Mazda RX-7 - Third Generation

The Mazda RX-7 (also called the Ẽfini RX-7) is a sports car produced by the Japanese automaker Mazda from 1978 to 2002. The original RX-7 competed in the affordable sports car segment with the likes of the Nissan Fairlady Z. The styling was inspired by the Lotus Elan 2+2. It featured a unique twin-rotor Wankel rotary engine and a sporty front-midship, rear-wheel drive layout, making it well balanced and appropriate for racing. The RX-7 was a direct replacement for the RX-3 (both were sold in Japan as the Savanna) and subsequently replaced all other Mazda rotary cars with the exception of the Cosmo.

The third and final generation of the RX-7, FD (with FD3S for the JDM and JM1FD for the USA VIN), was an outright, no-compromise sports car by Japanese standards. It featured an aerodynamic, futuristic-looking body design (a testament to its near 11-year lifespan). The 13B-REW was the first-ever mass-produced sequential twin-turbocharger system to export from Japan, boosting power to 255 hp (190 kW) in 1993 and finally 280 DIN hp (276 hp, 208 kW, the Japanese manufacturers' gentlemen's agreement on engine power) by the time production ended in Japan in 2002.