Mazda Rotary Pickup

MAZDA ROTARY PICKUP

Cycle World Impression

It Handles, It's Comfortable and It's Got POWER. Did Japan Build This Truck?

THE MINI pickup has become one of the most ideal methods of to-the-favorite-riding-area transportation in recent years. Not only are they economical to operate, but they can carry a surprising amount of cargo and they readily lend themselves to customizing and modifying.

Tradi tionally, m: ese vehicles have been powered by nventional piston engines. Even

Mazda, the Rotary Engine Revolutionaries, first offered their utility truck with a piston engine. But the realization that their truck would be a much better seller if it, too, had a rotary engine took until 1 974 to become a mass-produced reality.

The Mazda Rotary Pickup is not just the old Mazda truck with a new motor stuffed into an existing chassis. The engineers at the factory felt that they should design an entirely new truck around an RX-4 engine. When they did, they also incorporated quite a number of features that mini trucks have been in need of for some time. Disc brakes up front for instance. And wider, automotive-type tires with flared wheel wells for those who wish to slip on a set of even wider skins and not mess with hokey

splash guards. The 20.8 gal. fuel tank is nearly twice the size of those found on other mini trucks.

Inside the cab, there is appropriate instrumentation, including a tachometer. The tach is unique in that at 6400 rpm, 600 rpm short of the Mazda’s > suggested redline, a buzzer sounds warning that you are approaching the rev limit. The dashboard is simulated wood grain and incorporates flow-thru vents. The interior layout is the roomiest, most comfortable we have ever come across on a mini.

The aesthetics of the truck vary. From almost every angle the vehicle is an eye catcher. But the front grill area is more squarish than we might wish it to be. While it is attractive, it in no way transfers a sensation of raciness or performance to the viewer.

Now, whether or not the front area lives up to the image, this thing does perform. With a capital P. It is possible to chirp the tires in all four gears, laying quite a respectable patch of rubber in the lower two.

The four-speed transmission is the same one available on the RX-4 sedan, with one difference. The synchro mechanism in the truck is designed for extra ruggedness, and therefore cannot be coaxed into producing ultra-quick shifts as the sedan’s tranny can. It shifts deliberately but smoothly. Our quartermile time of 16.8 sec. at 80.4 mph shows that.

To get equal performance out of a domestic truck, with today’s emission devices, you would need something in the area of 400 cubic inches. The Mazda rotary displaces 1308cc, or about 80 cubic inches.

Although we did not run a braking test on the truck, be assured that the binders are superb. The only fade problem we experienced was after the sixth run down the strip. We had been braking hard at the end of each run just to feel the straight-line stopping power of the brakes. When we did experience the fade, we overshot our general stopping area by about 20 feet or so. Allowing the brakes to cool for a few minutes brought back all of their usefulness.

As peppy and small as the Mazda engine is, it eats up gas when asked to perform. We drove one tank of gas as hard as we could whenever we could. The throttle was used more like a toggle switch than the progressively applicable item it is. The truck delivered 13.2 mpg.

Driving more normally, but still occasionally getting it on, our gas consumption went up to 15.8. The best mileage we ever achieved with the vehicle was 17.5 during an extended 55 mph cruis^^

Most owners will not appreciate tn^P mileage at first since they, like us, will find it very tempting to rear back and nail the throttle when there are no black-and-whites in sight. But as the novelty of acceleration wears off, and the truck is driven more often with the flow of traffic, mileage will increase.

It might be due to the wider stance, or merely to the fact that there is sufficient power available to “drive” around corners rather than merely “rolling” through, but the Mazda handles very well for a truck. In fact, it handles better than many cars we’ve driven, although cars aren’t our specialty. Even when playing racer, the truck will set up in controllable drifts.

Everything that comes from abroad is costing more these days. We feel it in the motorcycle industry and they are

teling it in the auto world. The Mazda otary Pickup retails for $3495 before accessories, license fees and your respective governor’s percentage. This puts it atop the field by virtue of just about every feature we’ve discussed save mpg. If we were in the market for an m.t., we wouldn’t hesitate at all. We’d buy a Mazda. @

$3495