Yeah, Mazda never did anything like that with the Rotary but that's what we were all thinking of when we saw Rotary. The biggest problem with premium cars having a 4 banger; Noise, Harshness, Vibration. Right? The Duratec can pull the same power with more torque but most people hate the way it sounds. Meanwhile the Miata has some dinky little one model 4 banger. Their lightweight sportscars go best with lightweight high revving engines. In that respect a 4 banger would work but the smoothness of the Rotary means the engine sounds better than a V-6 but weighs more like a 4 banger. The RX-8's biggest problem is the fuel mileage. They made up for the lack of torque with those axle ratios and 6 speeds with close ratio.
The Rotary IS a durable engine. I bet you saw all the consumer reports of engine failure though. I was looking through RX-8s for sale and couldn't find a single Rolling Chassis or engineless, but I did see alot with new engines :har:.
Anyone I think the Atkinson might be a cop out for building 3 cylinders. The 1.3 liter 4 banger used in the Festiva is the smallest 4 banger I've seen. The Volt is getting a 1.4 4 banger because they claimed it was better than a 1 liter 3 cylinder with turbo. With the ease of making 100hp out of a 1.4 I believe they were either fighting going with a 3 cylinder or trying to provide for cruising at 80mph.
Anyway there is some hope for the Atkinson cycle. A study on the effects of ethanol, E85 that is, in the Prius showed a
big power difference. It's a bigger difference than most flexfuels... <.< >.>...it might make up for the range loss.