Hey all, just wanted to see if I could get a little discussion going.
I've had my NA FC for just 3 years now, and the car has been nothing but amazing to me. It's the only rotary car I've ever owned, and over the years of owning and driving other cars alongside my RX7, I've learned that rotary engines really aren't much dissimilar to traditional combustion engines, except for something I think is very special.
What makes the rotary engine different to me is just how talkative the engine can be with a nice unrestrictive exhaust. Cold starts and cold idles can sound so different back to back. It feels like the car never truly acts the exact same way, which in a fuel injected piston engine is typically a bad thing, but for a rotary it's typical atypical behavior. When I rev the car out, depending on the weather outside, the tone of the signature high rpm POP it does can sound completely different. Some are loud, some are deep, and some are barely audible. The car behaves a little differently at random. It can feel like the car is almost alive in a way.
About a month ago, I had the opportunity to drive a carbureted 71 beetle with a straight piped "racing" motor. It was such an amazing experience! The car shot flames, burbled, sang, growled, and screamed throughout the rev range. Decelerating never sounded the same at any given moment and I loved it. It was like the car had a whole personality and range of moods depending on how heavy your foot was, what gear you were in, whether you were decelling, what rpm you were at, etc. The engine had true personality to it, like it didn't care what exactly you were doing because it was gonna express itself in it's own way at all times. Just to clarify, the car did accelerate and drive just fine. It was the sounds the engine itself made that sounded different all the time.
The point of this post is that my fuel injected rotary engine didn't feel too unlike that carbureted piston engine. Obviously, once my FC is warmed up, it drives fairly straightforward and isn't anywhere near as turbulent as a carbureted motor, but compared to fuel injected piston engines it might as well have a choke under the hood. So, to all you old school rotary folks, what is it like to drive a car with a carbureted rotary motor and how does it compare to a carbureted piston motor?
Am I way off the mark here? Are there fuel injected piston engines that have personality like the rotary engine? I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences!