Mazda's new rotary car is the MX‑30 that makes the most sense

Anyway, here are all the juicy details. The rotary engine displaces the equivalent of 830cc and is a single-rotor, with a 120mm rotor radius and 76mm rotor width. As a generator, there is no mechanical connection between the motor and the wheels. It serves purely to charge the batteries. 

The choice to go rotary is a practical one, too. Rotaries are famously compact and this new engine (designated 8C) must be absolutely tiny and incredibly light. Indeed, it fits under the MX-30’s bonnet, coaxially with the motor (alongside it) without changes to the body frame, though that latter claim is a bit of a cheat given it will have been designed to accept this engine from the start. Overall the engine on its own is 15kg lighter than the rotary used in the final RX-8.

It’s fed by a 50-litre fuel tank, while the engine itself feeds a 17.8kW battery (which can also be charged independently). The result is a flexible total range of over 400 miles, which is very impressive and of course, easily sustained via the existing infrastructure of petrol stations. CO2 emissions are just 21g/km.

There is also the option to charge the MX-30 R-EV and because it’s a small-ish battery, it’ll charge up quickly, with DC rapid charging allowing a 25-minute fill-up, and three-phase AC charging allowing a 50-minute fill-up.

Power is 170PS (125kW) from the electric motor making it the most powerful of the line-up, with ‘slightly better acceleration performance’ than the standard EV MX-30. In terms of deploying that performance, three modes dictate the R-EV’s character – Normal, EV and Charge, with EV effectively dictating the car drain its batteries before the rotary is fired up, while charge maintains a certain amount of battery level for zero-emissions urban running. The driver can even choose how much percentage they want to keep in reserve, in percentage increments of ten. 

In aggressive acceleration scenarios, the rotary will fire up and feed the motor directly for access to the MX-30 R-EV’s full power claim. Mazda likens it to a kick down in a traditional automatic transmission.

With the return of the rotary, 400 Edition R models will come to the UK to celebrate, with a Maroon Rouge colour accent paying homage to the roof colour of the R360, Mazda’s first car. There are plenty of reminders of the rotary power, with mats, exterior badging and even the key referencing it. 

The best news? It’s not even that expensive for what it now offers, with the R-EV matching the electric versions on price. For what it’s worth, the all-electric version with its less-than-impressive range didn’t make a whole lot of sense priced from £31,250. But the R-EV, with its 400-mile usable range and fuel-ability, really does. Even the Edition R will be ‘only’ £37,950. We’ll be curious to see what the running costs are in the real world and indeed, how reliable this tiny little rotary turns out to be.