(first posted 7/16/2013) robotr10t has uploaded a raft of his sightings in Europe at the Cohort, and one of the more unusual ones is this Eunos Cosmo. Sold only through Mazda’s Japanese premium channel Eunos, the 1990-1995 Cosmo was the final iteration of the Cosmo line of rotary sports coupes that goes back to the original Cosmo coupe of 1967, the world’s first two-rotor rotary-engine car. So it’s only fitting that the Cosmo line ended with the world’s only production triple-rotor automobile.
This gives me a chance to trot out a shot of the original Cosmo I shot at the Paris Auto Show a couple of years ago. It was a remarkable achievement by Mazda, and with its 110 hp 982cc twin-rotor, the very petite Cosmo could hit 115 mph. At the time, it (and the Toyota 2000 GT) really made it clear that Japan was breaking out of the mold of modest and conservative mini-me cars.
The Eunos Cosmo, which manages to evoke some GM cars of the era like the Buick Reatta, came in both two-rotor and triple-rotor versions, with the latter making up about 40% of the 8,875 total production total. The Eunos was a Japanese market-only car, although it might have made it to the US of Mazda’s ambitious Amati premium brand had actually been undertaken.
With twin turbo-chargers, the 20B-REW triple rotor engine made 300 hp, and propelled the Cosmo up to almost 160 mph (255 kmh) if the JDM-required 180kmh speed limiter was disengaged.
Yes! This is the one car, more than any other, that I intend to buy once it hits the US 25-year rule.
It WAS intended for the US market and was engineered to take LHD. It was to be the Amati brand’s third model, after the entry level Amati 500 (which ended up being sold as the Mazda Millenia) and the Amati 1000 (also referred to as the Pegasus, and had a 4.0L V12 based on Mazda’s K-series V6.)
The Cosmo was also the world’s first car with a GPS navigation system.
Eunos was concieved as a US market brand like Scion or Infiniti and every single car made by Mazda wore a Eunos badge at some point MX5s are a popular Eunos model here as are the wallowing barge the Eunos 300 Millenia unfortunately none have a rotary engine most are fitted with the problematic Mazda V6. Most Eunos are headed for scrap as there is nothing special about them buy one if you want most people avoid them like the plague.
Beautiful. But a car like this would scare me to death in the US where nobody has ever a) heard of it or b) worked on it. I guess you could order parts in Japan, and we do have an internet. The American owner of one of these had better plan on becoming an accomplished Mazda rotary mechanic.
Quite a few of them have ended up here so maintenence isn’t a problem as there are a few rotary specialists around who know how to fix them.
There are several Australian enthusiasts – such as David Morris – with a wealth of knowledge who have had access to these cars for years, and are a great English-language resource.
I know of at least one that was imported when new during the last days before the Feds stopped gray-market imports in ~1990. I had an opportunity to purchase it around 2002 for $20k, but I was still in college and didn’t have the money.
NZ is littered with Eunos come over and take a shipload with you.
What a handsome car. It looks like a Reatta in the same sense that Brad Pitt looks like me. 🙂
Ahhh… one of my favorite pieces of forbidden fruit. I love it when engineers and designers reach for the stars. (Of course, this is what gives the finance guys nightmares.)
There are a few of these here in Canada, but I’m not sure if any of them are the 3 rotor.
Aaah, the one that got away……
Back in the early 00’s I was 20, single, and had a resonable amount of cash to put on a dowmpayment on a car. The Japanese import boom in NZ was in full swing, and you if it was sold in Japan, you could get it into NZ.
I was trawling yards one day when I noticed the back end of a Cosmo out the back of one of the yards, asked the salesman if it was for sale. He said that it had literally just come in, wasn’t prepped for sale or even costed up yet, but I could take a look if I liked. It was the Type E-CCS, with the GPS system, leather interior and 20B. The colour scheme was exactly the same as the one in the article above. I gave it a bit of a once-over, and we took it for a drive.
Wow. What a car. The boost came on pretty much straight off the stall on the torque convertor, and just built from there. About 4k rpm there was another distinct shove of torque. What an engine, what a sound. It was intoxicating.
I needed that car there and then. So the back seat didn’t have much room, and it would be expensive to keep, but I didn’t care. I was away on a sailing trip for the weekend, leaving that afternoon (it was a Friday), and I told the salesmman that I’d call on Sunday when I got back to check if they’d costed it up, and we could do a deal.
I went away that weekend, telling my friends about the car that I was going to buy, very excited. Got home Sunday afternoon, and called the yard. Sold on Saturday the guy told me. I was gutted.
It was probably a good thing. While I wasn’t earning badly, I certainly wan’t rolling in cash, and that would have been an expensive car to maintain and fuel.
Oh well, after looking at many other options, such as MR-2 GT’s, Celica GT-4’s, A Mitsubishi FTO GP-X, Skyline R33 GTS-25T’s, Nissan Pulsar GTi-R’s, and even a couple of early Lancer Evo’s (hmmmm, seeing a pattern here?) I somehow ended up falling in love with a Honda Legend Coupe! I suppose it was similar in a lot of ways to the Cosmo, but a far better choice in many. Performance was about 7/10’s of the Cosmo, but there was far more interior and trunk room. The Legend didn’t have quite such an interestingly styled interior, but you couldn’t fault the build quality. I know for sure the Legend used less gas than a Cosmo would’ve, and I’d probably have had to spend more in maintenance costs for the Cosmo.
You used to see them reasonably often here in Auckland, in both 20B and 13B form, but they’re getting very rare these days, especially with the 20B.
