Mazda Cosmo

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Mazda Cosmo
Manufacturer:	Mazda
Class:	GT car
Successor:	Mazda RX-8
Cosmo Sport 110

Production:	1967 — 1972
Body Styles:	FR 2-door sedan
Engines:	0810 (Series I) 0813 (Series II)
Mark 2
Production:	1975 — 1980
Body Styles:	FR 2-door coupe
Engines:	12A 13B (AP)
Similar:	Mazda RX-5
Related:	Mazda RX-4
Mark 3
Production:	1981 — 1990
Body Styles:	FR 2-door coupe
Engines:	13B
Related:	Mazda Luce
Mark 4
Production:	1990 — 1994
Body Styles:	FR2-door coupe
Engines:	13B-REW 20B
This article is part of the Mazda automobile series.

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Mazda Cosmo

There have been four generations of Mazda automobiles which went by the name of Cosmo, although they are not all particularly related. All were GT cars, with the first proving a successful launch for the Mazda Wankel engine and acting as a halo vehicle for the new Mazda brand. Later Cosmos competed in the ultra-high luxury performance market in Japan with the final JC Cosmo (1990-1995) sold as the Eunos Cosmo - Eunos was a luxury sales channel similar to Toyota's Lexus brand.

1 1967
2 1975 - 1981
3 1982 - 1989
4 1990 - 1995
5 External links
6 References

[edit] 1967

The first Mazda to wear the Cosmo name (called the Cosmo Sports or 110S) was the first 2-rotor rotary engine powered car. A prototype was introduced at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show, and 60 pre-production Cosmos were produced for dealership testing in 1965. Full production began in May of 1967 and lasted through 1972, though Cosmos were built by hand at a rate of only about one per day.

Cosmos were built in five batches:

Date	Number	Engine	Description
1963	2	8A	prototype Cosmo
1964	1	10A	Tokyo Motor Show prototype
January 1965	60	0810	preproduction test cars
May 1967-July 1968	343	0810	Series I
July 1968-September 1972	1,176	0813	Series II

[edit] Racing

In 1968, Mazda went racing with the Cosmo. They selected one of the most grueling tests in Europe to prove the reliability of the rotary engine, the 84-hour Marathon de la Route at the legendary Nürburgring circuit in Germany. Two mostly-stock Cosmos were entered, along with 58 other cars. One major change to the cars' 10A engines was the addition of a novel side- and peripheral-port intake system: A butterfly valve switched from the side to the peripheral port as RPMs increased. The engines were limited to 130 PS to improve durability.

The cars ran together in fourth and fifth place for most of the race, but the all-Japanese car was retired with axle damage in the 82nd hour. The other car, driven by Belgians, completed the race in fourth overall. This was to be the only racing outing for the Cosmo - the next Mazda race car would be a Familia Rotary (R100).

[edit] Series I

The Series I/L10A Cosmo was powered by a 0810 two-rotor engine with 982 cc of displacement and produced about 110 hp (thus the 110 name). It used a Hitachi 4-barrel carburetor and an odd ignition design - two spark plugs per chamber with dual distributors. A 4-speed manual transmission and 14 in wheels were standard.

The front independent suspension was A-arm/coil spring design with an anti-roll bar. The rear used a live axle with a de Dion tube, trailing arms, and semi-elliptic leaf springs. Power-unassisted 10 inch disk brakes were found in front with 7.9 inch drum brakes in the rear. Performance in the quarter-mile (400 m) was 16.4 s, with a 115 mph (185 km/h) top speed. The price was lower than the Toyota 2000GT at 1.48 million yen (US$4,100).

[edit] Series II

Mazda Cosmo Sport L10B/Series II (note the larger "mouth")

The Series II/L10B was introduced in July, 1968. It had a more-powerful 128 hp (95 kW)/103 ft·lbf (140 N·m) 0813 engine, power brakes, 15 in wheels and a 5-speed manual transmission. The wheelbase had been expanded by 5.9 in for more room and a better ride. This Cosmo was good for over 120 mph (193 km/h) and could accelerate to cover a quarter mile (400 m) in 15.8 s.

Visual changes included a larger grille under the front bumper with two additional vents to each side of this "mouth". Only 1,519 were ever made, and just six were imported into the United States. The price was up a bit to 1.48 million yen (US$4,390).

Talk show host Jay Leno owns what is believed to be the only remaining Series II Cosmo in the United States, a 1970 model featured on the Speed Channel series My Classic Car in March, 2006.

[edit] 1975 - 1981

The second generation CD Cosmo appeared in 1975 and lasted until 1981. It was known as the Cosmo AP in Japan, and sold internationally as the Mazda RX-5, though in some export markets its piston powered counterpart was called the Mazda 121 (a name later applied to Mazda's subcompact model). Mazda America used the Mazda Cosmo name and offered it from 1976 through 1978. The CD Cosmo/RX-5 series was a flop internationally as Mazda tried too hard to "Americanize" the car. It was however an enormous success in Japan where over 55,000 where sold in the first year alone. Due to its poor sales as an export, the series-II version from 79-81 was not exported and remained on domestic sale only.

