Mookie...
You have started the OLD long standing debate about Rotor vs Piston.. LMAO
To be truthfull, the Rotary motor was indeed designed and realized by a German engineer, Dr. Wankel. However... he was NOT able to resolve issues that he came across and Mazda bought the patent and has been perfecting the Rotary since the late 60's. You are right about them being problamatic in the past BUT it has now come to the point where it is much more reliable than 20yrs ago. I would honestly say that the Puerto Ricans and Australians have taken the Rotary motor to new heights. Again... as I stated before..the person that TUNES your Rotary will make or break your setup.
As for other car companies, MANY of them tried Rotary motors BUT they couldn't make them dependable.(Chevy, Mercedes,NSU, BMW and a few more).. only MAZDA stayed the course and has made them what they are today... A simple motor that produces more power per liter ratio than anything else out there...
As for an LS swap... It is NOT as cheap as you make it sound. Please let everyone know what it cost to do the conversion (which is why everyone who sells a swapped 7 ask such HIGH prices) and for that cost you could go 20B. I have told my son that if I tire of the Rotary, I would install an LS into my 3rd Gen and he simply laughed at me... Go figure... he owns a 3rd gen as well.... Hope this clears some of the air for everyone...

L8R

Mookie.. I just realized you drive a VW and NOT a V8 swapped 7 so some questions/facts you wont have answers for...