RX-8 R3 Review (The exact same one featured in CT YouTube videos)

It’s been 2 years now, owning the 8, and after originally hating it I’m in a position now where I am ready to sell it (well, technically have sold it) but can’t bare the thought of being without it – bare with me. I’ll explain.

Summer 2013, I was in need of a new daily hack and my RX-7 really didn’t cut it. The FD is just too much work to run 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I needed something cheap, something reliable, something economical – basically something fitting every piece of criteria from the most boring ‘What Car?’ thread imaginable. The problem was that I couldn’t bare the thought of driving around in a shed, so I started to browse cheap RX-8’s in the classifieds. Eventually my budget rose and rose to the point where I was now searching by price high-low and had convinced myself that I really couldn’t afford not to buy myself the R3 version of the RX-8. Before I knew it I was handing over many thousands of pounds for one and shortly after doing so was wondering why the hell I had!

You see, this was just before my 21st birthday and if you’re looking to buy a car (particularly a sports car) privately at 20 in the UK you will find that temporary insurance is expensive and soon adds up to silly money if you’re planning to test drive several examples in a short period of time. So whilst I had viewed the car and had a Rotary Specialist (who does all the work on my RX-7) look it over to make sure it really was as good as the seller claimed, I hadn’t actually test driven it and by the time I finally got around to driving it for the first time I’d already handed over a big wad of cash to the seller, a big wad of cash to my insurer and sent off the relevant paperwork to the DVLA.

I remember the day it got delivered to my doorstep, about 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning with exactly 27,000 miles on the clock. I immediately thought “what have I done!?” I’d been so obsessed with thinking how awesome it’d be to be ‘that 20 year old with the RX-7 and RX-8’ I didn’t acknowledge the fact that I didn’t actually like the RX-8 all that much.
It was ugly, it was underpowered, it was heavy and it was red. To make it worse, that first drive was utterly disappointing. Underwhelming was an understatement and I really can see where a lot of the RX-8 hate comes from, especially from those who have either only briefly driven one or been a passenger in one.
To us car nuts, the 8 isn’t a fast car. Its not slow by any means, however, the performance (on paper at least) is the very definition of ‘entry level’ for its class. A modest 231bhp (well, 231PS/227bhp if you’re being that specific), 156 Ib-ft of Torque, a fairly chunky weight of around 1,400KG and a not-so dizzying 0-62mph time of 6 and a half seconds. Coupled with £500 VED for a newer example and an average of 16MPG and you really start to wonder what the point of it is.

Why not just buy a hot hatch?

Being out paced by a RS Megane on the A127 on that first drive made me think just that and I took comfort knowing that at least I had my much lighter, more powerful, prettier RX-7 waiting for me to use it at weekends in all its twin turbocharged goodness!
So far I had only proved to myself that I was an idiot. Buying a car I didn’t like the look or colour of, that costs way more than it should to run for what it actually offers and depreciates quicker than almost anything else out there but thankfully everything started to change…

After 2 years of ownership I utterly adore it. After I accepted the fact that on paper it is pretty dire and makes no sense whatsoever, I finally got what the RX-8 is all about and my opinion on every aspect of it has changed…

How it looks outside:
The Lamborghini Miura, The Ferrari Daytona and yes, even the Mazda RX-7 could all be classed as pretty cars. They look sporty, aggressive and yet also elegant and delicate in their design.

The RX-8, on the other hand, is not. It’s awkward, clunky and as Jeremy Clarkson once rightly said (yes, he is right on occasion) it looks like it was designed by a committee with everybody’s ideas rolled into one, but despite this, it does look undeniably different to anything else on the market and awesomely cool, especially with the R3 body kit that mine has. The flared wheel arches and meaner, sharper front end really add some aggression to the original design.

It still has all of those rotary nods too – the big rotary bulge in the bonnet, rotary shaped rear fog light and rotors in the door pillars all hint to the heart that’s found under the bonnet.

Finally, there are the Rotary themed 19” BBS forged alloys! They’re gorgeous and dare I say that they are some of the nicest OEM alloys of recent times?

The colour isn’t all that bad either! I know I said I disliked it at first but when the sun comes out it really does gleam and shine. It’s not just red; it’s got hints of orange and flakes of gold that sparkle, it looks fabulous after a wash and polish, though unsurprisingly the Rosso Corsa paint on my dads California puts it to shame when we go for a drive (yes, yes, I know – worst ‘my dad has a Ferrari’ post ever)!

Looking under the bonnet and there’s not much to see. Take away the big plastic engine cover and all you can see is the Alternator with a thin black strut brace over the top, the engine can’t really be seen, it’s so far back and low down in the bay. It’s not very good for showing off to your mates but great for a low center of gravity.

