guionM and other "in the know" people, word on a new RX7?

I've been hearing rumors that mazda may be bringing back the RX7 as a 2 door, possibly supercharged version of the RX8. Anyone heard anything else, or have any links to some tidbits?

I dont know but I think this is part of an influx of internet rumors to pop up lately.

Another popular one is that Nissan is going to re-release some twin turbo Z-32 (Fairlady) 300Zs. Becasue while many people like the 350, the older Z enthusiast especially Z32 guys tend not too.

Both of these woild be cool, but I doubt either of them. I guess the RX-7 one is more feasable.

Originally posted by DarthIROC
I dont know but I think this is part of an influx of internet rumors to pop up lately.

Another popular one is that Nissan is going to re-release some twin turbo Z-32 (Fairlady) 300Zs. Becasue while many people like the 350, the older Z enthusiast especially Z32 guys tend not too.

Both of these woild be cool, but I doubt either of them. I guess the RX-7 one is more feasable.

Yah, I had also heard rumors of a new 3000GT, but that one seemed the least likely to me.

Originally posted by newby
Yah, I had also heard rumors of a new 3000GT, but that one seemed the least likely to me.

That'd be pretty sweet. My buddy has the AWD version from '97. He's got around 400 horsepower in it, and he's just bought two new turbos to replace the old ones. Nice car, except for the weight.

I haven't been keeping up on upcoming Japaneese cars much. I can tell you that the next version of the GT-R Skyline will be sold here in Infinity dealerships, and Toyota is bringing out a high performance RWD sports car.

As for the RX7, I've heard that it's in the works, but that info comes from the internet, so I don't know how credible it is.

Beyond what's happening here in the US and what's being done over in Australia, my knowledge of what vehicles are coming down the line & what's being developed is pretty pathethic. :(

I always thought the new RX-8 was the replacement/next gen RX-7 :confused:

Considering how close to bankruptcy Mitsu is, I'd say a new 3000gt is about as likely as flying pigs, lol.

Originally posted by Chris 96 WS6
Considering how close to bankruptcy Mitsu is, I'd say a new 3000gt is about as likely as flying pigs, lol.
I've heard from a couple people that the 300gt was coming back, buy yeah, I'd probably expect to see the pigs first too.

Originally posted by guionM
I haven't been keeping up on upcoming Japaneese cars much. I can tell you that the next version of the GT-R Skyline will be sold here in Infinity dealerships, and Toyota is bringing out a high performance RWD sports car.


I thought that the Skyline wasn't going to come over after all?:confused:

Originally posted by Z28x
I always thought the new RX-8 was the replacement/next gen RX-7 :confused:

No, it was never intended as a replacement for the RX-7. As the RX-8 was being introduced, Mazda's official word was that it was considering building a new RX-7 on the RX-8 platform, depending on how that model did saleswise. I don't think the '8 has done well enough to justify a new RX-7 for them:(

Unfortunately the RX-8 manages to get extremely poor fuel economy while not being exactly speedy. Who wants a 14.5-15.0 sec. car that gets 20mpg? It may be slow, but it sure is thirsty! I still think it is way cooler than the 350Z(X) pig.

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin
No, it was never intended as a replacement for the RX-7. As the RX-8 was being introduced, Mazda's official word was that it was considering building a new RX-7 on the RX-8 platform, depending on how that model did saleswise. I don't think the '8 has done well enough to justify a new RX-7 for them:(

Unfortunately the RX-8 manages to get extremely poor fuel economy while not being exactly speedy. Who wants a 14.5-15.0 sec. car that gets 20mpg? It may be slow, but it sure is thirsty! I still think it is way cooler than the 350Z(X) pig.

Yah, unfortunately the US version of the RX8 has significantly less power than it's over-seas brethren, and is indeed very gas hungry.

It does, however, handle really really well. There's an RX8 being run in the stock class at the local auto-x meets that is beating 350Zs and some of the modified vettes.

If they came out with a 2 door, 2 seat version of the RX8, with a turbocharged rotary, it could end up being a very exciting car. The RX8 is already below 3,000 lbs, take out 2 doors and 2 seats, up the HP and :D

Originally posted by mastrdrver
I thought that the Skyline wasn't going to come over after all?:confused:

On the contrary. :)

Assuming you are talking about the GT-R replacement (the regular Nissan Skyline has been sold here for some time as the Infinity G35 coupe & sedan), it will have a different body than regular Skylines this time & will be sold world wide to cover the cost.


Originally posted by slt
I've heard from a couple people that the 300gt was coming back, buy yeah, I'd probably expect to see the pigs first too.

