2009 Mazda RX-8

There isn’t another car like the Mazda RX-8 on the road today – for a number of reasons.
First, it’s a true four-place sports car, with rear seats even average adults can fit into, so long as those up front are average size too. And getting in and out of the back seats is remarkably easy thanks to narrow, rear-hinged doors similar to those on the old Saturn quad coupes.

Second, the RX series is still powered by a rotary engine, just as it was when the RX-7 made its debut 30 years ago. In fact, the RX-8 is the only car left on the road using a rotary. In Mazda’s version, as the two three-sided rotors both rotate and orbitally revolve, each side of the rotors gets closer then farther from the wall of the housing, compressing and expanding the combustion chamber similar to the vertical strokes of a piston in a reciprocating engine.

With more than two million rotary engine cars built since the first Cosmo Sport in 1967, Mazda has persisted with the design while other manufacturers have dropped by the wayside. That faith in the rotary’s reliability was proved in 1991 when the Mazda 787B became the first Japanese car to win the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race.

The Renesis rotary in the current generation RX-8 is the latest version of the engine developed by German engineer Felix Wankel during World War II and perfected in the 1950s. It has been named to Ward’s list of 10 best engines multiple times. The Renesis rotary revs higher than ordinary reciprocating gasoline engines – even higher than Honda’s S2000 roadster whose 2.2-litre inline four redlines at 8,000 rpm. The RX-8’s tachometer goes all the way to 10,000 rpm, but redlines at 8,500 where peak output of 232 hp is reached.

The RX-8 looks like it means business, especially with our test car’s ground optional effects kit. And its looks aren’t deceiving.

Incidentally, although the tires are not run-flat there is no spare, unless you order one as a dealer-installed accessory for $595. The space-saver spare is then mounted in the trunk, cutting into a generous 290 litres (10.2 cubic feet) of luggage room that Mazda claims will hold two sets of golf clubs. Without the spare, an emergency inflation kit is found under the trunk deck.

Although the RX-8 seats four, its 2,700 mm wheelbase is just 15 mm longer than that of a Chevrolet Corvette and the overall length of 4,424 mm is 9 mm shorter.

© Source: autonet
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