Format: bullet cues only, reference not read-aloud. Hosts riff from beats, never teleprompter the page.

Scored as: 2009-2011 Series 2, Renesis 13B-MSP, 6MT · Total: 38/70 (PROPOSED, not ratified) · Target runtime: ~6:40, hard ceiling 7:00

Title (curiosity gap): "This $5,300 Sports Car Needs a $4,500 Engine"

Thumbnail word (emotion/verdict, zero overlap w/ title): "COMPRESSION" + big 35 on the Board

Order: Deal -> Drive -> Upkeep -> Risk -> Daily -> Limit -> Mods -> Board -> Verdict

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HOOK | one sentence (~0:05)

• "This is a car where the purchase price is a down payment, and we can show you exactly how much is left to pay."
• "Everyone tells you rotaries blow up. That is not the finding. The finding is that you can measure how close it is."
• "A five thousand dollar sports car, and a four and a half thousand dollar engine that the price does not include."

Recommend #1. It promises the measurement, which is the reason this video is not a pile-on. Cut straight to The Deal.

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1 · THE DEAL , reveal 5 (~0:50)

Beats

• $5,330 · KBB private party, Good, 120,000 mi · range $3,905 to $5,680
• $23.0 per horsepower, against the 350Z's $18.7 and the Mazdaspeed3's $32.6
• Do not quote ~$28/hp. That was the research figure before the 120,000-mile pull. Stale
• Edmunds appraises a 2011 from $3,560 to $10,115, a 2.8x spread
• The spread is not condition, it is distance from a rebuild. A $4,000 car and a $9,000 car are the same car at different points in the same cycle
• Land the score out loud: this is a 5 because the sticker is a down payment. Set $5,330 against a $4,499 engine and the real number is somewhere near ten grand

B-roll: live cars.com search, 2009-11 under $12k · screen-record the grid at edit time

On screen: the $5,330 plate · the $3,560-to-$10,115 spread as a bar with "DISTANCE FROM A REBUILD" under it · $5,330 + $4,499 added up

Reveal line cue: "Five thousand three hundred dollars, and that is not what it costs... The Deal, a 5."

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2 · THE DRIVE , reveal 9 (~0:45)

Beats

• 232 hp at 8,500 rpm · 159 lb-ft at 5,500 · 3,065 lb · 13.2 lb/hp · 9,000 rpm limiter
• All four of those are Mazda's own spec deck or Edmunds. This is the best-sourced part of the car
• 159 lb-ft is the number that shapes it. The Mazdaspeed3 makes 280, the Focus ST 270. Those cars ask to be short-shifted and this one asks to be wrung out
• The appeal is real and it is not nostalgia: no piston engine at this money makes this noise or revs this way
• The automatic is a different car: 212 hp, 7,500 rpm. Not scored, not recommended, say so once
• No 0-60 on screen. Two figures circulate, 5.7 and 6.0, from the same aggregator, and no instrumented test was reachable

On screen: tach sweep to 9,000 with the number held · 159 lb-ft beside the Mazdaspeed3's 280 · "AUTO = 212 HP, 7,500 RPM" stamp

Reveal line cue: "Nine thousand rpm, and you will need all of them... The Drive, a 9."

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3 · THE UPKEEP , reveal 5 (~0:50)

Beats

• ~$5,267/yr: $2,667 fuel · $1,800 insurance [E] · $300 tires [E] · $500 service [E]
• 18 mpg combined on premium, 16 city and 22 highway, from fueleconomy.gov
• The line that lands it: a 232 hp 1.3 litre drinks more than the Genesis Coupe's 348 hp V6. $2,667 against $2,000
• The oil line nobody budgets for. The Renesis burns oil deliberately: the metering pump injects it to seal the apex seals. Topping up is ownership, not repair
• And it is the route to the failure. Running it low is a direct path to the compression loss in the next segment
• Insurance is our estimate, not a quote. MoneyGeek publishes no RX-8 page. Bounded by the 350Z's $1,950 and the NC Miata's $1,512. Say "our estimate" out loud

On screen: the 18 mpg pump stamp · $2,667 beside the Genesis Coupe's $2,000 with the two engine sizes under them · oil bottle in the boot

Reveal line cue: "Eighteen miles a gallon on premium, and it drinks oil on purpose... The Upkeep, a 5."

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4 · THE RISK , reveal 2 (~1:20)

Beats (this segment is the review, protect it in the edit)

• Scope out loud first: 2009 to 2011 Series 2
• This is not "rotaries are unreliable." It is arithmetic. We price this tier at 120,000 miles. A meticulously maintained 13B is documented at roughly 125,000 before it needs a rebuild
• So it reaches our own condition basis needing an engine, where every other car here reaches it needing maintenance. That is the 2
• Compression starts going around 100,000. Complete failure is not uncommon by 80,000 on a neglected car
• The rebuild is $4,499 for an exchange engine on used rotor housings, $6,899 on new ones. Rebuilding your own core is $2,800, or $3,100 with the accessories done
• Every one of those is an engine price, not an installed price. Removal and reinstallation labour is not captured. Say so
• The rebuild trap: "rebuilt engine" in an advert is not automatically good news. Seals on worn housings make no more compression and often less. Housings have to be trued and resurfaced
• Flooding is a symptom, not a defect. Every reported flood traced back to battery, starter, coils, wires, plugs or compression. A car that floods is telling you about its compression
• Callback: that is the fourth precursor chain down here, after the Mazdaspeed3's fuel pump, the WRX's oil consumption and the GTI Mk6's cold-start rattle
• The rest, cheap individually and frequent: starter, coils, plugs, wires, cat, clutch cylinders