Mitsubishi is in a world of hurt right now. The Australian government has now also refused to fork over additional cash to Mitsubishi. They had a Ste. Therese type of agreement with Mitsu to produce cars and maintain jobs in exchange for government cash. Seems Mitsu went back for additional cash & was rejected.

If Mitsubishi's parent company or the Japaneese government don't raise the cash to bail it out I doubt they'll be around more than another year or so. At least not as an independent company.

Originally posted by Z28x
I always thought the new RX-8 was the replacement/next gen RX-7 :confused:

Like Dan said, the RX8 was never planned as an RX7 replacement. It's that Mazda names all their rotary cars with the prefix of "RX".

Yep, there was an RX3 (a economy sedan), an RX4 (a coupe & sedan), an RX5 (called the Mazda Cosmos in Japan), an RX6, the RX7 (the car in question), and now the latest rotary powered body style, the RX8.

Originally posted by newby
It does, however, handle really really well. There's an RX8 being run in the stock class at the local auto-x meets that is beating 350Zs and some of the modified vettes.


Those Vette drivers must suck at life:D , the C5 is as just about as light and has waaaay more torque and better skidpad #'s. (maybe they are 1st/2nd gen Vettes?)

Originally posted by guionM
On the contrary. :)



Mitsubishi is in a world of hurt right now. The Australian government has now also refused to fork over additional cash to Mitsubishi. They had a Ste. Therese type of agreement with Mitsu to produce cars and maintain jobs in exchange for government cash. Seems Mitsu went back for additional cash & was rejected.



I've heard that Proton are going to move into the Australian Mitsubishi plant..

Originally posted by Z28x
Those Vette drivers must suck at life:D , the C5 is as just about as light and has waaaay more torque and better skidpad #'s. (maybe they are 1st/2nd gen Vettes?)

That's very possible:D The RX8 is only about 100lbs lighter, but, more power isn't always a good thing on a small auto-x course. In fact, there's now 1 less Z06 on the road as the result of the last local auto-x :(

I think skidpad numbers between the 2 are pretty dang close to equal, with the RX8 running MUCH skinnier tires stock. The perfect 50/50 weight distribution on the RX8 is cool, although I know the corvette is pretty dang close to a 50/50.

50/50 isn't "perfect", nothing magic about that weight distribution. Ideally a rear-drive performance car would have some rear bias. With an 8th of a tank of gas and me in it, the 240Z is at 49/51:) Now to get that 30 lb. lighter carbon fiber hood...

The C5 Z51 is at 49/51.

Originally posted by guionM
Yep, there was an RX3 (a economy sedan), an RX4 (a coupe & sedan), an RX5 (called the Mazda Cosmos in Japan), an RX6, the RX7 (the car in question), and now the latest rotary powered body style, the RX8.

There was never an Rx6. The first US rotary Mazda was the R100 followed by the Rx2, 3,4, the rotary pick-up, the Cosmo(Rx5) and three generations of Rx7s.

RX stands for Rotary Experimental.

Originally posted by mrbob
There was never an Rx6. The first US rotary Mazda was the R100 followed by the Rx2, 3,4, the rotary pick-up, the Cosmo(Rx5) and three generations of Rx7s.

RX stands for Rotary Experimental.
considering the recent reliability reports, i guess eXperimental is still quite appropriate.

Originally posted by morb|d
considering the recent reliability reports, i guess eXperimental is still quite appropriate.

What reliability reports would those be? All I've seen lately is the RX8 Renesis engine listed as one of the top 10 engines from last year...

Not flaming ya, I would just like to know.

Perhaps it will look something like this: here (http://www.photochopper.com/photochops/rx8body.jpg) I like the absense of the little half door.

Edit: Here is a concept I just made. I forgot to get rid of the watermark of the website that took the original picture of the RX-8, so I'm not just stealing this and claiming it as mine :rolleyes:. I'm not as good at photoediting as that guy is though.


I took the hood and headlights from a heavily modified RX-7 and put them on the RX-8. Then, I got rid of the bar that seperates the driver side window and backseat passenger. Then I shortened the roof a few inches. Then I added a spoiler from another RX-7, because an RX-7 isn't cool without a spoiler. Yea, yea, yea, shut up rice heads, it needs the spoiler or it will look like a Ford Probe. :p I don't really like the spoiler I added, but I couldn't find another RX-7 at the same angle.http://members.aol.com/speedbbb/myideaofnewrx-7.jpg

Here is the original pic of the RX-8 click here to see it (http://www.autogaleria.sitenet.pl/tapety/img/mazda/mazda_rx-8_2003_01_s.jpg)

I took the hood and headlights from a heavily modified RX-7 and put them on the RX-8. Then, I got rid of the bar that seperates the driver side window and backseat passenger. Then I shortened the roof a few inches. Then I added a spoiler from another RX-7, because an RX-7 isn't cool without a spoiler. Yea, yea, yea, shut up rice heads, it needs the spoiler or it will look like a Ford Probe. :p I don't really like the spoiler I added, but I couldn't find another RX-7 at the same angle.http://members.aol.com/speedbbb/myideaofnewrx-7.jpg

your color matching is terrible. but that looks pretty good as an RX7 replacement. i agree about the ford probe comparo.

