Elara

Mazda offers its first rotary engine in 8 years with new sporty-style RX-8
By ANN M. JOB
10 September 2003
11:50
Associated Press Newswires
English
Copyright 2003. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.


There's no mistaking the 2004 Mazda RX-8 for any other car.

If the styling and four-door-sporty-car concept don't differentiate enough, there's always the rotary engine under the hood.

Not since the 1995 model year has Mazda offered a vehicle with a rotary engine. In fact, no other automaker currently has one in a mass-produced, passenger vehicle sold in this country.

But the rotary engine - here a 1.3-liter Renesis powerplant capable of 197 horsepower with automatic transmission and 238 horses with six-speed manual - is entrenched in Mazda history.

A four-rotor engine helped Mazda become the first Japanese carmaker to win an overall victory in 1991 in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.

With a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $25,700 for an automatic transmission model, the 2004 RX-8 is some $12,000 less than its predecessor RX-7, which ended distribution in the United States after 1995.

There are a lot of strange bulges and undulations on the RX-8 body. Folks aren't likely to confuse this car with the Nissan 350Z, for example, which has tight-fitting, edgy sheet metal that seems stretched into place.

Instead, the RX-8 wheel wells are exaggerated by sport utility-like fender flares and the roof and hood have bulges here and there.

Inside, there's a similar sense of confusion as a couple of air vents and the center stack in the dashboard have a round theme, while here and there, Mazda designers interjected softly triangular shapes meant to be reminiscent of the rotary engine.

The test car's fabric seats, with side-ribbed material, and the optional floor mats with a different kind of pattern, added to the helter-skelter feel. At least the RX-8 seats were comfortable and held me in place during aggressive maneuvers.

Sports car purists may be unimpressed by Mazda's effort to make the RX-8 usable for four passengers. I know I was skeptical of the idea of an RX with four doors and four seats. But don't let the RX-8's looks fool you.

The RX-8 wheelbase, the distance from the middle of the front wheel on one side to the middle of the rear wheel on the same side of the car, is 106.3 inches. This compares with 95.1 inches in the Porsche Boxster and 104.3 inches in the 350Z two-seaters.

After climbing inside the back seat - which is relatively easy because of the rear-hinged, small, rear doors - I found more leg and head room than I had expected.

Why, with the driver seat moved forward on its tracks to accommodate a driver my size - 5 feet 4 - I rested quite easily in the back seat and could even extend my legs.

Mazda said rear legroom totals 32.2 inches, while rear-seat headroom in my tester without a sunroof was 36.8 inches.

But if the front seats are back on their tracks all the way and reclined a bit, you may as well forget even putting a grade school youngster in the RX-8's back seat because legroom becomes negligible.

I still wouldn't want to ride in the back seat for a long trip. The rear door window is small, opens only slightly outward manually, and the window pillar back there is thick and blocking.

The center tunnel of the car creates a confining, high-riding center console between the two individual back seats, too.

And don't pull hard on the plastic door that provides a pass-through from the trunk. In the test car, the plastic door came out of its slots easily and lifted into my hands.

The best spot to be in the RX-8, not surprisingly, is the driver's seat.

True, this car is so low to the ground even the driver can't see much around trucks, vans and SUVs. I found myself at eye level with a taillamp on a Jeep, for example.

But the RX-8's quick-response steering, wonderful weight balance created by the use of the compact rotary engine, satisfying engine sounds and the short-throw, satisfying gear-shifter provide an all-around sports car experience.

The engine is unique - low, smallish and fitted a bit back from the front of the hood. This helps account for the RX-8's excellent 50-50 front/rear weight distribution.

But the engine isn't visible when you raise the hood, because it's under a large, black, plastic cover. In fact, the battery has a black, plastic cover on it, too.

The RX-8 hugs the road impressively, no matter if a driver is darting around another vehicle in city traffic or relishing the curves on Highway 1 on California's coast.

Riders in the test car, which had an optional sport suspension, felt vibrations much of the time, but it wasn't too harsh except on really rough pavement.

Front suspension is an independent double wishbone design, while there's an independent multilink at the rear.

