The car that really made the rotary famous in North America was the RX-7 sports car. Unfortunately, the RX-7 made a premature exit from the U.S. market after the 1995 model year, although it hung around in Japan until 2002. With its two-seat configuration (although rear "jump seats" were offered in Japan for some weird legal reason), the RX-7 was a true sports car. Unfortunately, "sports car" is one of those terms that always seems to cause contention among the zealots in any subject area. The truly hard core will undoubtedly argue that only an open top two seater with SU carbs can be a sports car. We prefer to look at the functionality of a machine and see if the name fits.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2009-mazda-rx-8-r3-return-of-the-humme/
