At a time when 228bhp is in no way spectacular, but the 8200rpm at which it produces the figure certainly is. As ever, the rotary engine offers mechanical smoothness that reciprocal piston engines can’t match. There is a torque deficiency, though. With 1300kg and a weak 156lb ft arriving at 5500rpm, it looks like being a car that doesn’t so much thrive on revs, as desperately needs them to perform.
Latest-generation rotor technology takes the form of two triangular rotors working within a combustion chamber, each displacing 654cc. That’s a mere 1308cc in real money, leaving
a power-to-weight ratio of 174bhp per tonne.
And those doors are equally ingenious. The rears won’t open without the fronts being first opened, and the extra access they grant really does make them something more than a freak attraction.