Mazda RX-8

Mazda's rotary-powered, four-door RX-8 sportscar is one of the most eagerly anticipated new car launches of 2003. It's a vehicle that can't easily be classified, crossing disciplines and challenging perceptions with its unique and innovative approach to performance motoring. The low-slung sedan defies any attempt to pigeon-hole it: Is it a medium sports sedan? Is it a sleek, performance coupe? Both, and more. Much more.

But we'll get to the ins and outs of Mazda's RX-8 shortly. How's it drive? Save the product breakdown for later, let's go for a ride.

CarPoint had the opportunity to test drive the RX-8 in January, 2003, in California. We drove 184kW manual versions only, and in a restricted environment. A few quick laps of Laguna Seca, some flat out circuits on an artificial motorkhana course in the carpark - never leaving second gear - and then a 160km trundle down California's highway 1, the USA equivalent of the Great Ocean Road. Except with lower speed limits and more police.

So, we're not about to make a definitive call on the RX-8 without driving it on Aussie roads in Aussie conditions, but we certainly have seen enough to know it's good. Really good.

The engine is an absolute wonder. The last rotary we drove was a twin turbocharged 13B six years ago, and it's been too long. It's impossible to comprehend just how free-revving a rotary engine is without driving it. Unlike conventional cylinder-based engines, the rotary spins and spins, never slowing, never getting harsh or rough. The 9000rpm redline comes up far too quickly, though thankfully Mazda provides five more gears to enjoy it all over again.

The RX-8 feels deceptive in its accelerative. The incredibly smoothness and linearity in its power delivery doesn't do justice to the rate it piles on the speed. In first gear the RX-8 pulls strongly away from standstill, increasing the rate of acceleration cleanly and aggressively, really hitting its stride above 4000rpm. And where most engines 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.

The short, stubby gearlever has a light, natural action that obviously owes a lot to the Mazda MX-5 for its precision, weighting and tactility. Likewise the rack and pinion steering is precisely and evenly weighted, striking a near perfect balance between feedback and ease of use. We'd go as far as to say it's the best electronically assisted steering system we've driven.

Mazda's engineers worked hard to keep the weight low in the RX-8's body, as you'll read further on. They also managed to find a perfect 50 / 50 weight split front to rear, which pays off tenfold on the road. The RX-8 points with the best of them, hunting apexes and responding to driver inputs with a fluidity of intent that melds perfectly with the driver.

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.

The RX-8 manages somehow to provide a perfectly balanced chassis which can be moulded and shaped to fit your mood. Looking for fluid four wheel drifts, or a light, sprightly rear end that dances through the corner with just a hint of oversteer? It's there, at your fingertips and under your feet. Trail braking into a corner brings the rear end out slowly and sublimely, rear wheel steering your way around the corner, never looking to bite or bash you for your insolence.

Over-estimate your ability and 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 much better driver than you really 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.

Clearly, we liked what we saw. A lot. We're also acutely aware that we drove the RX-8 out of our comfort zone: on foreign roads, on the wrong side of the road and the car, and in conditions not representative of those found in Australia.

It's due on out shores in June/July, in two model grades and two engine/transmission grades. Prices start from $56,170 for the base model manual and stretch to $63,280 for the top spec automatic. 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.

Until we drive Australian spec RX-8s on familiar roads in Australia, we're reluctant to give a definitive conclusion. Suffice to say that what we've seen so far we like immensely, and there's little reason that should change.

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 prefers to call them - are also not a new 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.

The key to the RX-8 is in the way it packages everything together, combining and refining the core parts to come up with a 4.4m sports sedan that will influence the future of the automobile.

The Mazda RX-8 is built on an all-new platform, and contrary to reports in the past is not the successor to the RX-7 rotary coupe - that comes next year. The world first saw the RX-8 as the RX-Evolv at the 1999 Tokyo motor show in October. Since then we've seen a few different concepts, each one slightly modified or enhanced as the Hiroshima-based company moved towards production.

Pivotal to the core competencies of the car is keeping weight down and performance up. The 1308cc twin rotor engine is mounted low in the body, and behind the front axle, technically that's a mid-engined layout. The Renesis engine may share its displacement with the RX-7's 13B version, but that's about all. There's no twin turbos here, and the weight of the block is significantly down (by some 30 per cent), yet it still produces 184kiloWatts of power and meets strict Euro 4 emission standards not due to come into force until 2005.

Mazda has moved the exhaust ports from the periphery of the housing to the side of the combustion chambers, which it says reduces emissions significantly by not letting unburnt hydrocarbons slip out the exhaust ports, which are now 100 per cent larger than on the 13B. The intake ports are 30 per cent bigger, and are placed slightly earlier in the combustion cycle, which, says Mazda, combines with the RX-8's electronic throttle to give the Renesis 20 per cent better fuel economy.

Australia will get two versions of this engine, a 184kW / 216Nm hi-power' model coupled with the slick shifting six speed gearbox, and a 154kW / 220Nm 'std-power' model coupled with a four speed automatic gearbox.

The reason for the automatic's 30kW power deficit is the rotary engines high rev ceiling. Engine redline is at 9000rpm, and Mazda couldn't find a torque converter capable of handling the stresses that involves. For this reason the automatic version is rev limited to 7500rpm. Both engines require premium unleaded fuel.

The RX-8 rides on double wishbone front suspension with a new four-link rear setup. Mazda says the RX-8's high body rigidity allowed rubber mounting of the rear subframe to help isolate the car from road harshness.

That said, it's still a very stiff, sporty car to ride in. Road joins and bumps are felt by the occupants, though do little to upset the car itself. The tyres - low profile 18 inch on minimalist five spoke alloys - can be noisy on coarser roads, a deficiency more than made up for in their prodigious grip.

Inside the cabin the RX-8 is all about sport. The 'Freestyle' door arrangement works well, providing a large opening for rear seat entry that cleverly moves the seat belt out of the way. There's room enough for four adults providing they're all of average height. Put a bigger bloke in the front and rear legroom suffers - and vice versa.

Headroom is good in both rows, the rear tops out for those around six foot, and the front and rear seats are strongly sculpted for good lateral support. The interior of the car we tested was decked out with tasteful aggression in red and black, the seats featuring the three-sided rotary insignia, a theme prevalent on and throughout the RX-8. Boot space, for anyone who cares, is good but not great. The opening is quite small, though the space inside in big enough to fit a couple of golf bags.

In this preview, there are two major areas we haven't addressed: Fuel economy and crashworthiness. For the latter Mazda's internal tests suggest a five star rating, though no independent tests have been carried out by NCAP.

Fuel economy is also a Mazda claim, suggesting between 10 - 14l/100km depending on highway or city driving. Again, no independent testing has been carried out. CarPoint expects to have both of these available by the time the vehicle goes on sale in the middle of 2003.