. In first gear the RX-8 pulls strongly away from standstill, increasing the rate of acceleration cleanly, hitting its stride above 4000rpm. And where most cars are within 1500rpm of peak power, the RX-8 is not even half way through its rev range. Mazda claims a 0-100km/h time of 6.5 seconds and a 0-400m time in the low 14s for the RX-8, and we see no reason to doubt it.
Mazda's engineers worked to keep the weight low in the RX-8's body,
They also managed to locate a perfect 50 / 50 weight split front to rear,
which pays off tenfold on the road. Every nuance of what the chassis and suspension is doing is fed delicately back to the driver, inviting you to not only explore the car's limits, but get intimate with them, again and again. Overstep the limits and the RX-8 gives you ample time to correct your error. Fail to catch the warning signs and the DSC (dynamic stability control) electronic watchdog will regulate the brakes on each wheel to bring everything back onto an even keel.
Over-estimate your cornering speed at other times and the RX-8 pushes safely into understeer, a simple liftoff bringing the show back on track. It's this rewarding and reassuring dynamic package that makes you feel a better driver than you are. And we're all for that.
We had little chance to really give the 323mm disc, single piston brakes a workout. They're equipped with four-channel ABS and electronic brake distribution, which, coupled with the tyres' prodigious grip, shouldn't raise any performance anxiety concerns.
All vehicles will come equipped with sports suspension, 18inch wheels and tyres, DSC, six airbags, air conditioning, cruise control and a six stack CD player. The top spec RX-8 adds Xenon headlamps, Bose sound system, power seats, leather interior, fog lamps and alloy pedals.
There's very little about the RX-8 that is fundamentally new or groundbreaking. The rotary engine was first developed by Felix Wankel in 1924 and put into cars as earlier as 1957. Mazda started its love affair with the highly efficient engine in 1967 with the Cosmo Sports. Since then it's powered numerous production cars, a four rotor 787B won the famous Le Mans 24hr race in the 1991.
Suicide doors - or Freestyle doors as Mazda likes to call them - are also not a novel concept, stretching back more than half a century. The trick in this safety conscious age is to make them as rigid and crashworthy as a vehicle with a B-pillar.
by Carltone Belaware
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