Culture|Garage

Y’all prolly know me as a pretty die-hard muscle car fan. I adore the sound of any V8, and the kick you get in the small of your back under hard acceleration is hard to beat. However, recently I have been confronted by the question of whether I could have another potential object of lust-and I have found myself wrapped around a nice little conundrum-thanks to the RX-8.

It would be ludicrous to say that I have completely jumped ship on muscle cars. There are plenty of them out there nowadays, and the idea of picking up a nice used ‘04 Mach 1 or a lovingly used 05-06 Mustang GT is extremely tempting, as these are both great cars, with plenty of awesome features. Sure, the Mach 1’s dashboard looks to be a shoddy copy of an early ‘Vette’s dash, and the GT is kinda heavy, but they both are quick, and the latest gen Mustang has received excellent marks for safety-an important factor in determining what I want to drive, considering Colorado roads are better termed “roller derbies.” However, the Mazda RX-8, now growing a bit long in the tooth, has finally seduced me, in a way similar, yet different from the aforementioned musclebound Fords. Allow me to explain.

If you had asked me in high school what I thought of the Mazda RX-8, I probably would have said, “Cheap car with a weird engine.” Then I would have lectured you on the benefits of a ‘68 Charger with posi or some such nonsense. ‘Course, that was back when Gasoline was $1.99 on a bad day. Now that I have the balance of a college education under my belt and a more discerning eye, I find myself in an interesting situation- what of the RX-8? To start with, the looks are definitely unconventional, in the same spirit as any self-respecting muscle car. The fender flares fit the body well, as does the carefully crafted decklid, which has a sort of non-spoiler spoiler cleverly integrated into it. The dual exhausts and little rotary cutout thingy are also plusses-they give the car a cool, sporting image that really does the whole concept of the vehicle justice.

Further on, the second set of doors are tucked in behind the first, and arrayed in a “suicide” configuration. The last car I recall liking that had suicide doors was the mid-60’s Lincoln Continental, or the ‘34 Ford coupe-great cars in their own right. Notch another one up for the Mazda. I also dig the weird rear quarter window. Again, it’s because it’s unique, and will contribute to the overall visibility for the driver. Reaching the front fenders, the profile is absolutely breathtaking, as it recalls “cycle” style fenders found on Lotus 7’s, and East-coast style hot rods. Shivers go up and down my spine every time I see ‘em- they are so old-school, but yet nobody seems to notice. Cool.

Taking a gander at the RX-8 from the front, the sports-car heritage becomes instantly apparent. The grille seems almost like it was ripped right off of a Lotus 7- in short, it’s a knockout. From this perspective, one can hardly tell, unless they knew better, that the car before them was a four-door, four seat, well, sedan! Heck, even with the doors open and all the information laid out in front of you, you still wouldn’t call it a sedan- but according to Merriam-Webster, a sedan is a 2- or 4-door automobile seating four or more persons and usually having a permanent top. I rest my case. From the outside, the car is gorgeous. It “speaks” to they eye in all the right places, and the message is, “Let’s go for a drive.”

Take a seat inside, and shut the door. Inside, you are surrounded by two-tone seats, with a ‘66- Charger-esque center console bisecting the interior. Festooned with cupholders and storage bins, the console is both pleasing to the eye, and a practical piece of a decidedly “sporty” car. The gauge cluster is proper sports car stuff, with a big tach/speedo combo in the center, flanked by auxilliary gauges. To the right of the cluster is a gem of a stereo head unit, with HVAC controls integrated into a clean, functional design, in keeping with the “rotary” theme. In the back, fullsize bucket seats provide comfort to passengers, who would otherwise be smashed in like so much luggage at O’Hare airport if this were a Mustang. Facing forward again, the hood is visible, but only visible, just letting the driver know it’s there. Although the steering wheel is more-or-less Mazda parts bin, it definitely reflects the sports car nature of the RX-8. The trunk is spacious considering the relative size of the car- a couple of suitcases/children/duffle bags/vintage stereo speakers/vacuum cleaners would fit quite nicely in that compartment. Oh, don’t forget to check out the aluminum pedals- they are a detail sorely lacking in many modern vehicles.

Start up the rotary powerplant, and a 231-horse symphony greets you-except this symphony is a two-piece band. Blip the throttle, and you can make the engine sing mock falsetto, with revolutions eclipsing the nine grand mark. It sounds something closer to Maserati than Mazda. Nudge it into 1st, and there is a bit of a lag in the lower RPM range, but once pushed into the upper echelons of the tach, the car picks up, and exhibits an almost turbo-like lunge as power builds. Belting around the first corner, the handling of the car is taut, and very, very good. A lot of the credit for the handling can be attributed to the small size and low weight of the 1.3, providing a 50/50 weight distribution in a rear-wheel-drive car. So it’s not really a drag racer, but boy, it can perform when the road starts to get a little hairy. However, there’s a couple of flies in this otherwise attractive jar of ointment.

One would expect that a normally-aspirated 1.3 engine would get wonderful gas mileage. In the case of Mazda’s rotary mill, expect mileage returns of around 18 MPG in mixed, everyday driving. Whoops- that’s closing in on V8 territory, as does oil consumption. The price of a new RX-8 is not exactly cheap for the segment, either, with dealer invoices peaking at around $29,000, and MSRP hovering at the $31,000 mark- once again, in V8 coupe and sedan territory. Factor in other cars like the Nissan 350Z, the Pontiac (*groan*) Solstice, the Pontiac GXP, the Dodge Charger, etc., and the RX-8 seems a bit out of it’s league. All this said, if it were up to me, and I had my choice of any import coupe, err, sedan…uh, no, wait, yes, sedan, I would choose the RX-8 with a manual transmission configuration, a few miles on the odometer, and in white. The true value of the RX-8 is in it’s ability to remain a good car even when used, when compared to the “fashionable” cars in its “when-new” market. It remains more practical than a true two-seat coupe or roadster, yet it is still fun, as long as you overlook the mileage figures.

Thus, if it’s having fun while keeping practicality under a veneer of sportiness you are after, you’d be hard pressed to do better than the RX-8. It’s a quality car that promises an outstanding drive-and delivers.

via: allworldcars, seriouswheels, motorpoint, Mazda of Canada, ucarmagazine

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