The emissions is a definate problem with the rotory engine. Actually, efficiency in general. Displacement vs fuel usage is pretty nuts. Of course the power to displacement is pretty huge as well. The RX7 doesn't actually get what I'd consider good fuel economy for a 2800lb car. My 3050lb Mustang 5.0 gets 19-21/27-29. Not too shabby for the equivelent in hp. We get 40hp from H pipe, exhaust, and timing, and removed silencer.
I think one of the important things to note is the expense of the RX7's exhaust too though. Hehe.
With twin sequential turbocharging 255hp out of 1.3L. If you drop it back to N/A, however, it becomes a lot less impressive.
Snowmobiles played with the wankel engine concept back in the early 70's. Ton's of advancements have allowed the rotory engine to get to it's peak, starting off from being humbled by the piston engines, even in terms of hp to displacement.
I will have to agree on the RX7 looking badass though. Other than a simple to fix cooling problem, if left alone you can expect relatively good reliability out of them from what I've been told. You'll never get the long term 160,000mi performance like my car has though.
You could argue back and forth all day. I could say that while factory turbo cars have great potential, we can add a $4k turbo kit, set it very conservative and make 450hp easy. Both cars have their strong and weak points.
PS. About the gearing comment, lol, don't even want to go there when comparing to a 5.0 Mustang. 2.73's and a wide ratio 5spd. LOL.
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bigtime say? My browser doesn't support "RicerMagazine" text, and I don't feel like downloading the plug in.