Psst... shut up unless you can do better. ;)

I think my pic give you a good idea of what I'd like to see. I think my color matching was quite a bit better than my lumpy dented hood too. :o

Here's a comparison pic of the two:
http://members.aol.com/speedbbb/rx-8rx-7concept.jpg

Looks good, but doesn't look that much different from the FD body style.

Here's a pic from a japanese mag that had "guesses" at what the next RX7 and 3000GT could look like:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/RotaryBlvd/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=433075

Huh, those are some interesting ideas. I guess I just can't seem to get out of the '90s. The trend in sports cars seems to be making them taller and more comfortable.
http://www.jayspec7.com/myrx7pics/rx8/rx8a.jpg
I guess I better make a few quick millions so I can start my own car company that gets poor sales on low bodied sports cars. :cool:

*Edit* A friend of mine tooled around with the picture I made and made it a bit more modern. I hate the useless roof scoop, but I suppose the rest is nice.
http://www.gambacurta.ca/langis/seven.jpg

Originally posted by newby
What reliability reports would those be? All I've seen lately is the RX8 Renesis engine listed as one of the top 10 engines from last year...

Not flaming ya, I would just like to know.
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=192052&highlight=RX8

that's a thread from this forum from about 5 months ago. i haven't heard anything since, but if any of that is true, its still disconserting even if the numbers aren't that great. it will be interesting to see the reliability of those engines over the next 5 years. many pervious gen RX-7 needed a rebuild at 60k-70k miles.

Originally posted by morb|d
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=192052&highlight=RX8

that's a thread from this forum from about 5 months ago. i haven't heard anything since, but if any of that is true, its still disconserting even if the numbers aren't that great. it will be interesting to see the reliability of those engines over the next 5 years. many pervious gen RX-7 needed a rebuild at 60k-70k miles.

That's interesting, haven't heard anything like that lately. Wonder if it was an actual production issue, or if it was a semi-isolated thing :confused:

I think rotary's have a bad reputation because they really weren't reliable at first. They've improved tremenously over the years, and still sell really well in Japan in the RX7s (they might be done with the RX7 in Japan now, but I know they were building them up until a few years ago for sure.)

I mean, the engine only has 3 moving parts, the biggest issue is oil/coolant delivery, something which has improved greatly since their introduction.

Rotary engines can last just as long as any other engine, they're just much more sensitive to poor care than other engines. I know of lots of rotary engines with 150-200k on the stock engine. I guess it's all just relative. Like when people tell me that there aren't any LT1's out there with over 60,000mi on them with untouched heads (i.e. blown headgaskets, etc):rolleyes:

Rotary engines can last just as long as any other engine, they're just much more sensitive to poor care than other engines. I know of lots of rotary engines with 150-200k on the stock engine. I guess it's all just relative. Like when people tell me that there aren't any LT1's out there with over 60,000mi on them with untouched heads (i.e. blown headgaskets, etc):rolleyes: [/B]

I think most American RX-7s from 1993 to 1995 are ticking time bombs at about 85,000 to 90,000 miles. Most of the ones I see on ebay are being sold because of engine fires, blown turbos, smoking because of lost compression, and etc.

Oh, but to reenforce your comment about the LT1s, my '95 Z28 has 66,000 miles (approximate, I don't want to go look) and it is still completely stock except for a rebuilt transmission :). Then again, I don't race my car at all, it's never been over 110 mph.

Originally posted by Brangeta
I think most American RX-7s from 1993 to 1995 are ticking time bombs at about 85,000 to 90,000 miles. Most of the ones I see on ebay are being sold because of engine fires, blown turbos, smoking because of lost compression, and etc.


How many of those are STOCK though? I see some of those too, but they've usually been abused. It's easy to turn up the power on those cars, and if you don't do it right (just like any other car), bad things happen.

Last time I was cruising e-bay, there were 2 93-95 RX7s with over 150,000 on the clock that were still on the original engine.

Anyway, hope you don't think I'm trying to be argumentative. I have a bad habit of taking the "underdog" side in most things:p

Most of them are abused I imagine, I usually stop reading the ad when I get to the part where they mention "it has a small engine fire, but the damage has been fixed."