Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: No data available
Technically interesting; practical four-door body style; fun to drive; good value for money.
High emissions, high tax; heavy fuel consumption.
An utterly unique proposition - and likely to remain that way.
Mazda persevered with the rotary engine when other manufacturers had abandoned the concept and in the RX-8, Dr Felix Wankel's mechanical innovation really works to full effect. A rotary engine has triangular rotors which spin within epi-trochoidal housings, instead of conventional pistons, and it tends to get smoother and more powerful the faster it rotates. It also has the benefit of being compact and lightweight - and Mazda is able to squeeze 231bhp out of a twin-rotor unit of just 1308cc capacity.
The downside of the rotary has always been high fuel consumption, but Mazda has at least contained this to a degree commensurate with the RX-8's performance: the rotary engine's not going to work in, say, a Mazda 2 supermini, but you can forgive its thirst in a sports car like this.
Yet the rotary engine isn't the RX-8's only quirk: its further trick is its extra pair of small doors, rear-hinged behind the main front doors and opening wide to give easy access to the really quite usable back seats. As sports coupes go, it's remarkably practical, with even a decent-sized boot.
Updates for this 'R3'-series model (on sale late August 2008) include a new front bumper, grille, oil-cooling air vents, redesigned headlamps and LED tail-lamps, wider exhaust tailpipes and new 19" alloy wheels, plus modifications to engine, transmission, suspension and body shell. And to top it all off, it's not even expensive. Though the lower-powered entry-level model has been dropped from the range, starting price is a still-reasonable £24,995 - not bad, for a car so quick and good-looking.
