What the car is and where it came from
The Mazda Savanna is a rotary-powered car that Mazda sold from 1971 to 1978. The Savanna name was used only in Japan; abroad the first generation was the Mazda RX-3. For the original 1971 version Mazda fitted its 10A rotary engine to the Grand Familia, creating a separately marketed product in coupé, sedan and station wagon forms. It was smaller and sportier than the Capella Rotary, which was exported as the RX-2. The Savanna first went on sale in September 1971.
How it works, in terms someone would actually use
It is the Grand Familia with a rotary engine in place of the inline four. The 10A is a 982 cc unit and the 12A a 1,146 cc one. North American cars took the larger 12A from the RX-2 from the start, while Japan, Australia and Europe began with the 10A. A Japan-only Savanna GT arrived in September 1972 with the 12A, a five-speed gearbox, lower suspension and wider rims. The rotary also suited Japan’s tax system, since the engine stayed under 1.5 litres and avoided the higher annual road tax while making more power than a conventional engine of that class.
What it gets right
It looked different from its piston sibling, with a nose panel carrying dual round headlights, a pointed honeycomb grille and round tail lights. The 1972 wagon was the world’s first rotary-powered station wagon. In 1972 Mazda coated the rotor housings with a new chrome process to give the engines far longer life. The Series II of 1973 reworked the front sheet metal and later moved to a single-distributor 12A making 130 PS. The RX-3 was the most popular of the roughly 930,000 pre-RX-7 rotary vehicles Mazda built, and the coupé took over half the sales.
What it does not
It was not the fastest rotary Mazda. The 10A car could not match the RX-2 with the 12A, and neither could the 12A RX-3 despite its lower weight. The Series II was slow off the mark because emissions equipment hurt torque and the car gained 44 kilograms. The rotary engine also had an early reputation for poor reliability, and the Series I was still on sale in the United Kingdom as late as the 1975 model year. The 1976 Series III looked plainer than the cars before it.
What it changed
It put the rotary into the Grand Familia’s everyday bodies and added to Mazda’s racing record. The Savanna won on its debut at the September 1971 Fuji 500 and in 1972 won the touring car category at the Japanese Grand Prix, preventing Nissan’s Skyline GT-R from winning 50 consecutive races. It claimed over 100 victories by 1976, which a V100 special edition in Japan commemorated. In Australia an RX-3 placed fifth outright at Bathurst in 1975, and in New Zealand 17 of the 100 starters in the 1977 Rally New Zealand were RX-3s, with Rod Millen fifth. Its coupé success shaped the design and marketing of the RX-7 that replaced it.
Who it is for, and who it is not
It suits someone interested in how Mazda made the rotary engine a mainstream product, and in a compact car with a serious racing record. It is not for someone who wants a verdict on reliability or comfort, or a car designed from scratch as a coupé; that came with the RX-7.
Is it worth your time
Yes, if the story of Mazda’s early rotary years interests you. The coupé’s share of sales shaped the RX-7 that followed, and its racing results are well recorded.
