Awesome, I loved my 2.0 in the Protege5 I used to have. I’m glad it’s still alive and kicking, very very sweet engine even when it was producing only 130 hp. I’m not as much as a fan on the 2.3-2.5L from Ford, I didn’t like my 4cyl Mazda6 much at all, but in the Speed3 it’s quite improved.

Big news too that theire WILL be a new RX-8. That’s never been a given, and hopefully it will be a more reliable and less oil-dependant. I’ll be interested, and that is a given.

Mazda makes some truly fantastic cars.

This new engine/transmission can’t come fast enough for the Mazda5. It’s a great vehicle let down by its engine and mediocre gas mileage.

Let’s just hope the engine is capable of producing more power than the current one, without losing horsepower when mated to an AT tranny. Living in Atlanta I love the thought of owning a hot compact sport coupe like the Miata, but after owning a Celica and rowing gears in traffic it gets old real quick.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/news/mazda-mx-5-ab-2012-leichter-und-kleiner-1381686.html

Hopefully the next Miata looks like this and also comes in a true coupe version, but either way it’ll be on my shopping list.

Oh well, hopefully they won’t sacrifice the nice performance they currently have in 5th/6th gear, because stupid Toyota and the Corolla did, and it added over a second to reach 60mph.

No such thing as a free lunch.

They’ve been working on a new rotary for years, that will have direct injection and be slightly larger to have more torque. The fact that it is also lighter is something new I haven’t heard. I’d be more interested if they debut it running also on hydrogen.

The 2.3L in my ‘08 MAZDA3 is a little drinker-upper. Only getting 25mpg combined city/highway.

Wow, a new rotary. That only took the better part of 4 decades. Now if we could just have a new RX-7 to go along with it they just might cause the same stir as the original in 1978.

i would love to see them produce a rotary that mpg dose not suck. almost any v8 out there get better mpg then there rotary with a lot more power (thought obviously with lower red line and more weight) a 1.6 should get a bit more torque too witch it needs the to, should be interesting.

maybe we’ll get lucky in 2011 and not only get the new engine but a redesign of the 3’s front end elliminating that clown smile 8>)

I usually get around 26-27 combined, though I usually do mostly city driving in my 2005 3s 5spd manual.

Seeing as how I got 29 combined with the same type of driving in the Corolla I used to own in 2003, which had about 30 less hp, I consider it a worthy trade off.

Johnnycanuck, the rotary in the RX-8 was substanitally different than the RX-7, in that the intake exhaust ports were moved to the rear of the rotor instead of the sides. That in it of itself made it sellable for today’s pollution laws. That, and it didn’t need twin turbos.

Now just add paddle shifters for all of us that would love to see a good 4 cylinder+ paddle shift combo.
It would be efficient and so much fun to drive!
Then the Mazda3 would dominate the earth.

Honda… hint..hint…
put a dual clutch in the civic si. That would also be fantatic as well as livable for those of us in the city.

There is no zoom zoom with Mazda anymore. They took the sport appeal out of their new designs! ;(

d@mn i wish they could just make one for me in my 2008 3 2.3l

People keep claiming RX-8 RENESIS engine takes a whole lot of oil. I never had it drain all the engine oil before an oil change is due. The only issues it had were low end torque for acceleration and gas mileage for city being same as a V8.
I’m hoping the new RX will have 4 seats as well as a small turbo for low end torque.
Ford source V6 are pretty nice, too bad Ford doesn’t use it on their own Mustang.

Renesis engine is also extremely prone to flooding. Sold mine after just 18 months for this, and other reliability/quality reasons. Fun to drive, though (when it was running).

The renesis engine management used in the first years was prone to flooding, now with the new flash they released, you just cant flood it.

Yes the renesis uses oil, but that is BY DESIGN!
You WANT lubrication the combustion chamber, as you have more surface contact.

By the way the new rotary is the 16X, and that is going to be a beast More torque, higher fuel efficiency, same size and lighter by what I read. With enough luck we will be able to retrofit it to the current (or first get 04-08) rx8

I think they started smoking some bad weed in Mazda headquarters. First was exciting announcement, that Mazda found Lord and will forgo hybrid in favor of diesel. Months later news were retracted and Mazda went hybrid all the way. Now 32/42 mpg from 2.0L engine with any number of cogs transmission is as believable as Britney Spears virginity and lucidity.

The oil is used also to seal each section of the combustion chamber in a rotary, not just for lubrication.

oh, and why do diesel when you can do hydrogen in a rotary?

Why doesn’t Mazda just get over their love affair with rotary? It’s getting old, the RX8 would be an amazing sports car if it had a better engine.

And I’ll have to see this 1.6 liter rotary get 30mpg before I believe it, doesn’t the current 1.3 liter get like 16/22mpg?