I had a friend who ran the service department for a Mazda dealership and when the RX-8’s first came out I was there for a service on my wife’s van and he took me back and showed me the first one they had received in the back. Beautiful car inside and out and I asked about how she would run and he shook his head and said don’t get it without the extended warranty is all I can tell you. When it worked it worked great, when it didn’t well...
SO MANY people misunderstand the rotary engine it’s not even funny. Even guys who call themselves experts.
They are neat engines, and should be put into play in something. But many people think the 13B is “1.3 liters” which is wrong. It’s an easy mistake, but they are using 4 stroke math to calculate that displacement. It’s a 2.6.
And when it comes to 2.6 engines you’ll now understand that it’s not a magical beast. It’s just a 2.6 liter engine. The early 80s Supra (I owned several Supras at the same time as my 87 GXL RX-7) is the same performance only the 5MGE lasts forever.
Both were .. neat .. on power but not as elite as everyone thinks.
Oh, and a Rotary actually redlines around 14-16k. It’s the belts and accessories that can’t take over 9k. They respond VERY well to turbocharging though, but you need to know how to actually drive a turbo for it to work.