mazda cars with rotary engine Page 9

Mazda’s rotary hall of fame starts with the 1967 Cosmo Sport (110S), the first production Wankel-powered idol.

Through the 1970s you got the RX-2, RX-3 and RX-4 (plus the RX-5/Cosmo), then the long-running RX-7 across three generations from 1978 to 2002, and finally the RX-8 from 2003 to 2012.

Japan also scored the twin-turbo Eunos Cosmo, including a wild 20B three-rotor that sounds like an angry beehive in a blender.

In modern times the rotary returned as a range-extender generator in the MX-30 R-EV overseas—more battery butler than apex-sealing hero.

If you’re hunting classics in Australia, RX-7s and RX-8s are the most common sightings; the rest pop up occasionally like drop bears in folklore.