THE TURN, AND IT IS WHY THIS IS NOT A PILE-ON

• You can measure it. Hot compression test, rotary-specific gauge, three faces per rotor
• 7.5 bar per face is healthy, under 1.5 bar variance
• Under 6.5 bar means months, not years
• A compression test lets a buyer put a number on how much car is left. This one does, and that is worth the segment

PPI CHECKLIST - hold it on screen

• Hot rotary compression test at a rotary shop. Three faces per rotor. Nothing else counts
• 7.5 bar healthy, under 6.5 bar means months
• Rebuild paperwork, and specifically what was done to the housings
• Oil consumption and top-up history
• Starter, coils, plugs, wires
• Catalytic converter codes
• Confirm Series 2, 2009 or later

On screen: the 120k basis and the 125k service life on one timeline · the compression gauge with 7.5 and 6.5 marked · the four rebuild prices stacked with "ENGINE PRICE, NOT INSTALLED" under them

Reveal line cue: "It arrives at our own mileage needing an engine... The Risk, a 2."

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5 · THE DAILY , reveal 6 (~0:30)

Beats

• Four seats and four doors, in a sports car. The rear ones are rear-hinged, and they make the back seat reachable rather than decorative
• That puts it clear of the NC Miata's and the 350Z's two seats, and behind the tier's hatchbacks on outright space
• It does better here than its reputation suggests, and that is worth saying because the reputation is all engine
• No CarPlay in these years [E]

On screen: both doors open from the kerb, then someone actually getting in the back · the two-seat coupes beside it

Reveal line cue: "Four seats, four doors, and a back seat you can use... The Daily, a 6."

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6 · THE LIMIT , reveal 9 (~0:40)

Beats

• SCCA C Street, which is the NC Miata's class and the ND Miata's at the top of the Board
• Carries the same asterisk as five other cars down here: read from the classification assistant, not straight out of Appendix A
• No instrumented grip or braking figure was captured. This score is reputation and hardware, and we say that on camera
• The R3 is the chassis to have: Bilstein dampers and Recaro seats from the factory
• 3,065 lb and rear-drive, with the engine sitting low and far back. The balance is the part everyone who has driven one talks about
• Honest cap: a car this close to a rebuild is not a car you want to track, and that is a real limit on The Limit

On screen: the C Street banner over this and the two Miatas · R3 Bilstein and Recaro detail · "NO INSTRUMENTED FIGURES" stamp

Reveal line cue: "The Miata's race class, on the chassis to have... The Limit, a 7."

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7 · THE MODS , reveal 3 (~0:35)

Beats

• The aftermarket here is a rebuild industry, not a power industry. That sentence is the whole segment
• Competition ceramic apex seals are about $800 in parts. That is what the specialist scene sells
• modsAccelerateFailure = YES, and more directly than anywhere else down here: the failure is thermal and seal-related, and boost, sustained rpm and track use all drive exactly that
• The Mazdaspeed3 and the WRX have the same problem. On this car the wear item and the power path are the same part
• No cost per 100 whp is published. None was sourced, and the honest framing is that the money in this scene keeps engines alive rather than making them stronger

On screen: apex seals on the bench beside a turbo kit, with the seals lit · "THE WEAR ITEM IS THE POWER PATH" stamp

Reveal line cue: "Every path to more power drives the thing that is already wearing out... The Mods, a 3."

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THE BOARD + VERDICT (~0:55)

Beats

• Total lands: 35 / 70, and it is a proposed score
• Say where the points went: the Drive and the Limit are genuinely good, the Daily is better than people expect, and the Risk takes it all back
• Own the process on camera: the research brief labelled this a documented skip before anybody researched it. That label was not carried into the work. This verdict is what the evidence produced
• The distinction that matters: this is not "rotaries are unreliable." It is our own 120,000-mile basis meeting a documented 125,000-mile service life
• VERDICT: "Skip it, unless the rebuild is documented and the housings were done."
• The buy case, stated fairly: a fresh, properly documented rebuild changes the arithmetic completely, and then you have a 9,000 rpm four-door sports car for Miata money
• The one thing to remember: you cannot buy this like a normal used car

On screen: the 35 hits the Board · Skip stamp with the rebuild condition · the compression gauge one last time

Close cue: one line to the Board · end

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Runtime + notes

• Sum ~ 6:40. The Risk carries the runtime because it is the review. If it runs long, pull from The Mods and The Daily.
• All seven scores are proposals. The Risk (2) is the one to argue about, and the Deal (5) is the other: the buy-in is genuinely low and we are marking it down for a bill that is not in the price.
• Do not say on camera: a 0-60 figure, any grip or braking number, ~$28/hp, H Street or C Street as settled, or any rebuild price as an installed price.
• Insurance is our estimate, not a quote, and MoneyGeek has no page for this car. Say "our estimate" whenever the annual figure appears.
• B-roll warning: listings are asking prices, the $5,330 is KBB private-party. Name which is which.
• Title and thumbnail share zero words per channel rule.