When it comes to Mazda, what do car enthusiasts think of? Stubborn! Japanese BMW insists on self-priming and looks ahead of the times. These all represent Mazda's brand spirit and also show Mazda's stubborn side. But if you are a true Mazda fan, you know that Mazda’s spiritual totem must be the rotary engine. When you have money, you will make money. When you run out of money, you will make money. When you have money, you will continue to make money. This is how car enthusiasts describe Mazda. Half ridicule, half summary. Because Mazda has indeed taken such a path in technology research and development. So why is Mazda so obsessed with rotary engines? Finally, what if I have to give up? Powerful rotary engine! The rotary engine was not invented by Mazda. The Germans first invented the rotary engine. Mazda was optimistic about the potential of the rotary engine and spent a lot of money to obtain the research and development license for the rotary engine. In fact, there are many brands that are interested in rotary engines at the earliest, including General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and other brands. Mercedes-Benz has even come up with a concept car equipped with a rotor. But soon, these manufacturers realized that the rotary engine had insurmountable problems and stopped the research and development of the rotor. Only Mazda persisted. Since then, stubbornness has been Mazda’s brand character! 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Mazda 787B racing car relied on the rotary engine to win the championship with a huge advantage of two laps ahead of the second place. From then on, the rotary engine became a blockbuster. Then, the organizers immediately issued new rules to exclude Mazda rotary engines. Why are rotary engines so powerful? First, the rotary engine is small and lightweight. Anyone who loves performance cars knows that in order to make a car perform well, in addition to high horsepower, lightweight is equally important. Compared with piston engines, rotary engines do not have complicated components such as cylinders and pistons, and their structures are much simpler. It has inherent advantages in size and weight. Secondly, the rotary engine is powerful! A rotary engine can do three times of work in one revolution, while an ordinary engine can do one work in two revolutions. The triangular shape of the rotary engine avoids the useless linear motion of the piston engine and directly converts the combustion expansion force into driving torque! Take the RX-8's 1.3L rotary engine as an example. A 1.3L naturally aspirated dual-rotor engine can produce a maximum horsepower of 231P. You know, BMW's 2020 325Li, the B48 engine only has 184P horsepower, and the maximum horsepower of the 330i is 258P. It can be seen that the rotary engine is powerful! Moreover, the rotary engine is extremely quiet! Because the rotary engine is powered by the rotation of the Lello triangle, rather than the back and forth of the piston. So there is almost no jitter. It also has natural advantages in controlling vibration. So why was such an excellent rotary engine abandoned? Because while having so many advantages, the rotor also has shortcomings that cannot be overcome. First, there's the "Devil's Claw Marks." This problem has accompanied the entire rotor development history, and ultimately dragged the rotary engine into the abyss! The sealing strips on the three vertices of the rotary engine are called diamond seals. Always in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder. This requires high sealing performance, and without good lubrication for a long time, the wear on the inner wall of the cylinder is very serious. This is a natural flaw of the rotary engine. In order to solve this problem, Mazda established the "Rotor 47" RE research department to study this problem. It is said that they tried all the materials they could find, including human hair. The final improvement was good, but it didn't completely solve the problem. After the diamond seal is worn, oil burning and carbon deposits will follow. Therefore, after a rotary engine is used for a period of time, it is inevitable that it will burn oil. The accompanying carbon accumulation problem cannot be avoided. In addition, rotary engines have high fuel consumption and a lot of combustion pollutants. This is also an inherent problem with rotary engines. The number of Mazda RX-8 is rare, but some real car owners have reported that the fuel consumption in urban areas reaches about 15L-20L per 100 kilometers, and even approaches 30L per 100 kilometers with the air conditioner on.

Compared with BMW's 2020 325Li, the B48 engine consumes approximately 8-9L per 100 kilometers in urban areas. Similarly, due to the characteristics of the rotor, the fuel cannot be fully burned, and combustion pollutants remain high. Today, when the world is advocating green travel, it seems increasingly out of place. There is also the most fatal problem, durability. Or due to the rotor seal problem, a rotary engine needs major repairs at about 50,000 kilometers. A mature piston engine does not require overhaul even after 500,000 kilometers. This is fatal for a Japanese brand. Every Japanese brand is known for its pursuit of stability, which is obviously unacceptable to Mazda. In 2009, Mazda released SkyActive technology. In 2011, the RX-8 announced the discontinuation of production, and the road to the rotary engine came to an abrupt end. future. However, the rotor is Mazda’s spiritual totem, and stubbornness is Mazda’s brand gene. There are indications that Mazda's rotor research and development is continuing. In 2016, Mazda applied for a new patent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, related to rotary engines. In 2019, Mazda was exposed to the news of the RX-9. The power system is a range-extended electric. As a range extender, it is the rotary engine that car enthusiasts are paying great attention to. It is rumored that the sealing has been replaced with ceramic materials. Perhaps, the rotary engine will be reborn in this form. While looking forward to it, I also hope that the rotary engine can be carried forward, provide more choices for car enthusiasts, and also rectify Mazda's reputation! If you like it, please like and forward it, welcome to follow!

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.