It doesn’t turn heads like my RX-7 but it does get the occasional glance and I’ve actually found that most non-petrol heads prefer the looks to the RX-7.

How it looks inside:
Japanese cars aren’t exactly known for having the most premium quality interiors on the market and I’ve been in enough Japanese cars to know what to expect – cheap plastics, similar designs across all manufacturers and many different parts all from the same bin (MR2 and Impreza switchgear, anyone?) but the RX-8 is surprisingly nice with a premium feel, it looks unique, carrying the same rotary theme that the exterior of the car has, with several nods to the engine dotted about in the cabin – a rotor shaped knob to recline the drivers seat, rotor shaped gear lever, circular theme on the center console and more! I’m not much of a fan of the Piano Black that the center console is finished in, it does look nice but like everything else that’s in Piano Black it collects dust and fingerprints like there’s no tomorrow!

The plastics are definitely a league above rivals like the Nissan 350Z, feeling well built and robust enough to last for the cars lifetime. They’re hardly ‘soft touch’ – but realistically I don’t spend my time touching the dash, so at the end of the day I don’t really care about that.
The rear seats offer ample leg room and can easily seat four grown men for hours at a time in comfort (unless they were lying to me) and the boot is pretty big too, the access hatch is awkward in size though and limits what you can actually fit in the boot as a result. Sitting in the driver’s seat you’ve got a rather lovely display in front of you, a clean design brightly lit up with a nice big rev counter in front of you, with a small digital speedometer stuck in almost as an afterthought. The driving position is near perfect, being low down with a good view all around.

What equipment it has:
On the outside, you can tell the R3 apart by the aforementioned BBS forged alloys, the body kit - which includes new front and rear bumpers, new side skirts and a spoiler. You also get stiffer body shell, lower, stiffer suspension, Bilstein shock absorbers and a specially tuned exhaust.

Inside, you get quite a decent amount of equipment too, including a Bose sound system with 6 disc CD auto-changer, automatic xenon headlights, automatic wipers, electric mirrors, cruise control, auxiliary input, Bluetooth, a newly designed tachometer that has a variable red-zone that rises as the engine comes to operating temperature (probably the best addition in my opinion), a new-style steering wheel, parking sensors, digital climate control and of course the fantastic half leather Recaro bucket seats that are exclusive to the R3 version.

As a side note, the older RX-8’s actually came with more optional kit, such as Sat Nav, full leather sports seats, electric heated seats, electric sunroof and more, however, the R3 is aimed to be the ‘ultimate RX-8’, designed to have the performance of the track oriented PZ version but also have enough toys to keep it feeling modern and relatively luxurious without adding too much unnecessary weight and as a result the only optional extra on the R3 was the paint colour. Mazda did eventually make one more ‘ultimate RX-8’ called the Spirit R. Similarly to the Spirit R RX-7 not many were produced, they were all right hand drive and none were sold in the UK. It had a few minor cosmetic changes to distinguish it from the R3 but as far as I’m aware it was mechanically identical and in years to come I doubt it will be anywhere near as sought after as the RX-7 Spirit Type R is, which now goes for £20,000-£30,000 and is almost impossible to source!

The 3 red bars:
At this point, I’d like to take a moment to explain what I find to be the best addition to the R3 – the operating temperature lights that I mentioned in the equipment section of this post. As I’m sure you’re aware, a lot of older RX-8’s died very young and one of the problems that killed them off was a lack of care from the owners to ensure the engine had warmed properly before a spirited drive or shutting off.

The R3 has a ‘red zone’ consisting of 3 illuminated red bars located underneath the rev counter between the 5,000 and 10,000 rpm indicators.
When you start the car up from cold all 3 bars illuminate to tell you that currently the car should not be shut off as it will likely flood, nor must it exceed 5,000 rpm (in fact, at this stage its limited to 5,000 rpm), once the engine has warmed up to operating temperature, 1 of the bars will turn off, leaving 2 bars illuminated.
Having 2 illuminated bars means that the engine can now safely be shut off, but it is still hasn’t warmed up enough to redline it everywhere and as a result the car is limited to 7,000 rpm. Finally, once 2 of the bars have turned off you’re left with one small illuminated red bar.
This is the all clear to have fun – all 9,500 revs are yours to play with without restriction. Whilst this probably sounds like a really overly complex way to know when the car is warmed up, realistically few people really know when a car has truly warmed up properly, particularly a car with an engine as delicate as the RX-8. These lights definitely make me think about what I’m doing and how I’m driving. When I’ve blocked in another car on the drive, they deter me from quickly moving the 8 and then shutting it off and subsequently flooding the engine and they remove that urge to put my foot down in those first few minutes of driving. I live about 30 seconds from a petrol station and admittedly it can be a pain pulling up at the fuel pump and having to sit there with the engine running for a minute or two before I know its safe to shut it off but at the end of the day I know I’m considerably less likely to have some of the common faults found in the RX-8.

