Mazda RX-7: Three Generations of Rotary Sports Car

From 1978 until 2002, Mazda built the RX-7 in three generations as a sports car with a rotary engine. It used a front mid-mounted, rear-wheel-drive layout and a compact Wankel rotary engine, and more than 800,000 examples were made over its lifetime.

How did the RX-7 begin?

Mazda's internal project number for the first generation was X605. The car first went on sale in Japan in March 1978 as the successor to the Savanna RX-3, joining the Cosmo and Luce as the company's remaining rotary-powered products. The first generation's packaging was central to the car's appeal from the start.

The lead designer was Matasaburo Maeda, whose son Ikuo later designed the Demio and the RX-8. The team gave the new sports car an appearance that followed the styling of other Japanese sports cars of the time, but its minimal size and light weight set it apart.

The compact rotary engine sat behind the front axle, which helped balance the weight between the front and rear wheels and gave the car a low centre of gravity. That packaging advantage was central to the RX-7's appeal from the start.

A rotary sports car that ran for a quarter century, won races from Daytona to Bathurst and never quite lost its character.

What did the first generation look like?

The first generation was split into series, starting with the Series 1 cars of 1978 to 1980, which are known by the SA22C code from their vehicle identification number. The Series 2 cars of 1981 to 1983 carried the FB code in North America, and the Series 3 cars of 1984 and 1985 followed.

The Series 2 car gained integrated plastic-covered bumpers, wide body mouldings and wraparound taillights. Federal-spec versions weighed 61 kg (135 lb) less than before, and model year 1981 saw the end of the four-speed manual.

The Finale edition arrived in Australia in 1985, marking the end of the series. Its limited run carried a brass plaque with the car's number and the words Last of a legend.

What engines powered the first generation?

The first generation used a 12A carbureted rotary of 1,146 cc. In Japan the refined 12A produced 130 PS (96 kW), and from 1981 the 13B fuel-injected rotary was offered in later cars. In North America the 12A made 75 kW (101 PS; 100 hp) at 6,000 rpm.

North America was the only market to receive the fuel-injected 13B in this generation, in the GSL-SE model, which made 101 kW, 137 PS or 135 hp, with 180 N m of torque. The Series 3 car also brought a different instrument cluster to North America.

The 12A ran hot and burned unevenly, so an engine-driven pump supplied air to a thermal reactor chamber that completed the combustion of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. That arrangement was typical of the rotary's emissions challenges in the period.

How did the first generation handle?

The RX-7 used a live axle with four-link rear suspension and Watt's linkage, and its 50:50 front and rear weight distribution gave the car balanced handling. It weighed under 1,100 kg (2,425 lb), making the Series 3 the lightest generation the company ever built.

A 12A car needed 9.2 seconds to reach 97 km/h (60 mph) from rest and turn 0.779 g laterally on a skid pad. The 7,000 rpm redline was marked by a buzzer on the tachometer, since the rotary's smoothness made the engine feel more relaxed than its speed suggested.

The GSL model reached 80 km/h (50 mph) from rest in 6.3 seconds, according to Mazda, and its rated fuel economy of 29 MPG on the highway showed how far the rotary had been refined by the mid-1980s.

What did the second generation change?

The second generation, known as the FC and still called the Savanna RX-7 in Japan, was a complete restyle. Mazda's Chief Project Engineer, Akio Uchiyama, led a team that focused on the American market, where most first-generation cars had been sold.

The FC moved toward a softer sport-tourer character. It introduced rack and pinion steering in place of recirculating ball steering, and it adopted an independent rear suspension that replaced the earlier live axle.

Mazda also introduced the Dynamic Tracking Suspension System, whose toe control hubs allowed a slight passive rear steer under cornering loads. The Auto Adjusting Suspension changed damping for road and driving conditions, and disc brakes became standard across the range.

Which special editions did the second generation receive?

The Infini series ran from 1987 to 1990, with Series I and II as S4 cars and Series III and IV as S5 cars. Only 600 were produced each year in Japan, and they carried BBS wheels, an aero kit and upgraded suspension.

The 10th Anniversary RX-7 of 1988 was based on the Turbo II and limited to 1,500 units, with Crystal White paint and an all-black leather interior. The GTUs of 1989 and 1990 celebrated eight straight IMSA GTU wins by adding Turbo model features to the naturally aspirated car.

The Winning Limited arrived in September 1991 in 1,000 units, to mark the Mazda 787B's victory at Le Mans, and it was only offered as a coupe in standard and optional colours.

How did the RX-7 convertible come about?

Mazda introduced the convertible, coded FC3C, in Japan in 1987. The following year it reached the US market, where actor James Garner appeared in advertisements for the car. In America buyers could only get the convertible with the naturally aspirated unit, while other markets had the turbocharged engine only.

The convertible featured a removable rigid roof section and a folding vinyl rear section, with a power-operated top. Mazda also introduced the first integral windblocker, and about 22,000 convertibles were built before production ceased in 1991, followed by a final run of 500 cars for Japan in 1992.

What did the third generation bring?

The third-generation RX-7, coded FD, was announced in October 1991, and production began that month before going on sale in Japan in December. The 13B REW engine was the first mass-produced sequential twin-turbocharger system exported from Japan, and the output reached 255 PS, or 188 kW and 252 hp, in 1992.

The same engine had climbed to 280 PS (206 kW; 276 hp) by the close of Japanese production in 2002. The sequential system used two turbochargers, the first giving boost from 1,800 rpm and the second taking over in the upper half of the rev range, with a changeover at 4,500 rpm.

