New Car Test - Mazda RX8

8 April, 2004

The new rotary powered rocket is a winner.

By Nathan Huppatz

So with the demise of the fabled Mazda RX7 sportscar from Japan comes new blood. It is the inventive, clever and extremely well executed Mazda RX8 with rotary power in the the form of the Renesis engine that fills the RX7 void.

The short of it is this : if you like modern sports car driving teamed with practicality, good image and style, then go and drive a Mazda RX8. It’s good points far outweigh the negative. So lets get into it. With any good sports car, we of course start with the powerplant under the bonnet!

The Renesis is a new rotary engine design based on the venerable 13B. In fact, you can still find ‘13B’ stamped on the side of the block. Rotary engines have been manufactured by Mazda since around 1961, but the new Renesis engine has some important improvements. Side exhaust ports have been used, located alongside the intake ports in the side of the rotor housing. This improves efficiency, and helps the engine pass the tough Euro III standards that will see it fit for sale until 2005/2006. Fuel economy as we will see later does suffer a little.

Rotary engines always loved to rev, and this one is no different. The limiter is set at 9000rpm, and the engine revs smoothly and with a good spread of torque. Day to day driving is pleasant, with sharp throttle response, but the lack of turbo torque won’t see you leaving V8s behind at the lights without some strong revs and clutch work. Once the revs get up to 6000rpm and higher though the fun begins.

With the engine kept spinning, response is sharp and progress rapid. And if you do find yourself revving too hard, a soft beep will sound to advise you to change up a gear.  Sharp engine response is magnified by an electronic throttle programmed with no delay. At times, this can result in some jerky driving, but it will also teach you to be smooth, like a good sports car driver should be. The engine is a little peaky, with strong power at higher revs but seems to lack some torque down low.

Looking for any downsides to this smooth engines flexible performance? Well, fuel economy isn’t a strong point. With some spirited driving we achieved around 16l/100km, settling back down to around 12.5l/100km when not driving quite as hard. Performance in a straight line is around 6.5 seconds to 100 km/h with 2 on board and a hard launch.  Expect 7s if you aren’t willing to drop the clutch at the lights.

An engine like this wouldn’t be appreciated nearly as much if the chassis and suspension that supported it was not up to the task. The Mazda RX8 is dynamically excellent, with a compliant but sporty setup. The perfect sports car for every day roads. The suspension works extremely well in daily driving, and performs well on secondary roads. It is not as stiffly sprung as a 350Z (thank God) and copes with speed humps and potholes like a regular sedan. Coupled with 18 inch wheels shod in 225/45 rubber, cornering grip is high, although some body roll is noticable. The Bridgestones will make some noise early, but grip until the very end, only then progressing into a slide gracefully (with stability control turned off!).

Stability control in the RX8 actually works with the driver, unlike what we have seen from come recent implementations such as that of a near rival the Nissan 350Z. The hallmark of great stability control seems to be when you fail to notice it. The Mazda computers do a great job at holding back just enough power, or using just enough brake oh so smoothly that you hardly know it is there. There is no sudden loss of power when pushing hard across curving blacktop and no obvious pitch and yaw changes on the limit. We can only say that Mazda engineers have done well to develop a sports car like the RX-8 with handling and poise that also affords comfortable travelling over secondary roads.

The interior is a sporty affair, with build quality that we expect from Mazda - everything has a solid feel and touch. At the centre of the visual design is the rotor shape of the rotary engine. Gear knob and seat headrests are just two obvious uses of the triangular rotor theme used throughout the vehicle. Controls are well located, including steering wheel mounted audio system and cruise controls.

The leather seats are comfortable both front and back with good lumber and lateral support, and the ‘Freestyle’ doors as - Mazda marketing has cleverly renamed them – work well for rear seat occupants. A locking pin mechanism also ensures that when shut, body rigidity is kept high. If you are over 6 feet tall the rear seats won’t be comfortable for too long. Leg room is satisfactory, but the practicality of this car in being able to seat 4 people is excellent. There is no room for a rear middle occupant due to the large transmission tunnel running the length of the car.

Boot space however is at a premium. For most sportscars it seems that the most important claim you can make about luggage space is that a set of golf clubs will fit in the boot. Mazda also claim the same for the RX-8, although the fit must be tight, as we noticed an instructional sticker under the bootlid to ensure that the set of clubs was inserted one end at a time to correctly make them fit...

The RX-8 doesn’t seem to have any direct competitors. The 350Z in Australia seems to be it’s rival, but the Nissan accepts only 2 people, has less storage space and has a strong 3.5 litre engine. Price tag is similar, starting at $59,990. The RX-8 though is a much more practical car. Getting in, it is easy and comfortable to drive, offering smooth acceleration, sharp handling and most of all, driver fun.