The test car had optional, uplevel sport tires that were 18-inchers, and the steering is assisted rack-and-pinion that requires a bit of attention. I found the RX-8 drifting to the side of the road as I took my focus off driving and onto a roadside scene, for instance.

While there have been no safety recalls of the RX-8 since its summer debut, Mazda officials embarrassingly had to restate and lower the horsepower rating of the engine in August and agreed to make amends to early RX-8 buyers.

Specifically, the company would buy back the car, or buyers who kept it could get free maintenance during the warranty period and a $500 credit for gasoline.

This is not the first time Mazda had this issue. In 1999, the company restated the horsepower on its Miata roadster.

Even before the RX-8's horsepower was restated, it was nowhere near the 287 horses of the V6-powered 350Z. The Boxster's six-cylinder engine produces 228 horsepower.

But torque is the real delineator. The RX-8 tester with manual transmission is rated at 159 foot-pounds at 5,500 rpm, and it can be noticeable in city driving.

In comparison, the 350Z is rated at 274 foot-pounds of torque at 4,800 rpm, and the Boxster is listed at 192 at 4,750 rpm.

Note a rotary internal combustion engine works by handling intake, compression, combustion and exhaust, one at a time, using a turning, triangular-shaped rotor in a cocoon-like combustion chamber.

Rotary engines are known to be smooth and high-revving, which was evident in the RX-8 tester with manual transmission. Its redline was at 9,000 rpm.

The 2004 350Z has a starting MSRP, including destination charge, of $26,910, while the 2003 Boxster, which is a convertible two-seat sports car, starts at $43,365.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has no crash test report on the new RX-8. And Consumer Reports doesn't have a reliability rating for this new model.

Mazda officials look to sell some 18,000 RX-8s in the United States in its first year.

A Mazda official said the company expects the majority of buyers to be men, in their early to mid 30s.

They could be single or married, perhaps with young children at home. Annual household income is estimated at more than $70,000.

loco4rx8

Thanks, Elara. This is the second time I've read something that states the $500 debit card is for gasoline. Hey, Ann, just 'cause that's how you would use yours doesn't mean the rest of us will.

zoom44

strange bulges? i guess to some.

what sport utility? noone who has ever looked at my car has thought "hey those wheel arches look like the came from and SUV", i just don't understand that one.

sense of cunfusion? helter skelter? this lady is smokin' something.

and hello the pass thru is supposed to come off easily! it was designed to come off easily! so you could pass things thru!!arrrggghhhh!!

zoom44

this woman wrote a piece awhile ago that i didn't care much for either. here is a link to that other article and here is the link to the thread about it.

B-Nez

Yeah, this was pathetic:
No offense, but Ann Job must be a blonde, because only a blonde would criticize a pass-through opening for having a detachable cover - DUH! Get a friggin CLUE! What an idiot...

Elara

Yeah, apparently this woman is an idiot. I'm also not sure what she was thinking about the backseat either- I've spent hours back there, and so have some of my 5'10 male friends- there's a ton of space, and it's more than adequate for any but the tallest people.

RodsterinFL

I am really surprised. I recently emailed her to cover the car. She did a nice review of the Millennia and I e-mialed her then about her article and my experiences in 2001.

I sent a message tonight about the pass thru "falling apart" and the "gas card".

The comparison to the 350Z rubbed me wrong more than anything else. It sounded like:

"With the true sleek sporty looks of the Z why would you want a car with school bus fenders."

uh, namely because it drives better, rides better, is quieter, costs less, holds 4 people, performs almost the same in NORMAL driving acceleration, has unique styling.

mikeb

where do they find these reporters

Spin9k

In Ann's case, make that A LOT OF ATTENTION... remember Ann, you are driving now... repeat after me...driving!

I guess you missed that day in Driver's Ed when they told you NOT to turn the wheel (in that direction) just 'cause you decide to "take my focus off driving and onto a roadside scene" on one or the other side of the road!

Or maybe it was just 'cause the sun threw your attention off by reflecting off all those "odd bulges here and there"?