How it performs:
A lot of votes go to the legendary Mazda 787b as being the best sounding car of all time and its not hard to see (or hear?) why – see for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az39eqLIbyU

Whilst the RX-8 is far from being the best sounding car money can buy, it does sound glorious; it has a high pitched, energetic buzz that is totally unique, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - a screaming rotary is the best sounding engine this side of a V8.
A lot of the thrills I get driving the car are down to what I’m hearing, the progressive whine as it climbs through the rev range is all the more encouraging to keep it in gear and go for that monumentally high 9,500 rpm red line! The RX-8 thrives on being near that top end; even at the red line the engine is unbelievably smooth and refined. Just to prove a point to a friend, I’ve cruised along the motorway at 9,500rpm before and the car stays just as refined, relaxed and comfortable as it is at 3,000 rpm albeit a little louder, you could cruise all day long at max revs and the only problems would be extremely frequent trips to the fuel pump and the odd oil top up.

Once I got over the RX-8s relatively unimpressive ability to gain speed, I found that most of the enjoyment I got in a straight line was actually starting in a high gear at a low speed and just embracing the change in the engines characteristics as it goes from being well behaved to absolutely mental. The power band starts at 3,500 rpm, gets into its stride at 4,500 rpm and enters suicide mode at 7,200 rpm where it reaches peak power. Whilst you can leave it in 6th and casually overtake on the motorway without fail, if you do need to squeeze into a closing gap quickly you do need drop it into 4th (sometimes even 3rd!) and get those revs up in order to hop into the gap. It would be nice to have that extra torque that the RX-7’s twin turbochargers offer but the lack of low down torque is something I have learnt to live with and if anything it gives me more of a reason to hear the engine scream some more. Rev matching on the downshift also sounds incredible too, making you feel like a racing driver!

The Mazda is superbly balanced and is simply a joy to drive once you get into the twisty roads. Body roll is non-existent for most bends, the Recaro seats keep you firmly in place and the chassis feels very tight and planted, though it does unsettle a little on rough roads occasionally.
Despite having an electric steering system, it feels very responsive, has a lot of weight to it and provides really good feedback. As you’d expect with it having the same platform as the MX-5 NC (Mk3), the 8 is extremely agile and well balanced and it gives you the confidence to really keep your foot down as you exit a bend. If traction control is off it will eventually oversteer but it’s so effortlessly easy to catch that it never really becomes an issue. It also shares its gearbox with the MX-5, it’s a good ‘box and the shift has a nice mechanical feel however it has to be said that it is a little notchy and doesn’t like to be rushed too much, which makes heel-toe harder than in other cars I’ve driven.

The car just takes everything you throw at it and never causes a fuss and on public roads, if you’re driving as quickly as possible without being stupid, it’s virtually impossible to breach the tyres limits of adhesion. From factory the R3 comes with Bridgestone Potenza RE040A’s which are a great tyre, though I’ve since upgraded to the RE050A’s which offer better grip in poor weather conditions. When the rain does come down, the RX-8 does become very skittish, though the car is so forgiving that if you are caught off guard it’s easy enough to bring back in. I’d like to give Toyo 888’s a try next; they’re cheaper than the Potenza’s and would be undoubtedly better on track.

Where I have been:
I’ve not done any big road trips in the 8 yet – aside from motorway trips. I’ve since purchased an MK1 MX-5 which I’ve been using to commute most days and as a result I’ve only racked up about 15,000 miles in the RX since I bought it, most of which have been covered nice and early on a Sunday morning or on track days and yes, I know this was originally meant to be a daily hack, not something for the weekend but my circumstances changed! I’ve gone all around Essex, Suffolk & Hertfordshire but that’s it for road driving really – I’ve filmed a little bit of footage but nothing too exciting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek8HZ3ZaHFg

The RX-8 was the perfect car to start doing track days in and I’ve now done several days at Bedford Autodrome, Snetterton 300, Oulton Park and Brands Hatch in it. It really is a superb car to use on track and with the exception of Hawk Performance racing pads I’ve not done anything to prepare it for the track. It’s managed to keep up with some much more impressive cars too; I’ve even kept up with a Caterham around Brands. Ok that’s bending the truth a bit; there was traffic which slowed him down! See for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi4-cxzQsdE&li…

I’ve also done well against an (admittedly poorly driven) E92 M3 which I eventually overtook (typically after the camera ran out of battery):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1urqV9hNh8&li…

What I have done to it:
In terms of maintenance, as you’d expect the track days haven’t been very kind to my wallet. I like to keep my cars in good nick, so after every track day it gets serviced, oil changed new pads and if needed new tyres too and despite the thrashing it gets on track it is still absolutely tip top and drives beautifully.