I often wonder what it would have been like to own one, it’s on my list of “maybe oneday” cars, but even given the opportunity and the garage space I’m not sure I’d be too keen to take one on now, I imagine anything other than a pampered original example would be a bit of a nightmare…..
Handsome but hard to say more so than the Soarer. I thought the mid-70s Cosmo that we got in the States was a handsome car too but it never sold well here. The Colonades, Cordoba and 77 Tbird were tough competition if you wanted a high style 2-door. The Cosmo while smaller offered no advantage in MPG and it was pricey.
I’ve seen one of these up close, there was one running around Miami, believe it or not, they are pretty nice, very close to an SC400 interior wise, the seats were plusher, almost like the last generation Rivieras.
Like Bryce and Styles79 noted, we got them here in NZ as used imports, but we also got at least one brand new back in ’91 – it’s currently for sale on trademe.
Definitely on my “maybe oneday” list too, but only with the 20B.
I love the interior on these – they remind me of the gen4 Honda Prelude and the Lincoln Mark VIII. Some have a flap over the ICE, like the one below, some have a more vertical surround with TV.
That interior is plush! Reminds me of the Mark VIII and ’95-’99 Riv as well.
Wow, what an attractive coupe. Way nicer than the Reatta!
Somewhere there’s a Reatta designer excitedly going “Yes! that’s EXACTLY what I meant!”
Nice car; intriguing engine. I’d never heard of it.
I’ve said it before: It’s a crying shame the rotary engine was never developed out of its bugs and birthing pains. It could have been the revolutionary answer for cheap, mechanically simple transportation for the masses…and if it used a little more gas, what of it? It would use less energy in manufacture. Piston engines, and even hybrid, plug-ins, windmill-powered cars, could be available for ecologically-oriented millionaires with more money than math savvy.
Alas, ’tis not to be.
Interesting that with a Japanese national speed limit of about 40 mph, the speed limiter controls this car to FOUR TIMES THAT. I guess that’s what being Japanese and rich does for you.
Japanese speed limit is 100knh//60mph JDM cars have an annoying little warning device that tells you, the limiter holds the car to less than double the speed limit just over 110 mph or 180 kmh, you couldnt hold it on the road in JDM form any faster so why bother.
There are one or two ex-JDM Cosmos running around here in Brisbane, but I haven’t seen them for a while. Speaking of Amati, does anyone here remember seeing some grainy shots of the V12 styling clays? It looked a lot like a four door Cosmo.
The team at ‘Automotive Plus’ in Brisbane have a few ex-JDM Cosmos, including the Cosmotree (kind of like a way cool Christmas tree!) pictured below. Picture is from the awesome wasabicars website and facebook page that I’m a fan and supporter of – wasabicars also did a video tour of Automotive Plus showing the Cosmos.
Re the Amati V12, yes I remember the photos – they were published in Wheels at some stage. I have every Wheels issue ever (yeah I know, it’s OCD!) so given a bit of time can dig out the relevant issue and scan the Amati pics if anyone’s interested.
Love these cars. Like many gen-Yers, I only learned of their existence from Japanese video games. But I did see them once in a while in Oz. With the full-length taillights, chrome badges, small rear seat, and long hood & trunk, the Cosmo was something like an ultra high-tech, Japanese interpretation of the ’70s ‘personal luxury’ segment… right down to the mandatory four-speed automatic, a comedown for anyone expecting these to be sporty.
Fans of the Reatta will like the fact that this car also offered a CRT touchscreen for the climate controls, radio, etc.
Still, it’s a shame this car never got a chance to compete in the States. Imagine the contemporary magazine comparos… ‘Cosmo vs SC400 vs Mk VIII vs Eldorado ETC’. That would be a good read.
One of these is on my bucket list, but they’re a vacuum and electrical nightmare these days. Quite an understated design. There’s an awesome video on YouTube of a white one with a worked NA 20B that sounds incredible.
Cheers for the heads-up re the white one on YouTube rupewrecht – you’re right it sounds awesome! 😀
The biggest shame was that they parted it out – i saw the ITBs come up for sale on the Yahoo Auctions a few years ago now.
While the Reatta was well-styled, it didn’t hold a candle to the styling of this Eunos Cosmo. I’ve always wanted one of these. Even if I had to ditch the rotary engine and put an LS or an electric powertrain in, it would be worth it for the styling alone.
Hi Kyree,
I agree completely. I remember first seeing this in Gran Turismo and thought it was one of the best looking cars I had ever seen. This is what I wish GM cars, or any American cars, looked like. In my perfect world it would have been an attainable Buick Riviera with a supercharged 3800.
As you may or may not know, the eighth-gen (1995-1999) Riviera Supercharged is one of my favorite cars, from a design standpoint. Had it not been hamstrung by cheap construction, it would have been a cool idea.
The aborted Amati line was to have a coupe based on this Cosmo. Different styling, slightly different interior with wood included, only the two-rotor from what I’m aware of. I’ve only seen two pictures of it, and can’t find the interior shot anymore. We were supposed to get this in ’93/’94:
One Eunos-Cosmo for sale right now in L.A. ……………
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/ctd/d/garland-jdm-rhd-1990-mazda-eunos-cosmo/6930170837.html
I had a JDM 76 Cosmo with the 13B and loved it. You had to get used to the dearth of low end torque but once it starts buzzing, it was a fun car to drive.
This 4th Gen Cosmo is another car that looks much better in metal than in a pic.
I’ve been on the lookout here in Tokyo for one of these for some time – very few pop up for sale, when they do, they’re usually around $30K.
FYI – the Cosmo Gen I like the white one in the pic above all go for around $100K here in Japan.