Interior Features

Even large adults find the individual rear bucket seats of the RX-8 comfortable, with plenty of elbow room thanks to the transmission tunnel/console that separates them. Getting into and out of the rear seat is easy. Due to the high front seatbacks, rear-seat passengers can't see much out front without leaning inboard, but they can see out the side windows. Unfortunately, they don't roll down, but just push outward. So the back seats may not be the best place to spend long periods of time on a hot summer day.

The trunk can carry two sets of golf clubs. We were able to fit a desk chair and storage crate back there, a very impressive feat for a sports car. A vertical compartment door opens to the rear seat area to allow the carrying of skis and such.

The RX-8 has great seats, a nice fit with good bolstering, though the base model's cloth seat material wasn't as attractive to our eyes as it might have been. On the other end of the spectrum, the top-of-the-line Shinka Special Version Package includes much more attractive leather and suede-like upholstery.

We like the stitched leather three-spoke steering wheel, both for its style and feel. Also nice were the drilled aluminum pedals and the solid dead pedal. The brake pedal is designed to make rotation of your right foot easier, for heel-and-toe downshifting. (It also releases upon impact, to lessen leg injuries in the case of a head-on crash.) Each knee is comfortably and firmly supported during hard cornering.

The instrument panel seems to sacrifice efficiency for style, however. There are three big rings, dominated by the 10,000-rpm tachometer in the center, with a digital speedometer readout on the tach face. We miss having a separate analog speedometer. Our feeling is that analog gauges can be interpreted at a glance, while digital readouts have to be read. The two large outside rings include gauges for water temp, fuel and oil pressure. The instruments are illuminated with indirect blue lighting.

The panel forward of the shift lever is trimmed in a combination of leather and high-quality vinyl and glossy piano-black plastic. The stereo and climate control knobs are integrated; redundant controls are on the steering wheel spokes. The air conditioning wasn't as effective as we would have liked, a common complaint about many Mazdas.

The available navigation system is DVD-based and features a dedicated, retractable 7-inch screen on top of the dash above the radio and climate controls. Controlled with an eight-button cluster located just behind the shift lever, the system is simple to operate and the interface is clear, thanks in part to the fact that it does not incorporate radio and climate controls into the screen, as do many navigation systems.

The doors and seatbacks have ample pockets and cranny space, and four CDs can fit in the console, but there aren't a lot of cubbies up front. The soft triangular shape of the engine rotors are a design theme found throughout the interior, most noticeably in the stylish headrests and atop the shift lever.

Driving Impressions

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

The Dynamic Stability Control works effectively yet allows the driver to work the tires without intruding. The RX-8 wasn't completely forgiving when driven hard on an autocross circuit. We found with too much throttle the RX-8 would understeer (the front tires plow and the car keeps going straight instead of turning). When we pushed it still farther, driving like hacks, the DSC would kick in to limit the understeer. 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 DSC does take over, it uses the brakes, by braking one or more wheels needed to correct the imbalance. The electronic stability control systems in other cars correct skidding by cutting the throttle, which skilled drivers find intrusive. The RX-8's DSC 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, 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 (a shortened form of Rotary Engine Genesis). The engine is about 30 percent smaller than a typical inline four-cylinder, and its compact dimensions allow it to be mounted in a low and rearward position that results in that perfect balance. It also keeps the four-seat RX-8's center of gravity low and the curb weight down to just 3029 pounds, nearly 200 pounds less than the lightest version of the two-seat, 3213-pound Nissan 350Z.