Powerd by a 13b rotary motor this Japanese mucsle car can fly

1977 Cosmo Road Test
Im stopped at a traffic light in Los Angeles. It is raining. The passenger in an Olds Cutlass to my left is waving at me through an open window. I wind down my side window. The Cutlass rider asks, "What kind of car is that?" I tell him its a Mazda Cosmo. "A Mazda what? Ive never seen one like that. Is it new?" he queries. I explain this Cosmo is a '77, but the model has been on sale for about a year. "Oh," Mr Oldsmobile says in closing, and thats the way more than one stop-light conversation went when I was driving this black Mazda Cosmo test car. Everbody thought it was new.

For some inexplicable reason, the Cosmo hasnt caught on with American buyers the way one would expect( in its native Japan it is the best-selling car in the sports/luxury class, with average monthly sales in excess of 3500 cars), so it remains a relatively rare sight on U.S highways. The $5800 base price might seem unduly high, when you consider that a similarly optioned Chevrolet Monza Towne Coupe (V-8) only $4876 . But when you bear in mind the fact that the Cosmo gets better mileage, is marginally quicker and with its fully reclining bucket seats is more comfortable, the car falls into proper perspective.

Mechanically the Cosmo is not as advanced as first rumours out of Hiroshima would have led to believe. It is a conventional front engine/rear drive layout with McPherson strut front suspension and a rigid 5-link rear axle. The only unconventional mechanical items are the use of 4 wheel disk brakes and the Wankel rotary piston engine.

The type 13B rotary used in the Cosmo has a working chamber volume of 1300cc.Mazda lists the 13B's maximum power at 110 HP at 6000 RPM, but my seat-of-the-pants feeling tells me this could be a purposely underrated figure. The Cosmo could run the standing-start 1/4 mile in 17.8 sec, which isnt bad for an emmision control-laden car in this day and age.

For a supposed gas hog, the Cosmo did well on our 73 mile fuel loop of combined city and highway driving-25.9 mpg. Thats better than a Datsun 810. The worst mileage our Cosmo got was 20 mpg during performance testing.

In the handling department, the Cosmo is better than average. Considering the limitations of the rigid rear axle, the Cosmo handles quite respectively, feeling like an Opel with guts. There is enough power to counter the small degree of under steer present at moderate speed and bring the tail around. These antics usually arent required to do a good turn of speed on a smooth road. On uneven road surfaces ,the disadvantages of the cars rigid axle becomes apparent. The Cosmo skitters all over the place, and the rear end feels like it will catch up with the front if the going gets real rough.

The Cosmo's ride is about average in class. The Cosmo's firm ride brings one of the shortcomings to light-lack of rear seat head room. Braking performance is nothing spectacular. The vacuum assisted 4 wheel disk brakes could bring the Cosmo to a stop in 157 1/2 ft from 60 mph, which is about average, but there was a notable lack of fade throughout the braking tests.

The Cosmo's interior is an mixed bag. Our test car had the available cloth trim, which is luxurious in the crushed velvet manner. All vinyl upholstery is available, but is the non breathing variety. Front seat leg and head room are suffient for over 6 footers. Visability is excellent thanks to the slender pillars and generous glass area. The rear seat is best left for masochistic adults or normal sized children. The seat is comfortable enough but leg room is marginal.

Instrumentation is fairly complete, with an 8000 rpm tachometer, 130 mph speedometer and fuel and temperature gauges. The instruments themselves are surrounded by a passable fake wood applique. Oddly the gearshift knob,brake handle and steeing wheel are made of genuine wood.

There is a slew of thoughtful standard features in the Cosmo like reclining bucket seats(when will GM ever learn) ,wall to wall carpeting, AM/FM radio , tinted glass, and 2 remote control power side windows. The aluminium alloy wheels on the test car were a $190 option.

Stying is purely subjective matter, but I think the Cosmo is a pretty-good looking vehicle. The odd rear quarter window grows on you after a while, and other wise the car has no peculiar features. The 1977 model can be distinquished by the accross the board reflector strip in place in of a grey plastic panel on the tail of the older car.

All in all, the Cosmo is a decent sporty compact, superior in many ways to the Chevolet Monza and Ford Mustang 2. It is a bit costlier than most of the domestic competion, but it offers features some of the domestics dont, such as reclining bucket seats and the smoothness and power of the rotary engine with economy that can be bettered by the 4 cylinder domestic pony cars. Add Mazda's 5 years/75,000 miles warranty on the rotary engined cars and you have what may be one of the best buys in its class, regardless of price.

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This is what I would like my cosmo to look like.

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This is what the new cosmo will look like.

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A 1967 mazda cosmo the first car from mazda with a rotary motor.

for more cars with rotarys go to http://www.rx7uknet.dircon.co.uk/binhist/cars.html

heres another link just for the rx-5 http://www.geocities.com/mazdarx5/