Mazda RX8

The RX8 was brought into mazda's range in around 2003, though most of these were imports until 2004. The RX8 comes in 2 variants, the 190bhp version and the 230bhp version. The latter really is the one to go for, as it offers a 6 speed gearbox and a rev range up to 9000rpm! The RX8 is based around the tried and tested Wankel rotary engine, known in this car as the Renesis engine. If you want a full explanation you should check the Mazda site, however it basically works around a piston-less design, where the engine has 2 triangular rotors which use the 4-stroke combustion. There were originally some worries about the reliability of the rotor tips, however ...

This was one cool car to drive and sort of reminded me of the TV series Knight Rider which featured a sports car driven by David Haselhoff that had a built in computer which could talk to the driver. The car I took for a test drive was also jet black just like the car in the TV series. Me and a girlfriend once took this baby out for a 1 hour test drive in 2005 when it first came out although the price tag was a bit too much even on our combined salaries and trading in our existing cars. I already owned a Mazda 323 at the time. The Mazda RX8 is a successor to the RX7 and boasts a rotary engine but I won't go into technical details about it for this ...