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Originally Posted by R8
Well supposedly just as the Boxer's shape made the Twin's chassis possible, the tiny rotary also made the RX-8's chassis and handling possible. Stuff in a piston engine, and it'd become more nose-heavy and probably no longer be a mid-engine car.
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Warning: Good-naturedly intended rant follows!
Enough with calling standard, classic FR sports cars "front mid-engine" (inevitably truncated to "mid-engine")! Pure marketing and/or wishful thinking by those who want to think their car is more "exotic".
Engine is in front of passenger compartment? It's a front-engine car, period.
While my S2000 meets the arbitrary technical definition of "front mid-engine" (usually something like "the entire engine is behind front wheel centerline"), its handling characteristics are very much in the line of other classic FRONT-engine/rear-drive cars like my 240Z and RX-7, which technically don't meet that arbitrary definition while they all have about the same weight distribution, within a couple of % (w/ driver and ~1/2 tank, 48/52 S2000, 49/51 240Z, 50/50 LS2 RX-7).
An Elise/Exige or Porsche Boxster handle *fundamentally differently* from classic FR cars (even those that some insist on calling "front mid-engine" or, worse, even more misleadingly, "mid-engine")! Mainly due to the driver sitting much further forward relative to the c.g and wheels, much less relative weight on the steered wheels, and also due to relatively lower polar moment. THESE are mid-engined cars. The RX-8, S2000, etc. etc. etc. are FRONT-engine cars. To call them mid-engine is pure marketing/wishful thinking.
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I totally agree! A smaller (less power) rotary in a lighter car (Miata) would be more efficient too!
Alas, little screamer engines like in the S2000, older Civic Si's and RX-8 are probably gone forever in the "green" age we're moving into.
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I'm all for moving into a greener age, but honestly think that we would do a lot better by going the smaller/lighter/cheaper route. A 2400-lb Civic with a fairly serious 1.6 liter screamer engine would do as well or better vs. the current 2900 lb. pig with the 200hp 2.0. Not to mention the RIDICULOUS number of giant trucks/SUVs on the road, making gasoline more scarce and expensive for all of us (while emitting CO2 at an alarming rate). Sick to death of oversized/overweight lane-hogging/view-blocking/gas-guzzling behemoths on the road, and lack of small/lightweight choices at the dealerships.