SPORTS CARS ARE THE AUTOMOTIVE EQUIVALENT OF PURE LUST: there’s no rhyme or reason to wanting that piece of metal other than it looks fantastic and drives brilliantly. Then you discover that you have no place to stow your groceries, or that there’s only space for two adults. Being the most unconventional of carmakers, Mazda decided to put a twist on its sports car offering, and make it something else entirely.
So when is a sports car not a sports car? When it has four doors, four full seats, an automatic gearbox, and no engine—at least not in the conventional sense. An engine that has no pistons, camshafts, valves, or any of those bits that contrive to produce power in a conventional power plant. For the Mazda RX-8 is unlike any sports car—and unlike any other car, for that matter.
Under the short, sharp hood is Mazda’s signature power plant, the rotary engine. Instead of pistons that move up and down within an engine block, this engine has two triangular rotors sandwiched together and spinning within a cocoon-shaped combustion chamber. Using efficient circular instead of linear motion, 1.3 liters generates 197 hp at 7200 rpm, without a turbo at that.
The RENESIS (“Rotary Genesis”) is much smaller than a conventional engine: 60 percent smaller than a comparably-powered V6, and 40 percent smaller than a four-cylinder. The compact engine allows a four-seat interior to fit within the RX’s small footprint.
The RX is a genuine four-seater, with a clever means of accessing the rear seats. After opening the front door, you pull open a smaller rear-hinged door that opens wide—80 degrees. No need to contort, fold or spindle yourself into the back, or even move the front seats forward. The “Freestyle” doors work because there’s no B-pillar; the rear doors latch onto the roof and floor. Reinforced sections work essentially as removable B-pillars, and channel the impact of a side-collision into the car’s frame. Everything shuts as tightly as on a sedan.
The front seats are thin-shelled buckets that wouldn’t look out of place in a jet fighter, and the back seats are similar shaped, with ample headroom and sufficient knee room. Just as important, there’s plenty of space beneath the front seats for your feet. Interestingly, the rear seats incorporate Iso-Fix child-seat anchors, and a rear-facing child seat slots in easily, also thanks to the rear doors. Junior might find it slightly claustrophobic because of the tiny rear windows.
A large center tunnel divides the interior, housing the one-piece carbon-fiber driveshaft and exhaust components, and contributing to the chassis stiffness. Deep-set gauges, including a large center tachometer with inset digital speedo, red leather inserts, and shiny Japanese-lacquer panels conspire to excite even before you crank the engine.
When you do start her up, you hear a unique, melodious whirring. The engine revs to “only” 7500 rpm; at a speed where most piston engines would self-destruct, the RX-8 is creamy smooth, with no discernable vibration. The whir turns into a buzz like a nest of angry hornets. It’s so smooth that another buzzer has to warn you that it’s time to shift up. There’s sufficient torque from idle, but the real punch comes in, together with the hornets, at about 5000 rpm.
This engine runs hot. The center console, the bulge in the front passenger foot well, and the trunk all get a dose of rotary roasting. Leave some coins in the cup holder and you won’t be able to hold them; your Frapuccino will be steaming after a short drive.
As for the automatic gearbox, it’s a conventional four-speed. You can toggle up and down the gears by tipping the shift lever or using the steering wheel controls. Pull on either of two paddles behind the wheel for ups hifts, and press on the steering wheel buttons for downshifts. It’s a clever arrangement, and allows for completely tactile shifting, but we’d still prefer the six-speed manual that mates to a more powerful 9000-rpm engine.
Wheels at the corners, 50-50 weight distribution, and low center of gravity provide obedient handling. The steering ratio is quick; you change lanes with just a flick of your wrists. The 45-ratio 18-inch tires grip like mad; there’s no drifting out of your lane even on the tightest flyovers. The ride is firm but still compliant, with no harshness even on sharp road impacts. Brakes are reflexively quick, a mere stab at the pedal providing stomach-churning deceleration.
The red bodywork looks like it was poured over the mechanicals, particularly the cycle-type front fenders. As with the interior, there are rotary cues throughout, from the shape of the wheel spokes to the triangular duct near the dual exhausts.
The RX-8 is the tantalizing bit of hardware that Mazda Philippines has not yet decided to release here. We’ll hazard a guess that this car can be priced at less than P2.5 million, as generously equipped as our test car, which had the 18-inch wheels, bigger brakes, xenon headlamps, power driver’s chair and moon roof. Hopefully they will pop in the six-speed and the 238-hp engine to complete the package.
Mazda and the rotary engine are inseparably linked, and together they took the overall win at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1991, a feat that hasn’t been duplicated by any Japanese manufacturer. The company wasn’t satisfied by just plopping the unique rotary into its sports car; it engineering a totally new approach, and in doing so, broke the barriers of what a sports car can do. It’s like finding out that your supermodel girlfriend can write a novel, handle your finances, and carry a conversation equally well. Lust gives way to love so easily.
By Jason Ang | Photos By Ulysses Ang
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