios as much as the next guy—though apparently not as much as whoever at Mazda designed the RX-Vision, schwing!—but one of the Wankel’s raison d’êtres is how compact it is. As more than 10 of my colleagues at the show joked, “You could fit a 10-rotor motor in there.” Or, as I kept pointing out, a V-12. I think I can say with a great deal of certainty that if/when the successor to the RX-8 shows up, it will be much smaller than this here Tokyo concept car. You just don’t need a hood like that with a rotary.
Mazda Rx Vision Concept Front Three Quarters

 

And a rotary? Really? Look, I have little doubt that given enough time and money (emphasis on money), Mazda’s engineers could reinvent the Wankel to the point where it doesn’t spew noxious pollutants and allows a 3,000-pound car to get more than 13 miles per gallon. But time isn’t on Mazda’s side, as 2018 is looming. Getting a car to market in essentially two years’ time complete with an engine that doesn't exist yet seems, to put it kindly, challenging. Putting it unkindly would be to say impossible. Also, and please don’t take this the wrong way, Mazda pals, but last time I checked, money wasn’t on your side, either. Could a modern car be a pure rotary? Look, by 2018, the global enthusiast community will be so used to essentially lag-free turbos and instantaneous electric torque that who’s gonna wanna wait around for a gutless rotary? I like revving engines out to 9K, 10K, 11K as much as the next guy, and I will still explain to anyone who asks me that the RX-8 R3 is one of the best-handling cars I’ve ever driven. But is there a market for a (relatively) slow sports car? Will there be?
Mazda Rx Vision Concept Rear Taillight 02
Now what if the Skyactiv-R had some sort of electric torque-fill, an EV assist that got the car up to speed more quickly and helped offset some of the inherent emissions issues? Sure, possible (and there’s room under that hood!) except that batteries and motors and thick electrical looms are heavy. Heavy is not the Mazda way, and more specifically, it’s not the RX way. A new Cosmos? Sure, go nuts. But a hybrid just wouldn’t work in a reborn RX sports car. That’s against the formula. Speaking of formula, I brought up my objections to a modern day rotary to some Mazda pals. They said that the Wankel engine is the soul of Mazda. It is the brand’s DNA. I said many things in response (my favorite being, “So you’re saying all the Mazdas currently on sale have no soul?”), but the important point was this: The Wankel is not the heart and soul of Mazda. The most important single aspect of a Mazda is that Mazdas are great to drive. Zoom zoom. End of story. People used to say that all Porsches had to be air-cooled. There are still some loudmouths who say stuff like that. You can tell who they are because they don’t drive Porsches. I counter them by saying that the modern 911, the 991, is subjectively a better car than what came before (sacrilege, I know), but it’s also demonstratively better in terms of its position in the market. Not only is Porsche selling more 911s than ever, but 911s account for a larger portion of the overall sports car market than they ever did, especially when they were water-free.
Mazda Rx Vision Concept Front Wheels
My point is, wedding (or hamstringing) yourself to a particular technology for the sake of some sort of historic connection—in the 1960s when the Japanese government was trying to force Mazda into a merger with Mitsubishi, the tiny car company was allowed to stay independent because of its Wankel expertise—is counterproductive. As neat as a Wankel is on paper, wouldn’t it better for Mazda to build a sports car that has a chance of thriving? I just don’t see a rotary-powered car doing that. A better (and I’ll argue cheaper) way to go would be to turn the existing Skyactiv inline-four into a straight-six. Hey, a straight-six is a V-12 cut in half, but it still takes up the same amount of length. Meaning that a long-hooded beauty like the RX-Vision would be a perfect candidate for such an engine. Imagine if Mazda took the current fourth-generation Miata, added a roof and six inches to the wheelbase, widened it a touch, dropped in a 300-horsepower, naturally aspirated straight-six, kept the Tokyo show car’s styling, and the entire car clocked in at about 2,800 pounds? Who wouldn’t want that? Rotary schmotary, says me.