it also helps if say there are 1000 civics one the road and 10 blow their engines, as supposed to 100 rotaries and 10 blow their engines. their reliability lies in the percentage of cars on the road...i think.

 

Not only that, but you can also factor in how many of these guys actually take them to get them repaired or tune-ups by Mazda or a rotary specialty shop. That's if rotary owners actually do take them to shops...

 

I agree. I drive my car pretty hard, but at the same time, I know what the weak points are and where the limits are. Anytime I screw something up, or push a little too hard, I know it, and it really pisses me off. So I make a HUGE mental note not to do that again. Though my synchros will need replaced from the beating they took during my learning period.

 

yeah look at the bar/honda f1 team



takuma sato has blown his engine in 6 of 8 races

jensen BUTTON hasnt had a failure yet



they are both in the same car

 

Also, just look at the length of time these engines have been around. The rotary has been with us approx 60 years, and for 50 of those years, Mazda has been the only company making them, servicing them, developing them, and making them better. In the first 10 years, MercBenz, GM, NSU and a couple other car companies did some rotary engine development (NSU was the first actually), so lets say 10 manufacturers were working on the rotary idea for 10 years, and 1 (mazda) was working on it for the next 50. Thats a total of 150 company-years of development. Now, compare that with the piston engine... its been about 120 years since it began to see use in cars (Benz, in 1885) and for most of its lifetime, there have been upwards of 30 different companies making them, just for use in cars, not to mention in airplanes, boats, lawnmowers etc. Soooo, doing the math, thats a hell of a lot more company-years of development...



considering with the numbers above, the rotary has less than 5% of the time spent on making it better... its damn good.

 

Odd this should come up...



There was this guy at my college who came walkin up to me when I was workin on it in the shop on day. Tellin me about how he used to have one and that he would take it up to 11-12k all day long. I asked him if he ever payed attention to te redline at all and of coarse the answer was no. I later found out the reason he stopped driving it was because he blew the engine.



I hate stupid people.

 

Im a strong proponent of the idea that we should just take the warning labels off everything and let the problem fix itself...

 

thats kinda how europe is. you are kinda responsible for not falling onto the traintracks, or what have you, its kinda refreshing

 

But.... but.... that would allow natural selection to take place! Rich and or stupid people would be powerless!

 

Are you worried? Im not.