A Touring package added such amenities as leather upholstery, a power sunroof, an upgraded sound system and cruise control.Īs if the cooking-version RX-7 didn't handle well enough, there was also an R1 package that included such performance upgrades as Z-rated tires, dual oil coolers, a modest rear spoiler, a front air dam and special suspension tuning. Even the base edition was rather well equipped with ABS, air conditioning, central locking, electric window lifts and a driver-side airbag. Introduced as an early 1993 model, the car came in three trim levels. All of which make this fascinating car a natural Used Car Classic.Ĭhanges were few to the third-gen RX-7 during its brief run in the American market. And thanks to the magic of depreciation, third-gen RX-7s are no longer particularly pricey. The last of the RX-7s is a rare flower indeed: a no-compromise enthusiast's car built in small numbers and with little thought given to the mundane practicalities that automakers usually obsess over. Supercar territory at the time, in other words. This, combined with the twin-turbo rotary that makes 255 bhp, meant 0-60-mph times in the mid-5-second range and a top speed of 160 mph. each, for instance) meant the third-gen car came in at an anorexic 2800 lb. An extreme weight-loss program (the seats are just 33 lb. "(It's) an addicting blend of power, roadholding and exquisite sheet-metal curves.a driver's car, if there ever was one," we said in a 1993 review. 9976 for the 1993 model year, 34 and 5, according to the website But what a car it was and still is. Altogether, Mazda sold just 13,879 cars in the U.S. The third-generation RX-7 was sold here for only three years, although it did soldier on in its native Japan until mid-year 2002. At the same time, the bursting of Japan's bubble economy also sent Mazda into a financial tailspin, leading to a takeover by in late 1995 and a complete reevaluation of the company's products and rotary engine plans. American sports-car fans, who had come to love the first two generations of Mazda's cheap-and-cheerful RX-7s, left showrooms stunned with sticker shock after viewing the all-new, third-generation twin-turbo RX-7 when it made its debut for 1993.Ī $32,000-plus price tag doomed the third-gen RX-7 to a brief life span in the U.S. Unfortunately, it did matter to the marketplace. The company was determined to build one of the world's best sports cars, and the sequential twin-turbo rotary engine was to be its centerpiece. The fact that it was fiendishly complex and costly didn't seem to matter much to Mazda management. But Mazda's system was to be mass-produced. Porsche had already built something similar for its exotic 959. In a nutshell, the system consists of a small turbo that provides boost to the 1.3-liter twin-rotor at low engine speeds, plus a second turbo that comes into play only in the upper half of the rev range. It was a time when Mazda's corporate culture seemed to be ruled by wild-eyed engineers rather than the stingy accountants and marketing mavens that typically dominate most of the world's automakers.įrom this period emerged not only another iteration of the Wankel engine, but one with a highly unusual sequential twin-turbo system. The Japanese economy was booming, and was continuing at full throttle to develop its oddball rotary engine with increasingly exotic and expensive versions. Extraordinary things were going on at Mazda in the early 1990s.
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