Rotary engines have a reputation of being o bit unreliable, maybe the even are a bit of it.
But I'm pretty sure that a rotary can also be a very reliable and problem free engine, like a piston engine can be too, if you know your stuff and take care of it.
I heard on a TV program about Drag Racing a rotary engine is easier to tune, or better to tune. Cant remember which one for sure, think it was that they are easier to tune.
Piston engines need to be looked after as well, thrashing them from cold shrinks the cylinders around the piston and can cause seizes, much less so in 4 strokes, however it has been known to happen, especially in more exotic machinery.
Rotary engines are more stressed (have higher output for capacity) and therefore are more highly strung. Most rotory engine damage normally comes from oil starvation, since they have a huge thirst for the stuff.
Eitherway, this argument is pointless. People from both sides are talking sh*t, and since no-one has owned more than 1 or (2 at the most) rotary engined cars, no-one can really comment on reliabilty.
It's definitely achievable - a mate of mine is around there now, although his 1.8 is more like a 2 litre nowadays. Last dyno was 335bhp and he's done more stuff since. It's far too quick for public roads - especially since he's still on 195 width tyres - but he just can't stop tinkering
Awesome Yeah, my friend with 260hp came by the other day and said on his way over he was getting wheelspin in 4th gear in the rain... He's got 195s on and his tires are starting to lack tread and they're a little hard... So lots of wheelspin. I've driven his Miata quite a lot on the road and at autox, and on the street it's FAST but it's not quite F-ING FAST! You need to respect it, but really it's still nice and playful and not scary quick. Although it is still plenty fast enough, 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds and he's topped out on the rev limiter in 5th gear at 156mph (yes he put a taller rear end on it), and that was with the roof down, up a hill I'm sure once you start getting above 300whp that's when it starts getting really serious
As far as I can work out, 250bhp is an ideal figure for an MX-5 unless you're on track more than on the road.
I drove the superfast one a few years ago on a pot-holed airfield but because it was dark and his headlights don't point sideways, I couldn't really do a lot with it.
I briefly drove it on the road and despite being gentle with it, it spun the wheels in 4th gear, which totally caught me by surprise. I found out later that he was still experimenting and at that time was running some outrageous boost - it blew up a couple of weeks later!
If it's about acceleration, maybe, yes. If it's about going fast through corners... the difference won't be that big. Miatas can more or less keep up with Ferraris, Porsches, etc. when it comes to how fast you can take corners.
Sounds like 'fun' durbster I guess it comes down to how well it's sorted and what the powerband is like etc, but with a similar powerband to my friend's Miata, I think it would still feel controllable and enjoyable with 300 or more.
Well my opinion having spent hours driving a 260rwhp Miata was that this one was not 'scary' fast but pretty damn quick (all depends on how you define scary fast though, I have driven stis, 350z's and s2000s and would consider them to be quick, but not near scary fast). I think it's the powerband on this one, it's got such a flat torque curve and so much mid range that it doesn't feel as quick as it is. If it was peakier and there was more of a jump in power as you got higher in rpm it would feel quicker and scarier. But with this one it builds gradually and smoothly.
As for traction, you need to launch it really gently without building boost beforehand, otherwise you will get a lot of wheelspin in 1st gear. But if you launch gently enough you can get just a bit of wheelspin when you put your foot down in 1st, and it'll hook up in 2nd no problem assuming the tires are fairly fresh and sticky. Off the line it loses out to a hard launched stock sti, but it's gaining on it by 2nd gear and will have passed it somewhere in 3rd gear. From a roll it easily smokes an sti... just think, about the same wheel hp as a stock sti except it weighs 2200lb instead of 3300lb...
I only got to ride in a 250rwhp car with quite a peaky powerband. (turbo fully spooled by 4,5k rpm), until then, I only knew the miata as a 100(ish) rwhp car (aka quite slow :hide. More than double that power caught me by surprise the first time I really punched it
...back in 1987 I often borrowed a Ford Taunus (or Cortina in th UK) from a friend, it was a 2.0 V6 with 90bhp. Second gear went over 100kph... But you could literally see the fuel indicator moving towards empty when flooring the accelerator.