i just saw some terrible mazda commercial...the one with all the pictures of the rx-7s that are racing and mazda bragging about never blowing a rod or frying pistons/piston rings (of course the engine is a rotary)...but its about as close to pulling a blindfold over the public...of course the commercial never mentions the problems with blown apex seals, burnt out turbos, etc (usually most rotaries get only 40-50k and that was the n/a units...the turbos were especially know to need rebuilding in 30k miles)...my piston powered rex got 300k miles before the engine died

just like another car company bragging they don't blow apex seals when they don't sell rotary engines or are not referring to products they sell

 

i'm proud of mazda for being in such elite company at le mans...and the only japanese mfgr..the 787B is one of my favorite race cars...that year Mazda did so well i thought was b/c Mazda tuned the car for more reliability than power (opposite of what the competition did)...it was fast but not the fastest car on the track...but it could last longer than its main competition on won

as you say the commercial maybe intended for its lemans racing heritage it is true...but there are lots of inline 4 mazdas (spec miatas and worldchallenge) that easily blow those engines (hemmingston's engine went to a fiery death at the last speedvision wc race at vir this year

 

I think most of mazda's commercials are cheesy/lame, but this is one that I liked. It's funny because obviously they couldn't throw a rod, etc. Granted 90% of the population wouldn't get it, but I still think it's funny. The new 6 commercials are the bomb, too...

However, all the other commercials they make are just horrible. I like the idea of "zoom zoom", but that song is just totally weak, and that little kid needs to die (not really, but I hate the commercials). That Mr. seatbelt commercial is just totally gay, too. The commercials seem like they're marketed at 5 year olds (animated gay-seatbelt guys, goofy music, etc.)... I love my mazda's, but I think they need a new marketing approach. Those commercials have GOT to go, but the new 6 commercials are just about making up for it

 

blowing apex seals and needing rebuilding are due to maintenance neglect. on rotary engines, you need to religeously check the oil per the maintenance schedule since they have to burn oil to run properly. if you let the oil get to low or go too long between changing, the seals will wear prematurly. if you perform good maintenance on your rotary, it will lasst longer than any piston engine.