• Mazda offers several high-performance vehicles.Pete Seaward Photography/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  The Mazda RX-7 is an unusual sports car and, together with its successor the RX-8, one of the very few road-legal vehicles to use a rotary engine. This uncommon engine choice results in a light, very nimble automobile, with exceptional steering-wheel feedback and a high-revving power-plant. Until its production stopped in 2002, more than 800,000 RX-7s were produced. The Type RS is a limited edition model produced only in 1997 with more power and high-performance parts.
  
  

Engine

• The rotary engine has very few moving parts and does not need cylinders, pistons, camshafts or crankshafts. Therefore bore, stroke, piston length and many other conventional parameters do not apply here. Instead, the rotary engine uses two rotors within a round housing. The Type RS version's rotors have a capacity of 0.654 liters each, for a total displacement of 1.3 liters. The engine is fed via two turbos, producing 280 horsepower and 232 ft-lb of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels, with a five-speed manual transmission. There was no automatic transmission offered on this model and the RS was manufactured only in a right-hand drive configuration. It was only sold in Japan, U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
  
  

Chassis and General Data

• As a result of the light rotary engine and the compact dimensions of the vehicle, the Type RS weighs only 1,290 kg or 2,838 lb. Today, it is extremely hard to find any road-legal vehicle weighing under 3,000 lb. The car, like all vehicles in the RX-7 series, has only two seats. Unlike any other 1997 RX-7, however, the Type RS features exclusive BILSTEIN dampers, gunmetal gray alloy wheels, and high-performance tires. These take the handling characteristics even further than the vehicle's already respectable predecessors, turning the Type RS into a performance icon. The large rear wing at the back helps produce down force for better cornering performance, albeit at the expense of rear visibility. The somewhat cramped interior is, for most performance enthusiasts, a fair price to pay to enjoy one of the most respected Mazda cars ever produced.
  
  

Performance

• The 280 horsepower engine, mated to a lightweight body, propels the car from zero to sixty mph in under five seconds. As with all vehicles, acceleration figures show some variation, as they depend on test conditions. Figures slightly below or marginally above five seconds seem to be the norm, however. Top speed is 155 mph. Fuel economy is 17 miles per gallon for combined city and highway driving. Even in 1997, this was not a frugal vehicle by any means. Considering its light weight and comparatively small engine, it was an an outright gas guzzler. Unfortunately, rotary engines still suffer from poor mileage, which is one of the inevitable drawbacks of this design. As of October 2010 Mazda has not announced whether it will continue to manufacture rotary engines, whose productions are scheduled to end with the planned demise of the RX-8 at the end of the 2010 model year.