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Are you familiar with Mazda? We all are. However, there is a special Mazda that almost nobody knows. It was truly a technological marvel for its time.
Introducing the 1990-1996 Mazda JC(Eunos) Cosmo
The Cosmo was Mazda's attempt at targeting the same markets that BMW, Mercedes and other luxury sport cars manufacturers served. The Cosmo was the first Japanese car of its kind. It is truly a legendary machine at heart.
The Eunos Cosmo was purely an engineering marvel, with its physical DNA in the vintage era it certainly was quite a looker. If you love vintage cars, you may find there is a lot to love in the E. Cosmo.
For their shot at the luxury sports market, Mazda spared no expense in developing a one of a kind engine for the Cosmo
What you are looking at in the above picture is a Rotary engine. Things are about to get interesting. This isn't an engine like any other. Its an engine that consists of rotors in place of pistons. Yes it's quite a bit different from the engine in your Honda or BMW.
Typical engines consists of pistons while the Eunos Cosmo's engine consisted of 3 rotors. You may notice the odd looking triangle affixed to a shaft rotating in eccentric motion within the confines of an epitrochoid in the below representation of the combustion cycle in the above diagram. The Cosmo's "2.0" 3 rotor engine was officially licensed by NSU Wankel and was named "20B-REW" by Mazda.
The Cosmo was sold as both a 1.3l 2 rotor(13B-RE, later REW) and a 2.0l 20B-REW. The 3 rotor 20B produced 300hp and 300 lb-ft of torque. Outfitted with sequential twin turbochargers, it was the most powerful rotary engine ever sold by Mazda and the first of the Wankel Rotary engines to be offered with factory sequential twin turbos. With a top speed of 255km/h unrestricted it was certainly a fun luxury car to be in. 20B Cosmos are very rare as there was a 60/40 split in sales whereby 13B units accounted for 60% of all engines to be sold in the E. Cosmo.
With Mazda aiming for the Luxury Sports car segment with the Cosmo, the interior was just as advanced as the engine and for its time the Cosmo was the first car in the world to receive a GPS and a multi-coloured CRT display which controlled the climate control and GPS. Leather seats and a steering column that folds away when the key is removed certainly made the Cosmo's interior a place to be. The use of wood trim sparingly added a touch of luxury while the multi-toned interior could be purchased either as brown and beiege or black.
Mazda only sold the Cosmo with an automatic transmission and it is not uncommon for rotary enthusiasts to change the automatic transmission with a racing transmission or a manual 6 speed gearbox from the RX-7. The engine and transmission are fully interchangeable with the Mazda RX-7. It is believed Mazda had intentions of offering an RX-7 with the E. Cosmo's 20B engine but the end of the legacy has passed without this becoming reality.
Introducing the 1990-1996 Mazda JC(Eunos) Cosmo
The Cosmo was Mazda's attempt at targeting the same markets that BMW, Mercedes and other luxury sport cars manufacturers served. The Cosmo was the first Japanese car of its kind. It is truly a legendary machine at heart.
The Eunos Cosmo was purely an engineering marvel, with its physical DNA in the vintage era it certainly was quite a looker. If you love vintage cars, you may find there is a lot to love in the E. Cosmo.
For their shot at the luxury sports market, Mazda spared no expense in developing a one of a kind engine for the Cosmo
What you are looking at in the above picture is a Rotary engine. Things are about to get interesting. This isn't an engine like any other. Its an engine that consists of rotors in place of pistons. Yes it's quite a bit different from the engine in your Honda or BMW.
Typical engines consists of pistons while the Eunos Cosmo's engine consisted of 3 rotors. You may notice the odd looking triangle affixed to a shaft rotating in eccentric motion within the confines of an epitrochoid in the below representation of the combustion cycle in the above diagram. The Cosmo's "2.0" 3 rotor engine was officially licensed by NSU Wankel and was named "20B-REW" by Mazda.
The Cosmo was sold as both a 1.3l 2 rotor(13B-RE, later REW) and a 2.0l 20B-REW. The 3 rotor 20B produced 300hp and 300 lb-ft of torque. Outfitted with sequential twin turbochargers, it was the most powerful rotary engine ever sold by Mazda and the first of the Wankel Rotary engines to be offered with factory sequential twin turbos. With a top speed of 255km/h unrestricted it was certainly a fun luxury car to be in. 20B Cosmos are very rare as there was a 60/40 split in sales whereby 13B units accounted for 60% of all engines to be sold in the E. Cosmo.
With Mazda aiming for the Luxury Sports car segment with the Cosmo, the interior was just as advanced as the engine and for its time the Cosmo was the first car in the world to receive a GPS and a multi-coloured CRT display which controlled the climate control and GPS. Leather seats and a steering column that folds away when the key is removed certainly made the Cosmo's interior a place to be. The use of wood trim sparingly added a touch of luxury while the multi-toned interior could be purchased either as brown and beiege or black.
Mazda only sold the Cosmo with an automatic transmission and it is not uncommon for rotary enthusiasts to change the automatic transmission with a racing transmission or a manual 6 speed gearbox from the RX-7. The engine and transmission are fully interchangeable with the Mazda RX-7. It is believed Mazda had intentions of offering an RX-7 with the E. Cosmo's 20B engine but the end of the legacy has passed without this becoming reality.
