Nice - I missed that they actually moved from rumor to reality. The rotary is a perfect fit for a range extender!

Or a prius prime, if you want something reliable. Wankel engines are pretty notorious for burning oil

That oil burning happens as the engine RPMs change.

No engine RPM changing when coupled with a generator. Use as a range extender is perfect for a rotary where it's power to weight ratio smashes all other ICE designs. Far fewer moving parts too. The only things that really gave a hassle with rotary engines were the seals and this isn't the 80's any more either.

I always wanted an RX-7 and had many friends who did. I'd rather change seals in a rotary than a timing belt!

Even if it can't overcome the rotary's efficiency limits compared to piston engines, it's small and smooth and only used a small portion of the time for long trips.

If a bigger/heavier engine could charge the battery more efficiently, but you only use it 1% of the time and the other 99% of daily commutes you're draining your battery to carry a bigger engine around, is it really more efficient?

Hopefully someone at Mazda has run those numbers and they figured that for a range extender, this was the best solution.

My only experience was a friend who owned an RX7 - incredibly fuel inefficient, burned a pint of oil every second tank, had to spend a few thousand on repairs when it had around 60k km on it.

Has Mazda improved their design or manufacturing in the last 20 years? Probably. Would I trust it even if someone gifted it to me? Not a chance.

That’s not “unreliable”, that’s how the engine is designed.

That sounds quite intriguing. Hadn't heard of it, thanks.

Yet another crossover.

Yeah, not my favorite but I can't fault them for making what they think will sell. Mazda is pretty small potatoes in the car market, they have to choose their battles.

VW skipping the ID.3 hatchback and only bringing the crossoverified ID.4 to the US on the other hand, is more disappointing. It's one thing to do that with a gas car where gas stations are all over and it takes two minutes to fill up. For an electric you're making a direct tradeoff of less battery range to turn the car into a fake SUV that is never going to leave the asphalt. Boooo.