The Cosmo was Mazda's 'large' compact rotary coupe and based on the Mazda RX-4 floorpan and mechanics, but slightly heavier due to body design and more luxurious appointments, including an 5-link rear suspension and rear disc brakes. It was available with the 12A and 13B engines.

The Cosmo was affectionately referred to as the Japanese Grand Prix, and indeed was fitted out to compete with that class of American road cruisers. With the standard manual transmission, it was a surprising quick and responsive car to drive - as proven to the chagrin of many comparable sporty coupe drivers. Comfortable and well-equipped, it suffered from the bane of many Japanese automobiles (and American as well) of the period - poor rust-proofing and premature rusting. The rotary engine responded in an almost rheostat mode once it was above 2500 rpm, smoothly and quickly winding to the red line.

A piston engine version, the Cosmo 1800, used a 1769 cc (80x88 mm) straight-4 SOHC engine that produced 100 hp (75 kW) and 110 ft·lbf (149 N·m).

Mazda Cosmo 1979 (French)

Dimensions:

Wheelbase: 2510 mm
Front Track: 1380 mm
Rear Track: 1370 mm
Length: 4470 mm
Width: 1680 mm
Weight: 1120 kg

[edit] 1982 - 1989

The third generation HB Cosmo from 1982 shared the Mazda HB chassis with its twin, the Mazda Luce. The Cosmo name was available on a coupe, hardtop and sedan body. Its equal Mazda Luce variant was not available in coupe form. The HB Cosmo/Luce was the only car in automotive history to option all three forms of Automotive engine. Piston, Diesel and Rotary.

Mazda offered three versions of rotary engine for the HB series. A 12A-SPI, 12A-turbo and 13B-RESI. The latter available with automatic transmission only. The 1982 12A-turbo Cosmo coupe was officially the fastest production car in Japan at one stage.

The HB Cosmo was sold with its rotary engine option in Japan only. The sedan variant was replaced in 1986, but the Cosmo soldiered on unchanged until 1989.

[edit] 1990 - 1995

Eunos Cosmo 3-rotor rotary engine

A truly modern Eunos Cosmo (roughly based on the 1985 MX-03 concept car) started production in 1990 on the new JC platform. The Eunos Cosmo was the top-line touring flagship of the Eunos luxury channel. It is the only Mazda to use a triple-rotor engine. The car was a 2+2 coupe and was loaded with power amenities. An electronically controlled 4-speed automatic transmission was mandatory.

Two engines were available, the twin turbo 13B-REW and the 20B-REW. The triple rotor 20B had two liters (1962 cc) of displacement, which is quite large for a rotary powerplant. It produced 300 hp (224 kW) and 300 ft·lbf (402 N·m) with twin turbochargers. The JC series Cosmo set several firsts in Automotive history. Its 13B-REW + 20B-REW engines were the first series production twin sequential turbo systems to be offered for sale. The better known FD RX-7 didn't show its 13B-REW engine until early 1992.

This 4th generation JC Cosmo was way ahead of its time electronically as well (1990) by being the first production car with Car Control System, a CRT colour touch-screen controlling climate control, mobile phone, GPS car navigation, NTSC TV, radio and CD-Player. The first similar systems appeared 2001 on the BMW 7-Series (iDrive).

The Cosmo was manufactured from FEB-90 until SEP-95 for a total of 8875 sales.

Dimensions:

Wheelbase: 2750 mm
Front Track: 1520 mm
Rear Track: 1510 mm
Length: 4815 mm
Width: 1795 mm
Weight: 1570 kg

[edit] External links

Cosmo Communities

[edit] References

Rotary Engine Illustrated - Animations of Rotary Engines, Pictures, Videos, etc.
Mazda Cosmo Specs Mazda Cosmo Specs from 1967 to 1981
Yamaguchi, Jack K. (1985). The New Mazda RX-7 and Mazda Rotary Engine Sports Cars. St. Martin's Press, New York. ISBN 0-312-69456-3.
Buckley, Martin & Rees, Chris (1998). World Encyclopedia of Cars. London: Anness Publishing. ISBN 1-84038-083-7.
Jan P. Norbye (1973). "Watch out for Mazda!". Automobile Quarterly XI.1: 50-61.
Patrick Bedard (June 1993). "The Karma of the Cosmo". Car and Driver 38.12: 103-109.
Sam Mitani. (April, 2002). "Salon: Mazda Cosmo Sport" Road & Track
The Start of Rotary Power. Rx7 UK net. Retrieved on November 3, 2004.
Cosmo Sport. Mazda RE Graffiti. Retrieved on November 3, 2004.
Cosmo Sport 110 Brochure

Mazda Wankel rotary timeline v • d • e
Type		1960s					1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s
		5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Compact	Familia/R100				R100
Mid-size	Capella/RX-2						RX-2
	Luce/RX-4					R130			RX-4							Legato			HB				HC
Full-size	Roadpacer											RP
GT	Cosmo/RX-5/RX-8	L10A				L10B						CD							HB								JC													SE
Sports	Savanna/RX-3/RX-7								RX-3						SA			FB					FC						FD
Pickup	Proceed/REPU										REPU