What's It Like To Own A Mazda RX-8?

Regular Car Throttle readers will remember drooling over Alex's list of the Top 10 £5000 coupés last week. A fine line-up of seriously cool machinery, you'll agree, but there's another car that could've made the list. Weirdly, it'd also be in the running if we were totting up a countdown of best 4-door saloons, or sports cars. What is it? What else! The triangle-tastic Mazda RX-8.

We like to put our money where our mouths are here at Car Throttle, so I got hold of a mate who owns one of these rev-happy runabouts to see what it's really like to live with day to day - as his first car! With RX-8s dipping down below £2000, they're now well in the ballpark of the £5000 buy-and-insure challenge, so should you snap one up? That's exactly what Tom Dolby, of Bourne in Lincolnshire did, but it's been far from plain sailing...

I'll come straight out with it: Tom's isn't a bargain basement RX-8. Bought in August for £4000 (including a year's tax and MoT to cover the boring stuff) this 67,000 mile example is very tidy, but you shouldn't have to suffer for a cheaper one. There's no arguing with the kit count either: Tom's proudly displayed heated, electrically adjustable leather seats, electric windows, sunroof and mirrors, sat nav, BOSE stereo for the tunes and air conditioning. And being Japanese, it all works flawlessly.

Insurance for the proud owner? "I'm 21, and with a year's no claims this sets me back £1800", he tells me, "though that'll come down this year". So we're only a few hundred quid over Alex's £5k margin, and the extra dough buys a seriously smart car in return. However, as any petrolhead will now be muttering, there are a few more costs to account for before an RX-8 jumps to the top of your post-driving test wish list...

"I get about 20mpg overall, and 11mpg if I cane it" says Tom, managing not to wince. The oil consumption is pretty legendary in these cars too; "I've had to top up the oil 3 times in the last 1500 miles, and Mazda recommend you check it every three fill-ups" comes the sage owner's advice. This Mazda is just as much 'consume-consume' as it is 'zoom-zoom.' Tyres for the 18 inch rims are around £150 each, and the Rt. Dishonourable George Osborne MP will help himself to 260 of your hard-earned pounds in tax to allow you to use Britain's badly surfaced, choked up roads. Which the sporty Mazda rides beautifully, I might add.

The reason for the binge drinking is the RX-8's raison d'etre: its engine. As I'm sure you know, it's the latest (and possibly last) in the family of rotary-engined Mazda motors, which use spinning triangular rotors rather than pistons to create drive. That's right kids, this is the Wankel car (stop LOL-ing at the back). What you lose it consumption, you gain with creamy smooth, resistance-free revving up to and beyond 9,000rpm. That's Ferrari 458 territory right there. It's a specialised device this, a world away from standard four-pot turbos that only require a twist of a key and a lazy prod on the throttle. The RX-8 likes to be woken slowly, warmed through, and then, when it's shaken off its slumber, get absolutely rinsed. The more powerful versions like Tom's will zing out 228 bhp while sounding like a fighter jet, and whirr all the way to 142 mph, passing 60mph on the way in less than 7 seconds (if you can change gear fast enough). This is definitely a car person's car.

Still with me? Right, then let's discuss the car's darkest hour: the dreaded engine flooding. Tom recounts his experience of doing it with a real 'I'll never do that again' tone. "Basically, the car was started and then stopped again while it was cold. The injectors spat a load of fuel into the rotor housing, meaning the engine wouldn't restart, and when it did turn over, the cloud that came out the back made a November 5th bonfire look like someone smoking a pipe." Fixing the car cost nothing more than a tank of petrol to flush out the system, and recharging the battery which was flattened by 4 hours of trying to restart the engine, but beware, if you're naff at parking, this isn't a car to keep jumping in and out of to adjust your position. Treat with care.

By now you might be wondering if the tempermental scallywag that lives under the sculpted bonnet is actually worth your trouble or not. After a rather wonderful test drive in rain-soaked Lincolnshire, the answer is an emphatic YES. The immediate throttle response, insatiable rev appetite, short-throw gear lever and rear wheel drive chassis are a brilliant package. Above 5500rpm, the car sounds like a jet and goes like one too, and you think "I'm in a rear wheel drive sports car, with a big boot, a shedload of electrical gadgets, space for 3 mates, and it's cost four grand, or less." Tell me that's not an enticing suspect and I'll show you either a liar, a badge snob, or someone who's really not into cars.

Tom gives it his blessing, despite the drink problem (the car's; the owner is fine, promise): "It's totally worth it. Yes, it tries to bleed a student bank account dry, but it's so special, so aimed at car enthusiasts. It's a gamble, but yeah, it's worth it."

When choosing his first car, he looked at Audi TT V6s and Golf GTIs before falling for the RX-8. Asking him what he'd replace his beloved if expensive pride and joy with, he replies: "Actually, it'll be motorbikes for me, after this. Before I bought a car I wanted to spend the money on some amateur competitive motorsport, but karting is just so damn expensive to get into, a sports car was the next best thing. Now I want to move on to bikes, which I've always loved just as much as cars."

Fittingly then, the idiosyncratic, frustrating, brilliant and unique RX-8 can't be directly replaced by anything. Even Mazda themselves aren't sure how to follow it, what with economy this and environment that. But if you can swallow the bills as quickly as the RX-8 swallows fuel, I doubt you'd regret owning one of the best coupés around, and for well inside five grand.

If you're an RX-8 disciple, are lusting after one, or reckon Tom and I are talking complete cobblers', hit Car Throttle's comments below and spill your beans. Just don't be a Wankel about it.