2005 Mazda RX-8
Expert Review

The new Mazda RX-8 is just the type of car to set a small automaker such as Mazda apart from the crowd. The Japanese automaker brings its unique rotary engine back to market with this unusual sports car.

The rotary engine is a Mazda exclusive. That engine sometimes is called the "Wankel" after its German engineer inventor Felix Wankel, who began work on it in 1924. It's an extremely small, light, silky smooth internal combustion engine with essentially just three moving parts—compared to hundreds of parts in a conventional piston engine.

Instead of pistons thrashing up and down in combustion chambers to produce power, the rotary engine's triangle-shaped rotors spin like a pinwheel in oval-shaped housings, with each of the triangle's three shapes producing a power stroke.

Rotary History
The RX-8 has a twin-rotor engine, but some rotary engines have used three and four rotors. Mazda began making its rotary engine Cosmo Sport sports car in 1967, but entered the American market with its R-100 rotary engine small family car in 1970.

The R-100 was quickly followed by the progressively larger, sleeker, more Americanized RX-2, RX-3 and RX-4 rotary engine Mazdas, although all were compact cars.

The best-known Mazda rotary engine model in this country is the RX-7 sports car, sold from late 1978 through 1995, by which time the car had become too costly and exotic.

Major Race Winner
Early Mazda rotary engines had reliability problems, especially if abused and maintained incorrectly. Mazda eventually made the rotary engine so reliable it powered the four-rotor winning car at the famous, grueling 24-hour endurance race in Le Mans, France.

Automakers from General Motors to Mercedes-Benz seriously experimented with rotary engines before the 1980s. But their timing was bad trying to bring the engine to market.

Genuine Sports Car Engine
The rotary is a good engine for a sports car because it's a potent, high-revving motor. The RX-8 is a genuine sports car, although it has room for four adults and two rear-hinged "half doors" that swing out fully 80 degrees and have hidden handles.

Four 6-foot people fit if a driver moves his seat up far enough. Otherwise, the car is best suited for three tall adults and a child.

The RX-8 looks like a hardtop sports car because there are no center roof pillars. However, thick rear pillars impede driver visibility. The small rear windows don't roll down, but tilt out slightly for ventilation.

Rear Seat Effort
The RX-8 is rather small and low, so getting in and out of the back seat calls for extra effort. The small, rear-hinged doors don't open or close independently of the conventionally sized front doors.

Easily grasped door handles allow quick entry to the quiet interior, which has supportive front bucket seats and a rear-seat area expressly designed for two occupants. Both front and rear occupants have decent cupholders.

Safety items include front-seat side airbags and side-curtain airbags.

Mazda is proud of its rotary engine. Even the interior of the RX-8 has rotary engine cues, with headrests, shifter and stereo face having the triangle shape of an engine rotor.

Odd Digital Speedometer
The small digital speedometer is out of place near the large, conventional tachometer. The car should have a conventional speedometer, with perhaps the digital speedometer made a secondary unit.

Smooth controls are nicely positioned, and the hand brake located between the front seats looks like a nice piece of sculpture. A small pop-out dashboard coin tray to the left of the steering wheel will be especially appreciated on toll-ways.

Two Horsepower Ratings
The 4-speed automatic transmission version of the RX-8 has 197 horsepower and a $25,180 list price. The 238-horsepower version comes with a 6-speed manual gearbox, sport suspension and larger tires. It costs $26,680.

The engine for the manual-transmission version has more power essentially because it has a different fuel intake system. The 197-horsepower rotary engine goes with the automatic because Mazda has no automatic that can handle the higher revs of the 238-horsepower engine.

Still, the automatic transmission RX-8 is far from slow, partly because the car only weighs about 3,000 pounds. The manual-transmission RX-8 does 0-60 mph in just 5.9 seconds. Both versions of the 1.3-liter engine are small and need high revs for the best performance, although they rev easily.

The automatic transmission is responsive and has a manual-shift mode, but the close-ratio 6-speed manual gearbox makes the car more fun to drive with its short-throw lever. The only rub here is that the light clutch has a long throw.

Fuel economy is an estimated 18 mpg in the city for both versions of the engine. It's 24 mpg on the highway with the manual and 25 mpg with the automatic.

Solid Roadability
The rear-wheel-drive RX-8 has fast, but rather heavy, power steering and great agility with 50-50 weight distribution and a supple all-independent suspension. The brake pedal has a short travel and nice progressive action to control the standard anti-lock brakes. The RX-8 is a blast to drive on a track and lots of fun on roads.

Traction control and anti-skid systems are offered in option packages and can help keep the car on the road if a driver suddenly finds himself, say, entering a turn too fast.

The 106.4-inch wheelbase is long for a sports car and helps provide a supple ride and roomy interior, although the RX-8's body is no longer than that of a Porsche 911's at 174.3 inches.

The trunk is moderately large, but has a small opening. The lid flips up well out of the way on smooth hydraulic struts. Rear seats don't fold forward to increase cargo space, and there's no spare tire—just a fix-a-flat kit.

Option Package Variety
But there's plenty of standard equipment, including air conditioning and power front windows. A variety of option packages that cost $1,100 to $4,600 contain tempting items. For instance, an RX-8 I tested had the $3,900 Grand Touring package, which contained a sunroof, Bose sound system, power driver seat and classy two-tone leather upholstery.

No other sports car is like the RX-8, which deftly combines driving kicks with practicality.