I had the spark plugs changed at 35,000 miles and was a little disappointed to see that it’s unlikely they’d been changed before – they were covered in Carbon build up and should really be done every 15,000-20,000 miles in an RX-8. It’s something I didn’t ask the previous owner and had I have known I’d have got them done sooner.

I’m not really that big on modifying cars but the previous owner did a few subtle modifications to mine during his ownership that I’ve kept:

-It has been lowered so that the wheels sit perfectly in the arches and rear spats have been added to the rear bumper which adds to the aggression that the rest of the body kit brings.
-A Racing Beat exhaust system has been fitted which compliments the rotary engine note without being overly loud and annoying my neighbours when I let it cool down at midnight when I get home from work!
-The bonnet works on hydraulics which isn’t something that really makes a difference but it does open wider than when you use the stick, so you have a bit more room to work with when cleaning the bay which is handy.
-Aftermarket DRL’s and wind deflectors have also been installed, I won’t start a debate about whether they look good or not, I’ll let you make your own mind up.
-‘R3’ lights built into the doors, which look awesome at night!
-Finally, it has a short throw fitted which feels fantastic, though it does rattle a little – looking online it’s a common issue with that particular short throw and it doesn’t actually cause any damage to the gearbox.

What is next for me:
I learnt to drive on track in the 8 and it’s been with me through all the tuition I’ve had over the last 24 months. Back in August 2014 I passed my ARDS test and I am lucky enough to now race a BMW 3 Series in the Production BMW Championship. This made me reconsider what I was going to do with it. I’ve lusted after a TVR Chimaera for a long time now – but I am still holding off on that idea for the time being.
I’ve actually agreed to sell the RX-8 to a friend, he should have the money in a couple of weeks so by the end of August, hopefully I’ll be sitting in a 987 Gen II Boxster S. I’ve been saving for a while and the Boxster ticks every box – more boxes that the Chimaera, in fact.

What I would change:
As practical as the RX-8 is and as much as I love it just as it is, I think Mazda missed the mark with the RX-8. It was sold as a cheap sports car aimed at everyone from a young man like myself looking for a fun sports car to a middle-aged woman who wanted something sporty to take the kids to school in and I think that was its downfall and half the reason so many failures occurred were because the buyers didn’t know or care how to properly maintain the car. The 8 should have been a successor to the RX-7 in that it should have been much lighter, had two seats and been aimed at the enthusiasts, I believe that had they have done that the values would be holding much better now.

What I think should be next for the Rotary engine:
Similarly to what I’ve said above, I don’t think a practical 4 seat coupe is the best use of the rotary design. Its benefits are that it is a relatively small, lightweight and compact unit than can sit far back and low down in the engine bay and help provide a balanced weight distribution and low center of gravity and I think that the upcoming rotary powered Mazda (if the rumours are to be believed) should focus on utilizing the characteristics of the engine rather than using the engine as a novelty.
Supposedly, Mazda can now get 300bhp out of a naturally aspirated, modified Renesis engine, which if stuck in something like the Alfa Romeo 4C would be a solid rival to the Porsche Cayman. A worthy rival too, seeing as the RX-7 spent the best part of 15 years battling it out with the Porsche 928 and 944. A potential 300 bhp/ton with nearly 10,000 revs to play with would be an absolute joy to blast down the back roads and in my opinion bring the one thing a Lotus Elise is missing – an engine with character! You could even argue that with the light kerb weight that kind of car would bring the lack of low down power and torque wouldn’t be as much of an issue with so little weight for the engine to carry about. This would also help combat the dire fuel economy. I know it will never happen – at least not unless I win the Euromillions and fund it myself but I think a low volume, light weight sports car aimed at enthusiasts would without doubt be the way to go.

So in conclusion…
So all in all after such an unnecessarily long post, for a car that’s running standard brakes and tyres and has a poultry power to weight ratio of 160 bhp/ton it holds up pretty well, once you learn the car in and out you really understand what its all about. It’s about that lovely, silky smooth screamer of an engine. Much like the RX-7, Mazda have built a car around its party piece rather than building a car to house a selection of different engines like a lot of brands do, such as the TT, Z4 and even to a lesser extent the MX-5. It really is a special car filled with character that, whilst being underwhelming at first, is thrilling to drive and it really does get under your skin once you’ve bonded with it.

The RX-8 is basically a GT86 but made 10 years prior but with a more exciting power plant and should get a lot more recognition than it does. I can see it becoming a cult classic years down the line and hopefully prices will eventually rise after the majority of the ones still running are killed off. I urge people to pick them up now they’re cheap and at the very least run it until it dies on you.

That’s it really. A stupidly long post by all accounts, if you’ve made it to the end then well done, though I reckon the only person to make it this far is me, re-reading in several years time when the 8 is long gone!