2005 Mazda RX-8 Review

The ingenious Mazda RX-8 is a true four-seat sports car and its small but powerful rotary engine makes this possible. The RX-8 drives like a sports car, with perfect 50-50 weight distribution for balanced handling and a high-revving engine. It reminds us of the brilliant third-generation RX-7 and it's $13,000 cheaper.

The RX-8 is a true sports car that can pull double duty. It's perfectly capable of taking the kids to soccer practice, with ample passenger room for four full-size adults. There's enough room for a weekend's worth of luggage or two full-size golf bags, and the small rear doors and hatchback design make trips to the home improvement center possible. The muscular styling has a Zoom-Zoom edge.

RX-8 was launched as an all-new model for 2004 so the 2005 Mazda RX-8 carries over with minimal changes. Among them: a new exterior paint color and a Sirius Satellite Radio option.

The RX-8 has great balance and precise turn-in. The suspension is soft enough for daily comfortable use and not as stiff as say, the Nissan 350Z, which corners like a race car but pays the price with a stiffer ride.

The electronic stability control (Mazda calls theirs DSC, or Dynamic Stability Control) works well. The RX-8 wasn't completely forgiving when driven hard on an autocross circuit. With too much throttle it would understeer, or plow the front tires, although it should be noted that most cars would have been hopeless under the same abuse. At first we were surprised that the DSC didn't intervene and correct this, so we repeated the experiment until we felt the DSC kick in. What we learned is that the DSC is programmed to tolerate small errors but saves you from the big ones. In other words, it will let you get away with two feet of understeer in a curve, but not six feet.

And when it does take over, it does it with brakes, by braking one or more wheels needed to correct the imbalance. Some cars do it by cutting the throttle, which skilled drivers find intrusive. The RX-8 will eventually cut the throttle too, but not so early that it frustrates you.

When we switched the DSC off, we discovered two things that together seem paradoxical: how good the DSC is (because we could barely feel it when it was on), and how superb the balance of the RX-8 is, because we could feel it in its natural state.

A brief word about that 50-50 balance, and where it comes from. The rotary engine, which is extremely smooth and simple (lacking pistons, valves, crankshafts, camshafts, etc.) has been developed by Mazda for 40 years now. The RX-8 features the latest and by far the best rotary engine design, which Mazda calls Renesis. The engine is about 30 percent smaller than an inline four-cylinder as found in economy cars. Its compact dimensions allow it to be mounted in a low and rearward position that results in that perfect balance. It also keeps the center of gravity low and the curb weight down to a stunning 2940 pounds.

Out on the open road the RX-8 feels even better. It hugs the road progressively, meaning the deeper it gets into a turn the harder it grips, which is wonderfully confidence inspiring.

The engine offers a sweet unique sound under acceleration and is very refined now, with little of the rotary rasp that early RX-7s were known for. The exhaust note is almost hypnotic on a rhythmic road. It revs extremely quickly, although its significant weak point is mid-range grunt. Downshifts for quick acceleration are definitely necessary. Acceleration performance from 0 to 60 mph is less than 6 seconds, according to Car and Driver magazine, making the RX-8 nearly but not quite as quick as a Nissan 350 Z.

Downshifting is redefined by the rotary engine, especially when paired with the brilliant close-ratio six-speed gearbox. You can drop the RX-8 into second gear at a speed that would cause almost every other car on the planet to scream, if not explode.

When the automatic is equipped with the sport suspension and 18-inch wheels (standard on the manual RX-8), the brake rotors measure a massive 12.7 inches in front and 11.9 inches in rear, with increased ventilation ribs for more resistance to fade. The fact that the RX-8 is a featherweight, thanks not only to the rotary engine but also to thoughtful design with aluminum in the hood and rear doors, reduces the stopping distance to an impressive number, comparable to a Nissan 350 Z.