Im tired of people asking about RX7 and how unreliable they are so heres what you want.
-They are reliable, owners and some mechanics are not reliable.
If you do not take proper care of your car, who is to blame?
-Poor gas mileage
-Rebuilding requires pulling the engine out, It costs all lot of money to rebuild if your wallet isn't that fat.
-They seem to be reliable N/A or lightly boosted, but once you start getting power hungry (350 rwhp+ on a 13b)be prepared for an occasional rebuild imo. Tuning is key, but there are very few I would trust. When a seal does let loose it can damage the housings and turbo as well.
-Rotaries are extremely loud with a free flowing exhaust, which can be good or bad depending on what you like.
-Powerbands are peaky, low torque, like a honda or other small displacement 4 banger, again whatever floats your boat.
-Besides what was already listed, they burn oil (about 1qt per 1,000 miles), not very emissions friendly, they run hot (especially the exhaust), they don't take over-heating or detonation as well as piston engines, it is difficult to find a good mechanic, higher-output rotary engines do not have as much low-rpm torque as their piston counterparts, and you can't dress them up with cool chrome valve covers.
-On the good side, rotary engines have a small cross-section, low vibration, good hp-displacement ratio, light weight when compared to other iron block engines, are easily compatible with alternate fuels, have few moving parts, no valvetrain to deal with, lots of aftermarket parts available, are included in many race classes, and the power band makes them a lot of fun to drive.
-As for the reliability issue, keep in mind that Mazda rotary engines dominated endurance racing until the rules were modified to lower the power levels of the rotary engines. Even so, you will still see rotary engines winning endurance races even today. An average street-legal rotary engine lasts about 100,000 to 150,000 miles before the seals (similar to piston rings) need to be replaced. While the seals are rather expensive, there are no camshafts, lifters, valves, or timing chains to replace... ever! The eccentric shaft (similar to a crankshaft) bearings rarely need replacing because there is so little lateral load on them, as opposed to the heavy lateral load of a piston engine.
-The moral is if you take car of it, It will take care of you
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