The sequential system was developed with Hitachi and had previously been used on the Japan-only Cosmo JC. Its complexity made it difficult to keep reliable, since the solenoids, actuators and hoses were prone to failure in the high heat of a rotary engine.

How was the third-generation car designed?

Four Mazda studios competed internally: Hiroshima, Yokohama, Irvine and Europe. Irvine's entry won, drawn by Wu-huang Chin, a designer who had also worked on the MX-5 Miata, and Tom Matano assisted. The competition shows how Mazda chose between several regional design ideas.

The interior originated in the Hiroshima proposal, and Mazda's chief designer Yoichi Sato helped turn the concept into its final production form. The car's width broke Japanese dimension rules, so Japanese buyers paid annual taxes on that extra width.

How did the third-generation car sell?

Because of the width rule, Mazda offered the Eunos Roadster and the Eunos Presso in Japan as smaller alternatives, and the RX-7 became an upper-level luxury sports car there. Sales in Japan were affected by that positioning. Sales patterns differed sharply between Japan, Europe and North America.

In Europe only 1,152 FD cars were sold through the official Mazda network, with Germany accounting for 446, the UK for 210 and Greece for 168. In the UK the price was cut to 25,000 pounds from 32,000 pounds, with refunds for buyers who had paid the higher figure.

In North America the Series 6 was sold from 1993 to 1995 as a two-seater, and about 500 cars were built for the 1995 model year, which ended production because sales were slow.

Which special models followed the third generation?

The Spirit R, the last limited model of the series, was built in 1,504 units, split as 1,044 Type A cars, 420 Type B and 40 Type C. Its exclusive Titanium Grey paint was fitted to 719 of those cars, and it sold at a premium price in Japan.

The Bathurst R of 2001 commemorated the Australian racing success and was built in 500 units, with adjustable dampers, a carbon fibre shift knob and special fog lamps. Its name linked the car to the 1995 Eastern Creek success that the RX-7 SP had brought to Australia.

What was the RX-7 SP?

The RX-7 SP was a high-performance Australian model introduced in 1995 so that it could race in the Australian GT Production Car Series and the Eastern Creek 12 Hour. Mazda built 25 cars at first and later added 10 more because of demand.

It produced 277 PS (204 kW; 273 hp) and 357 N m (263 lb-ft) of torque, with a carbon fibre nose cone, rear spoiler, 120 L fuel tank and 17-inch wheels. The car weighed 1,218 kg (2,685 lb), down from 1,250 kg (2,756 lb), and it won the 1995 Eastern Creek 12 Hour, earning Mazda its fourth consecutive 12-hour title.

How successful was the RX-7 in motorsport?

Racing versions of the first generation entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first 13B car failed to qualify by less than a second in 1979, but a 12A car qualified in 1980 and finished 21st overall. Mazda dropped its Le Mans RX-7 programme for the 717C prototype in 1983.

In IMSA GTU racing the RX-7 took first and second places at the 1979 24 Hours of Daytona in its first year. It went on to win the GTU championship in seven straight years, then ten in a row from 1982, and it added the GTO Championship in 1991.

In Europe a TWR-prepared RX-7 won the 1981 Spa 24 Hours, and Win Percy also drove TWR's cars to British Touring Car titles in 1980 and 1981. In Australia Allan Moffat won the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship in an RX-7.

The car also appeared in the World Rally Championship, finishing 11th on its debut at the 1981 RAC Rally. The third-generation FD entered its first professional race at the 1992 Miami Grand Prix and and it later took the IMSA Supercar race at Sebring in 1994.

Did the RX-7 win any awards?

Car and Driver put the RX-7 on its Ten Best list in 1983, 1987 and across 1993 to 1995. Motor Trend gave it its Import Car title in both 1986 and 1993, and Playboy chose the FD as its Car of the Year for 1993.

Japan's Automotive Researchers' and Journalists' Conference gave the FD its 1991 award, the year it arrived. Sports Car International also ranked the Series 3 car seventh among the top sports cars of the 1970s.

Has Mazda tried to bring the RX-7 back?

Mazda has referred to a revival of the RX-7 several times since the RX-8 was discontinued. Back in 2012 the MX-5 programme manager described work on a 16X-based RX-7 with 300 horsepower. Each attempt has so far stopped short of a production model.

The RX-Vision concept shown at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show used a new rotary engine and echoed the third-generation car's design, and the Iconic SP concept shown in October 2023 used a two-rotor rotary as a power generator while keeping its pop-up headlights.

What are the Mazda RX-7 specifications?

The table covers the main figures for the three generations. Metric values come first, and where a figure belongs to one series or variant only, the table names it so the first-generation and third-generation values stay separate. Where a figure applies to one series only, the table names that series.

Frequently asked questions

What engine did the RX-7 use?

The RX-7 used a Wankel rotary engine in every generation, starting with the 12A and moving to the 13B, and the third generation added a sequential twin-turbo system.

How many RX-7s were built?

More than 800,000 RX-7s were manufactured across the three generations, with 471,018 coming from the first generation alone.

Did the RX-7 win at Le Mans?

No RX-7 won at Le Mans, though a 12A entry earned a grid place in 1980, and the factory effort later moved on to the 717C prototype.

Is a new RX-7 planned?

Mazda has discussed a 16X-based RX-7 and shown concept cars, but it has not announced a production model.