Mazda RX-8 review

I’ve done >2000km (~1300miles) with my daily driven RX-8 and want to write a review, because there are a lot of wrong rumors in the wind (and err… CT packages :D). If you expect a classic review I will disappoint you. I also show common problems the car has or things it has not. Let’s will start with the exterior.

Exterior - 4 door coupé?!

Design is always a matter of taste. I think it looks very sexy. The freestyle-doors open in opposite direction and the rear one can only be opened when the door in front is opened. Further the one who sits in front must be unbelted, otherwise nobody can get in or out behind. So it is a coupe, but it has 4 doors, yes this car is weird like that. The stylish triangle in the bonnet is not just design, it also serves safety! :) Unfortunately there is no grid in front of the oil cooler. And insects seem to loove oil coolers. One should place grids on his own, like I did. At some age the seals of the taillights start to leak. For some people (like me) it gets this bad, my taillights trnasformed into a aqarium. Anyway the paint job looks awesome. My car has ‘tornado red’, a metallic paint that gleams orange in the sunlight. Alright, let’s have a look inside.

Interior - Triangles!

Since there is no B-pillar the transmission hump goes until the back seats so there’s only space for 4 people. Thanks to the freestyle-doors you can get in behind easily. The seats are comfortable even for longer trips (On the back seats too. Well I didn’t sit there, but people slept while we went through bendy mountain streets / they told me it would be nice.). There are various cubbyholes and two 12V outputs in the transmission hump. The boot carries 210 litres and you can remove the seperation between boot and passenger compartment if you want to transport long things like skis. The dashboard is uncomplicated and very easy to control. The revmeter is the biggest gauge, sportscar like. There’s an indicator for oil pressure, but sadly none for oil temperature, although there would have been space for it.
Of course one last thing has to be mentioned: Triangles in the head rest, in the front spoiler, as rear fog lamp, gear know, wheel to change the backrest position and as you already know in the bonnet. Enough of superficialities, let’s come to the inner values.

Engine - Thirsty? Unreliable? Expensive?

Most of you know that all these triangles hint at the rotary engine. I have the ‘smaller’ one. It is still the 1.3 but it has less power (192 hp@7000rpm) and some more torque (220Nm/162lbf ft @5000rpm). I often read people who say it would be slow. It is not. Of course it’s not really fast car on straights (0-100km/h in 7.0 seconds), but the most interestiong fact ism you dont relise it when you are in the car. It accrlerates very smoothly (but not slow) and you don’t feel it like in a charged car when the torque comes in. In addition the RX-8 is great on bendy roads, thanks to its great suspension and closely 50/50 weight distribution. Therefore the engine is placed very low and behind the front axle (so called front-mid engine). With my driving style I need about 11 litres per 100km (~21.4mpg), and 0.3 litres of original mazda oil for the high performance rotary-cylinder engine on 1000km (~621miles). To my mind this car is made for bends, not for the Autobahn.

Everyday Use

The engine needs some maintenance like every other engine should get too! I check oil every 2nd refuel. As I told you in the interior part there is sufficient space for 4 people and their stuff if you want to do a weekend trip. There is just one thing you should never do: stall it when it is cold. You will have problems getting it running again immidiately (there are ways but too long to explain them here). If you want to turn the engine off, one should rev up to ~2800 and turn it off close before the idling mixture goes in. The best thing when driving this engine is the sound, for sure. With the stock exhaust system it is very quiet. I installed a 200 cell cat and it sounds a lot better now. Besides there is this.. turbine like noise when you rev it high. When you hit 7500rpm there is a beep that says: time to shift! The engine speed limiter hits about 7800 in the ‘small one’. It is so much fun to drive, especially on bendy roads, and we have alot of them here :)

I hope you liked my review. If you read until here you probably did or were just interested in the car or my bad english ;)
I apologize to you for my bad english, especially particular car-words.
Feel free to ask questions.

heres my sound now btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90YZ2iBA4HI

Cheers.