1993-95 Mazda RX-7

The final iteration of the RX-7 was either the greatest track weapon the world has ever known or the harshest street machine to bottom out on the lip of a driveway

by Stefan Lombard

1993 Mazda RX-7

The mid-priced sports car market of the early 1990s was one the meanest parties on the planet. Japanese supercars like Mitsubishi’s 3000GT, Toyota’s Supra and Nissan’s 300ZX were giving the Corvette a run for its money. With the hot new Miata eating up Mazda’s sales in the entry-level sports car category, the Hiroshima-based automaker knew it had to join its upmarket competitors with a nastier RX-7. Still riding the momentum from an outright victory at Le Mans less than a year before, the time was right for such a move. In the spring of 1992, the third generation of its rotary-powered sports car was introduced in the United States. A 1993 model, the new RX-7 was a gorgeous machine with clean, fluid lines. Low, lithe and lean, there was no mistaking it as anything less than a pure sports car. Power came from the all-new 13B-REW, a 1.3-liter, twin-rotor Wankel engine developing 255 hp at 6,500 rpm, and 217 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 rpm. The twin sequential...