Why the FD RX-7, and NOT the NSX or MX-5, is Japan's greatest sports car

Hot Take Time: Mazda's FD3S RX-7 is Japan's best sports car. Forget the MX-5. Forget the NSX. Forget GT-Rs, Supras, WRXs and Evos (none of them are sports cars, for one). Ultimately the top 3 sports cars Japan has poduced are widely recognised as being the Mazda MX-5, the Honda NSX, and Mazda's third-generation RX-7.

For the sake of this article I'll define a "sports car" as a light weight, two-seat (or 2+2, which is just a glorified two-seater), rear-drive car that places driving dynamics above creature comforts. Never mind if they've got pistons or rotors, turbos or natural aspiration, are mid-engined or not, the MX-5, NSX and RX-7 fulfill all of those terms in their own peculiar ways. 

Anyone lucky enough to have driven an NSX knows the joy of that C30 3.0-litre V6, the epic steering and the friendly handling, and the fact it (unlike other mid-engined cars of the time) won't fall apart like a well-kicked sandcastle if you look at it sternly. With engineering assistance from one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time (Aryton Senna), Honda schooled every traditional supercar manufacturer on how to make a performance car. 

Seriously, these things are amazing. But... 

While it's a great analogue experience there's some difficult facts NSX fanbois need to confront. Sure, you wouldn't scream if you saw it when the nightclub house lights get turned on at the end of a big night, but you can still tell it was designed over 35 years ago as the styling is massively dated. And it's not fast. 

It wasn't outrageously fast in 1991, and most hot hatches would show it a clean set of heels in 2025. That doesn't make it a bad car, far from it. But it dates the NSX.

Today values for Honda's greatest four-wheeled product are rightfully climbing. The car which shone a spotlight on how badly engineered and built traditional supercars from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati should be valued up there with its contemporaries, and the hardcore NSX-R is arguably already there... but it isn't the greatest sports car from Japan.

And it isn't the MX-5, either. Sorry (not sorry), kids. This will be where a good slice of the Internet lights their pitchforks and takes to Reddit to call me a dingbat and a know-nothing, pole-punching, dong-wrangler, but give me two shakes of a lamb's tail to run through my reasoning. 

Mazda's tribute to the Lotus Elan is rightfully iconic. A cheap, well-made roadster that has survived all comers since 1989 to be the world's most successful two-seat convertible sports car in history, the light and dynamic machine should be a byword for "fun". Unlike many other cars, every generation of MX-5 is great to drive, which is an epic accomplishment all of its own. But...

MX-5 fans laud the roadster for its handling and chassis feedback, claiming you don't sit in an MX-5; you "wear" it. And unfortunately the styling reflects that because, while Mazda has tried their best every generation of MX-5 looks like a kid's battery-powered toy. We don't need the star-spangled, cousin-kissing four-wheeled finger guns of a Dodge Viper, but it's tough to take a performance car seriously when it looks like it was designed by Mattel. 

They're also slow and require a level of commitment to momentum modern policing standards do not agree upon for road driving. While the turbocharged SP and SE models have more go about them, they felt like a very bland modified car rather than giving the kinds of thrills a proper sports car will deliver. Look how serious old mate is in the pic below. If this was Japan's greatest sports car he wouldn't look like he's on his way to sign his will or hear a lecture about franking credits.

While the MX-5 is an awesome car to drive, there was another two-door, 2+2 (or 2-seater) car being built by Mazda at the same time which I feel is a far better contender to lift the crown of "Japan's greatest sports car"; the FD3S RX-7. 

I found the below pic on Reddit. It's like the automotive equivalent of a polite, studious and well-intended young student posing next to their cousin who is a model, professional athlete, and Honours student...

The third-generation RX-7 is a stunner, and one of the all-time greatest styling jobs to come out of Japan. If you disagree with that statement get your seeing-eye dog to read it back to you again. Wu-Huang Chin's styling job has all the great hallmarks of a sports car, and RX-7's that came before it: low-slung stance, fantastic proportions, a wide footprint, sleek lines, and a hint of aggression.

Stock the Series VI-VIII RX-7 is a glamour, and it looks amazing when modified, too. This doesn't happen often as a car with such clean, simple styling often ends up looking like a pre-schooler's art project once aftermarket add-ons start finding their way onto the car.

And, for the record, the car below is actually a factory Mazda product. Somehow the FD3S RX-7 even makes hoop wings look awesome.

It's also fast, and not just for 1991, when the Series VI debuted. The twin-turbo twin-rotor 13B-REW Wankel rotary, Mazda's first sequential twin-turbo set-up, is a peach no matter if you "only" have a 188kW or a full-fruit 206kW variant.

And it only gets better when modified. How much power do you want from your rotary, because while the NSX and MX-5 have limitations to the amount of grunt which can be economically be squeezed from their piston engines, turbocharged rotaries make power almost by accident. 

To give them their due here, I'd argue MX-5 and NSX ultimately handle better than the FD that isn't to say the final two-door rotary performance car from Mazda goes around corners like an overpowered waterbed. From the factory the FDs were lightly criticised for being "twitchy" or "nervous" at the limit, however tuners have found ways around this.  

FD RX-7s took the wood in all sorts of production car-based racing, which maintained close links to the cars bought by Joe and Joelyne Average.  The race-inspired, Aussie-developed RX-7 SP variant took on the might of the Porsche 968 and slapped it all over Mount Panorama (Bathurst) and Sydney Motorsport Park, stamping its authority on production car racing Down Under.

So they look amazing, go like the clappers, they handle great, and can be modified into blindingly fast race cars. I'm failing to see a downside here, besides the potentially finnicky control systems for the sequential twin-turbo set-up and the infamous thirst for petrol of the Wankel rotary (both of which can be solved with modern technology). 

Do you agree with my hypothesis? Have you driven or owned all three of these cars, because I have driven them back-to-back (with an S2000, R34 GT-R, and Evo VI Makinen in the mix too) and I'd still take the FD home at the end, even with my allergy to rotary engines. 

If you're hanging for more RX-7 content, the good news is Marty is chopping through (SEE THE LATEST VIDEO HERE) his refresh of the FD3S RX-7 he picked up in Japan for the feature-length movie Turbos & Temples III (CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT). And while we're discussing that awesome good time adventure, if you're sick for FDs and Japan, and you want more behind-the-scenes content from Turbos & Temples III, you should grab a copy of the T&T3 Magazine CLICK HERE.